Joel Klatt believes Iowa Hawkeyes should threaten in 2023 Big Ten race

Joel Klatt ranked Iowa No. 22 in his post-spring top 25 rankings and he elaborated on why he thinks the Hawkeyes will be a Big Ten threat.

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt expressed exactly how every Iowa football fan is feeling ahead of this season.

It is hard to completely buy into this football team, especially with how last year went offensively. Everyone convinced themselves the offense would be better in 2022, the line would get on track and Iowa football would get back to being Iowa football.

Then, we all saw what happened.

After being burned by the 2022 team and with the same people still in charge, fans are extremely hesitant about buying into Iowa football again. But then there’s that little voice of hope starting to become louder in the back of their minds.

Klatt expressed it perfectly in his post-spring top 25 rankings on “The Joel Klatt Show” for CFB on Fox. He ranked Iowa No. 22 nationally.

“Best defense over the last couple of years in college football outside of Georgia, which was on a totally different level. Here’s Iowa, they’re absolutely going to be fantastic on defense. We know that. And they should be better on offense. Like, this is a team that should threaten in the Big Ten,” Klatt said.

You’re right, Joel, they should. We saw the absolute baseline for Iowa football last year. Despite the offense being as bad at it possibly can be, it still won eight games and competed for the top spot in the Big Ten West. That’s with the offense being at its absolute worst.

Now, with all of the additions the Hawkeyes made this offseason—particularly quarterback Cade McNamara—they have to be even better. Right? This is exactly what we said all of last season! Imagine this team with just an average offense. That’s what we’re supposed to be getting.

But still, there’s that little bit of apprehension. Klatt’s biggest hangup is the weird, 25 points per game average amendment to Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s contract.

“Iowa could be a total fiasco this next year with the whole Brian Ferentz has to score 25 points,” Klatt said.

He notes it’s really not a fair situation for newcomer McNamara, and he worries about the added — dare we say unnecessary — pressure it presents for the Hawkeyes’ offense.

“I think that this is going to put an undue pressure on the play-caller Brian Ferentz, it’s going to put undue pressure on Cade McNamara and the rest of the offense. This could be a total fiasco at Iowa. Second-worst in the FBS last year. They scored 17.7 points per game, and now you put some arbitrary number out there.

“It’s not going to help anybody, but great defense, Kirk is still there. I think that’s going to be an interesting one. I put them just ahead of Wisconsin just because Kirk is still there whereas you’re going to get the new coaching staff at Wisconsin,” Klatt said.

It’s the battle every Iowa fan has. This team should compete in the Big Ten. It’s exactly what we hoped for last year, and the offense looks a heck of a lot better than it did last year. But still, there’s that fear that they aren’t on that next level to truly compete, that they’ve maxed out their capabilities with the current regime in charge.

And, as Klatt pointed out, it could get messy if the offense doesn’t show clear signs of improvement early. Suddenly, that 25 points per game average really could become something worth thinking about.

Really, though, if that’s the case, Iowa probably hasn’t made the necessary jumps offensively in the first place. Arkansas State’s 25 points per game average in 2022 was 85th nationally, so that scoring offense threshold isn’t asking all that much on paper.

With this defense and plenty of new weapons offensively, the Hawkeyes should seriously compete in the West and in the Big Ten. But, will they?

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