Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Hold at #16 In College Football Playoff Rankings

The Iowa Hawkeyes are one of the hottest teams in the country winning each of their last six games with just one a single-score affair. Iowa is fresh off a 28-7 win over the Wisconsin Badgers, who had climbed as high as #10 in the nation just a few short weeks ago.

But in the eyes of the College Football Playoff Committee, that was apparently not noteworthy and already baked into Iowa’s #16 ranking a week ago. In the latest rankings released on Tuesday evening, the Hawkeyes remain 16th nationally for the second straight week.

The Hawkeyes stayed stagnant despite the win in large part due to the beatdown that North Carolina put on then #10 Miami. The Tar Heels jumped past Iowa in this week’s rankings to the #15 spot while Miami fell all the way to 18th.

Ironically, that fall by Miami meant that Indiana, previously 12th in the nation, moved up a spot to #11 despite not playing. It would see not beating anyone is better than beating what was once though to be a good team by three scores.

Image via ESPN

In total, the Big Ten still only has four teams ranked. Ohio State is obviously the highest at #4 nationally. They’re still headed to the College Football Playoffs pending a potential loss in the Big Ten Championship Game to #14 Northwestern. For their part, the Wildcats were unchanged from a week ago as they were jumped by USC, who had been 15th and now find themselves at #13.

The SEC is tied with the Big Ten with four teams ranked. However, all four of the SEC teams find themselves in the top-10 nationally. Both Florida and Georgia now have two losses as do the Hawkeyes after the Gators lost an embarrassing one to a bad LSU team last week. That wasn’t enough to drop them more than a single spot, however.

The Gators fall did propel Iowa State up one spot to #6. As with Florida and Georgia, the Cyclones also have two losses at 8-2 overall. Iowa State is one of four Big 12 teams ranked, along with #10 Oklahoma, #20 Texas and #21 Oklahoma State.

Based on what we see this week, it’s now highly unlikely we see the Hawkeyes make a final push for a New Year’s Six bowl. That was once thought a possibility with teams losing in front of them and the potential for another win this weekend. That was taken off the table on Tuesday when Michigan announced it would not be able to play this week. Indiana, however, is looking more likely given the bump they got on their off day.

With the Hawkeyes now on a rest week, we’ll have updated coverage on bowl scenarios and potential matchups as we get into games over the weekend.