SwirlinLingerie
Well-Known Member
I'm not obsessing over it, but it might be fun to watch this play out week to week.
We all know the margin for error is pretty slim most weeks with Iowa, so a loss could happen at any point.
That said, this is looking like one of Kirk's teams that can go on a run and stack some wins. Especially with the schedule. For any kind of playoff talk next month, we're gonna need a couple of Iowa's opponents to raise their profiles so Iowa ends with a signature win or two.
I can't really see it with Minnesota, although its schedule is manageable and Penn State has to visit Minneapolis. Still can't see it.
Washington has a brutal schedule but the talent to reel off some wins. They get a bye this week before visiting Indiana. That's a really interesting game. Indiana gave up 28 points to Maryland and 24 to Northwestern. I wouldn't be surprised if the Huskies put up a bunch of points on them. If Washington pulls that off, we might see some momentum. They get USC at home the following week. I think they win that.
I haven't watched them, but is Wisconsin starting to figure things out? They get both Penn State and Oregon at home. Can they get one? I think it's possible one of those will be tight coming down the stretch. They have a few very winnable games too.
And then there is Nebraska. Really need them to knock off Indiana this week. There is a lot of winnable games on that schedule. I think they are the Iowa opponent most likely to be ranked at the end of the year (aside from OSU and Iowa State).
If Iowa is sitting at 10-2, and OSU and ISU are both one loss teams, and one or two of Iowa's wins are against ranked opponents (and Iowa puts up a few more "pretty" games like Saturday instead of all 2024 15-13 shit shows)...then hopefully the Hawks are at least on the fringe of the conversation. It sure would be fun to go into the conference championship weekend cheering for three or four specific outcomes to occur to give the Hawks a shot...
We all know the margin for error is pretty slim most weeks with Iowa, so a loss could happen at any point.
That said, this is looking like one of Kirk's teams that can go on a run and stack some wins. Especially with the schedule. For any kind of playoff talk next month, we're gonna need a couple of Iowa's opponents to raise their profiles so Iowa ends with a signature win or two.
I can't really see it with Minnesota, although its schedule is manageable and Penn State has to visit Minneapolis. Still can't see it.
Washington has a brutal schedule but the talent to reel off some wins. They get a bye this week before visiting Indiana. That's a really interesting game. Indiana gave up 28 points to Maryland and 24 to Northwestern. I wouldn't be surprised if the Huskies put up a bunch of points on them. If Washington pulls that off, we might see some momentum. They get USC at home the following week. I think they win that.
I haven't watched them, but is Wisconsin starting to figure things out? They get both Penn State and Oregon at home. Can they get one? I think it's possible one of those will be tight coming down the stretch. They have a few very winnable games too.
And then there is Nebraska. Really need them to knock off Indiana this week. There is a lot of winnable games on that schedule. I think they are the Iowa opponent most likely to be ranked at the end of the year (aside from OSU and Iowa State).
If Iowa is sitting at 10-2, and OSU and ISU are both one loss teams, and one or two of Iowa's wins are against ranked opponents (and Iowa puts up a few more "pretty" games like Saturday instead of all 2024 15-13 shit shows)...then hopefully the Hawks are at least on the fringe of the conversation. It sure would be fun to go into the conference championship weekend cheering for three or four specific outcomes to occur to give the Hawks a shot...
