Serious Answer - In no particular order:
1. Running a clean, dignified program
2. Producing fundamentally sound football players
3. Quality OL and TEs
4. Finding unheralded players and coaching them up
5. No frills offense and defense that tries to slow drip you with execution
I tend to agree with you based on some friends I have who don't live near here and have nothing at all in common with Iowa other than our friendship. They are aware of my love for the Hawks, but have always shown admirable respect towards Iowa. Specifically, I asked this question to one of them who is a big football fan (more than avg), die hard Notre Dame fan, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I did not specify post Orange Bowl Iowa. His analysis in no particular order were:
1) Always a solid football team (that has been down the past 2 years- usually just under the top teams in Big Ten).
2) Has put a bunch of players into the NFL.
3) Good coach who has been there for quite a while.
4) Tough place to play at.
5) Huge (and nutty) fan base with a strong following. (Loves it when we have played bowl games down there)
His comments were basically seconded by another friend there who loves Miami football and son goes to Alabama, and is an avg general football fan. He added that we have a tough time recruiting, but always have great linemen, tight ends, and run defense.
Both of them are aware of the several players we have pulled out of that area, and are very familiar with Ruduck being from their back yard. They both asked if he's getting any reps yet and if/when he's going to play as he gets older. They both felt that Iowa was a top 25 program that has been missing from the polls of late, and wished us the best.
FWIW