Two weeks into the 2021 college football season, the Iowa Hawkeyes are the #5 ranked team in the country and are widely being toasted as the class of the Big Ten. Iowa’s convincing win over their instate rivals, Oregon’s cross-country upset of #3 Ohio State, and underwhelming performances by teams like Texas A&M, Note Dame, and Cincinnati opened the door for the Hawkeyes to leap up the rankings on the strength of yet another excellent defensive performance. Naturally, optimism within the Iowa fanbase is as high as it has been since the 2015 season, and it seems increasingly realistic to ask not only whether the Hawkeyes can win the Big Ten West, but whether they can win the conference outright and compete for a slot in the College Football Playoff.
Can Iowa Generate Enough Offense to Sustain its Ranking?
