Roughly one month to the day from Week 1 of the college football season, we are itching for any sort of news, story, and morsel of football to bide our time as we near kickoff. One item that is going to only gain traction these next few weeks is how teams are viewed in preseason polls.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are right on the bubble in many polls and could quickly work their way into the top 25 with a strong start to the season that many expect. One of those outlets that expect a strong start is CBS Sports as they have the Hawkeyes at No. 25 in the Preseason CBS Sports 133 Rankings.
The Hawkeyes also find themselves among the “biggest movers” group of teams that saw large offseason jumps. Iowa saw the third-largest jump and moved up 21 spots.
The Hawkeyes neither had a notable assistant shake up like Texas A&M nor an outright coaching change like Wisconsin, but Iowa did do some work in the transfer portal to bring in quarterback Cade McNamara, and there’s a contractual call for the offense to score more points. I suppose that’s worth raising the floor of a team that has performed consistently at a top-40 level in recent years. – Chip Patterson, CBS Sports
The rise makes sense. Cade McNamara is going to make this offense go if he performs and that is what the Hawkeyes’ success rests on. The defense and special teams are extremely well-coached and should pick back up where they left off.
we've been ranking every FBS team since the start of 2015. what was once the CBS Sports 128 has grown to the CBS Sports 133, and what was once a preseason poll historically dominated by Alabama now belongs to Georgia https://t.co/v7pPN3tgyP
— Chip Patterson (@Chip_Patterson) August 1, 2023
Curiously enough, the second-largest riser of the entire rankings is Big Ten West rival Wisconsin. The Badgers saw a 35-spot jump in the rankings, climbing all the way up to No. 19. It’s largely due to bringing in Luke Fickell to take over as head coach. All signs are pointing to the West being a two-team race between the Hawkeyes and Badgers.
Other Big Ten teams ranked in the top 25 include No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State.
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