Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Move Up To #16 In College Football Playoff Rankings

It was a rough start against Illinois last week, but Iowa got things rolling and put the Illini away in dominant fashion to earn their fifth straight win. With it, the Hawkeyes extended their perfect performance in the month of November into December and set themselves up for a showdown with Wisconsin on senior day this weekend.

With yet another win, the Hawkeyes continue to move up in the national polls. Over the weekend, we saw Iowa jump up to #19 nationally in the AP poll and #18 in the Coaches Poll. On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff committee released their updated rankings and as with the other two major polls, the CFP had the Hawkeyes moving higher.

Coming in at #16 nationally, the Hawkeyes are one of four Big Ten teams to be ranked in the CFP rankings this week. That’s down from five a week ago as Wisconsin fell out of the top-25 this week. Iowa is joined in the ranks by #14 Northwestern, #12 Indiana and #4 Ohio State.

The four ranked teams from the Big Ten tie with the Big 12 for the second most among conferences. The SEC and ACC lead with five ranked teams each. Of note, outside the four ranked teams in the Big Ten, which have a combined record of 21-4, not a single other Big Ten team is above .500 on the season. The remaining 10 Big Ten teams have a combined record of 20-37.

Here’s a look at the full ranks this week.

Image via ESPN

Iowa’s five straight wins is more than any Big Ten team not currently in the rankings has on the entire season. During the stretch of five straight, Iowa has outscored opponents 186 to 71. On the season the Hawkeyes now have the #3 scoring defense in the conference behind #14 Northwestern and Wisconsin at 17.3 points per game. The Iowa offense is averaging 32.3 points per game, more than any other Big Ten team except Ohio State (46.6 ppg).

The Hawkeyes will look to extend their hot streak as they close out the regular season hosting the Wisconsin Badgers for a 2:30 CT kickoff on Saturday. The matchup will be broadcast on FS1. Following the matchup this weekend, Iowa will play one more Big Ten game on Championship Weekend against an opponent to be determined.