Are we preseason top 5 in 2016?

guffus said:
Iowa loses Blythe, Canzeri, T. Smith, HKC, Duzey, Ott, Lomax, Fisher, Meyer, Koehn, Kidd, etc.

and probably King

But returns CJB, Daniels, Wadley, Kittle, Vandeberg, mabin, Hesse, Jewell, etc

special teams could be a concern, but you would expect offense and defense to be at least as good.

Yeah, probably around #15 sounds right.
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Kidd is addition-by-subtraction, but will definitely miss the rest. But we have some good talent coming back that will have an extra year of seasoning.

Ranking? I would guess we will, at a minimum, "get votes". Top 25 is strong possibility. Top 5? Joking, right? I can already tell you the preseason Top 5: Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Auburn and, just in case they didn't stress it enough, Alabama again.
 
mopkins said:
I doubt it. You'll see the perennial powers up there like always....alabama, ohio state, etc.

I think Iowa will be ranked top 15 though. It would be awesome if King and Ott both came back next year, but I don't see that happening. I don't think there's anything for King to gain by coming back for his senior season.
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How about a degree? IIRC in the summer King was quoted as saying graduating from college was important for both him and his mother. After hearing the story of his brother; I can certainly understand why this would be a major priority.

But i digress.

I think the preseason ranking will have loads to do with how we play/outcome of the rose bowl.
 
If we win the Rose, and Ott and King return, we got a shot at 10-15 range.

If we lose the Rose and Ott and King return, I could still see 16-20 range.

Ott and King are worth 2-4 spots each way depending. I think the defense will be solid without them, but could be Elite with them.

Option 1 would make me very happy.
 
HawkeyeWalker said:
If we win the Rose, and Ott and King return, we got a shot at 10-15 range.

If we lose the Rose and Ott and King return, I could still see 16-20 range.

Ott and King are worth 2-4 spots each way depending. I think the defense will be solid without them, but could be Elite with them.

Option 1 would make me very happy.
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Ott and King are huge pieces, no doubt, and the defense would be pretty damn scary with them in the fold. And Ott returning would allow Iowa to cancel out losing Meier, who has had a great senior season, by allowing Hesse to switch sides. Hesse is going to be scary good down the line.

But I also think this team will really miss Lomax. He's not the defense's best player, but he's consistently been the guy that teammates point to as the heartbeat of that unit.
 
tm3308 said:
Ott and King are huge pieces, no doubt, and the defense would be pretty damn scary with them in the fold. And Ott returning would allow Iowa to cancel out losing Meier, who has had a great senior season, by allowing Hesse to switch sides. Hesse is going to be scary good down the line.

But I also think this team will really miss Lomax. He's not the defense's best player, but he's consistently been the guy that teammates point to as the heartbeat of that unit.
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If Ott and King are back, they won't have any leadership issues on that unit. Plus throw in the fact that Jewell will be a big time leader now as a Jr who is a 2 year starter. If Ott and Kind come back we could be scary good on D, with our only positions that would have untested guys being a LB spot and a Safety spot.
 
To be highly ranked preseason, our offensive tackles have to suddenly play well. A fast receiver with hands has to emerge preseason. Our defensive line has to emerge preseason. A new kicker has to emerge preseason. A new starting tailback will have to emerge preseason.

To be rated higher at the end of next season, all Iowa has to do is have the best record in the B1G West.
 
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