March 28, 2024

The Sports Schuffle

The Hawkeyes are who we thought they were

Former NFL head coach Dennis Green kept shouting at me as I sat down to write this column.

Eight years ago, Green, as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, watched his team waste a 20-point halftime lead to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football and eventually lost, 24-23.

During his postgame meeting with the media, Green abruptly walked away from the podium after a colorful rant likely memorable to all who were watching.

"The Bears are who we THOUGHT they were," Green exclaimed.

Exchange Bears for Hawkeyes, and that statement could explain Iowa’s 5-1 start.

The Hawkeyes are who we thought they were, a team making the most of its schedule.

Halfway through October, Iowa and rival Minnesota lead the Big Ten West at 5-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. Weakening its solid mark is the fact Iowa is the only team in the west division that has yet to beat an opponent that currently has a winning record.

The Hawkeyes have a chance to change that when they play at 4-2 Maryland Saturday. It is arguably Iowa’s biggest challenge to-date, a product of the team’s schedule.

This brings me back to “they are who we thought they were” and Green, who was not literally shouting at me yesterday. That would’ve taken this in a different direction.

Back in mid-January when the 2013 college football season had just ended and at a time when Iowa supporters were being told their basketball team was a Final Four dark horse – just hit stop on your DVR remotes, it doesn’t end well – prognosticators were also starting to recognize Iowa’s football team as a potential sleeper in the fall.

Why? The schedule was a big reason. Writer after writer who picked Iowa to contend, if not win, the west division mentioned the schedule.

“The Hawkeyes have one of the Big Ten’s most favorable schedules next year,” Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports wrote on Jan. 17. Lassan picked Iowa second in the West.

“The big reason to be bullish on Iowa is a shockingly easy schedule,” Sports Illustrated’s Colin Becht wrote in an Aug. 4 article headlined, “Five sleeper picks to make inaugural college football playoff.”

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstriet also jumped aboard the Iowa-as-a-playoff-sleeper bandwagon. He, too, pointed to the schedule.

“I think you gotta look out for Iowa,” Herbstriet told the Sporting News for an Aug. 26 article. “If you look at their schedule all those teams that could challenge in the Big Ten West come to Kinnick Stadium.”

So the schedule was supposed to ease Iowa to Indianapolis in December, and so far, it appears to be taking the Hawkeyes in that general direction. The combined record of Iowa’s first six opponents this season is 15-22, the worst such mark for any team in the Big Ten West. Minnesota’s first six opponents are 17-19, while the same marks for the five other West teams’ opponents are all above .500.

As for the remaining schedule, Iowa’s last six opponents are a combined 25-12. That’s the same record as Minnesota’s remaining opponents, and is the worst such mark facing any team in the West.

Few, if any, of Iowa’s wins have come as easy. Ball State, now 1-5, gave the Hawks all they wanted. Northern Iowa was a handful. Pittsburgh and Purdue certainly weren’t walks in the park.

All of those games raised significant questions. Can a new core of linebackers handle a dynamic running back? Why can’t Iowa’s running backs rush for more yards than Jake Ruduck? Did someone mention Iowa and quarterbacks?

Despite that, the team’s persevered to a spot atop the division, where many thought they could end up by season’s end.

The Hawkeyes are who we thought they were.

Now does anyone want to crown their behinds?

Contact Sports Writer Ben Schuff at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6536 or at bschuff@newtondailynews.com.