** 2018 Opponent Previews: Iowa (Game 12) **

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
Athlon: 2018 Hawkeyes Preview and Prediction

Following the departure of the heart and soul of its defense and 1,100-yard rusher, Iowa will look and play differently this fall. Kirk Ferentz' offense is in good hands at the quarterback position but the Hawkeyes' typically reliable running game and rock-solid offensive line are unknowns entering the season. The defense not only must replace all three starting linebackers but also the nation's interceptions leader. Iowa will miss most of the top team from the Big Ten East in crossover play, which should help the Hawkeyes' attempts to keep pace with division favorite Wisconsin.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/iowa-football-2018-hawkeyes-preview-and-prediction
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CollegeFootballNews: This Needs To Be The Year

Iowa has to pounce all over 2018. Kirk Ferentz is going into his 20th season as the Hawkeye head man. He’s seen everything in the Big Ten, won two conference titles, and came within a stop against Michigan State in 2015 of going to the College Football Playoff.

Turning 63 just before going into the season, he still has plenty of time to keep this all going, but there’s also a chance the West rises up and becomes far stronger overall.

That’s not to say Iowa can’t be a part of it, but after two decades under Ferentz, this is what the program is. As always, it’ll go to a bowl, and as always, it’ll come up with a shocking win or two when someone nasty has to make its way into Iowa City. But to win a Big Ten title for the first time since 2004? That time might be now.

https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/06/iowa-hawkeyes-college-football

– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players, Key Game, Fun Stats
– What Will Happen & Win Total Prediction
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SBNation: Let’s pretend Iowa won’t go 8-5. Will things be better or worse?

It was maybe the most apt afternoon in the nearly 20-year Ferentz era. On November 4, 2017, nearing the home stretch of a season that boasted plenty of surprising results, Iowa destroyed No. 3 Ohio State in the most Iowa possible way.

The Hawkeyes picked off J.T. Barrett four times (he threw only five interceptions in OSU’s other 13 games), running backs combined for 35 carries and 239 yards, and Hawkeye tight ends and fullbacks combined for 10 catches, 126 yards, and five touchdowns. Iowa receivers touched the ball six times, but Iowa destroyed a top-five team.

Iowa then got blown out by Wisconsin and lost to Purdue for the second time in a decade. The Hawkeyes finished 8-5, just as they did in 2016.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/6/27/17496898/iowa-football-2018-preview-schedule-roster
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More to come...

 
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I didn’t know they returned their entire DLine. That’s going to be one of the best groups in the nation. They play Northern Illinois the first game of the year so that will be fun.

~35 is a safe bet - I doubt they finish above that even with a weaker conference slate.

 
Iowa is interesting looking at last year. They were minus 2 in conference pythagorean win expectation, meaning based on scores alone they should have won about 2 more conference games. That's interesting because they were overall +0.5 in turnover margin, about 25th or so nationally. Usually teams with such a turnover margin would win about what you'd expect or slightly more than expected, based on pyth.

Underperforming with a turnover advantage is not a good future indicator, though the soft and generally favorably set up schedule is.

 
Here's the red flag...0.0 yards per play differential last year with a positive turnover margin. Lose the ball hawk, lose the linebackers, must reload the running game. That spells regression. They're a solid, if dull, team with a favorable schedule. 

 
Does it bother anyone else when they see how Ferentz has won two conference titles?  He has never finished higher than a tie for first.  In 02' Iowa tied with Ohio State.  They didn't play one another that year, and Ohio State finished the season 14-0 and won the NC.  If they would have played, Ohio State would have mopped the floor with Iowa.  The second tie came in 04' when Iowa tied Michigan for the conference title.  Iowa did play Michigan in 04', and they lost. 

 
junior4949 said:
Does it bother anyone else when they see how Ferentz has won two conference titles?  He has never finished higher than a tie for first.  In 02' Iowa tied with Ohio State.  They didn't play one another that year, and Ohio State finished the season 14-0 and won the NC.  If they would have played, Ohio State would have mopped the floor with Iowa.  The second tie came in 04' when Iowa tied Michigan for the conference title.  Iowa did play Michigan in 04', and they lost. 
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Didn't know about the 2nd one. lol

 
The Athletic

State of the Program: In Kirk Ferentz’s 20th year, Iowa football is as steady as ever


It was sort of a strange time to reminisce, half-frozen from the cold and just minutes removed from a Pinstripe Bowl win in the bowels of a baseball stadium. But the win was No. 143 for Kirk Ferentz as a head coach at Iowa, and that was good enough a reason as any to reflect.

He’d just tied Hayden Fry for most wins by a Hawkeyes coach.

“Probably one of the best decisions I’ve made, outside of asking my wife to marry me, was coming to Iowa in 1981,” Ferentz said that night. “Like so many things in life, you have no idea what you’re about to walk into, and I certainly was totally clueless at that point. Didn’t know much about Iowa. I knew Coach Fry was a square-jawed Texan, ex-Marine, that’s about it, and I knew Iowa wasn’t very good. When I got there in ’81, I don’t know if our expectations were real high. Those next eight, nine years were very special, and then to have an opportunity to come back 19 years ago, I really consider myself extremely fortunate.”

With win No. 144 — which should come against Northern Illinois on Sept. 1 — Ferentz will not just become the winningest coach in Iowa history, he’ll also stand alone as the fifth-winningest coach in Big Ten history, rounding out a top five that includes Amos Alonzo Stagg, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and Joe Paterno. It’s rarefied air, and it has given Ferentz the opportunity to both reflect on all the players and coaches he’s worked with over the years and try to downplay it a bit.
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