Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Continue to Climb in College Football Playoff Rankings

The Iowa Hawkeyes continue to try to really find their footing on the offensive side of the ball this season. They took a step in that direction last week as they scored 27 points for just the third time this year. Despite the point total, the offensive production was still below par with just 277 total yards in Alex Padilla’s first career start at quarterback.

Regardless of how well the offense is clicking, the Hawkeyes found their way to a second straight win to move to 8-2 on the season. While that still puts them relying on Nebraska or Minnesota to knock off Wisconsin for a shot to get back to Indianapolis for a shot at the Big Ten Championship, it also keeps the door open to taking advantage of any such misstep.

On the heels of another win, the Hawkeyes continued their climb in the College Football Playoff rankings, which were released on Tuesday night.

Iowa climbed three spots this week thanks to that 27-22 win over Minnesota, combined with five top-25 teams dropping games last week. Four of those losses came to other ranked teams, including then #8 Oklahoma falling to then #13 Baylor.

The jump to 17th puts Iowa two spots behind Wisconsin as the Badgers also climbed three spots on the back of another dominant win over Northwestern. The Badgers are one of four Big Ten teams to find themselves inside the top-15.

Ohio State remains #4 and the conference’s only top-5 team. Michigan and Michigan State remain side-by-side at #6 and #7 respectively. The Wolverines are still ahead of the Spartans despite MSU defeating Michigan earlier this year.

Those are the only five Big Ten teams ranked this week after previous #19 Purdue was shellacked by #4 Ohio State and fell from the rankings. That puts the SEC ahead of everyone with six total teams ranked. That includes #1 Georgia and #2 Alabama. Mississippi State slides in at #25 after defeating Auburn despite being the only ranked team with four losses.

The ACC is next with three ranked teams. Wake Forest is the highest at #10. The American, Big 12 and Pac 12 each have two teams ranked. Oregon is the highest there at #3 while Cincinnati is the highest from the American at #5.

Here’s a look at this week’s full CFP rankings.

Iowa will look to continue their climb up the ranking this week as they play host to the Illinois Fighting Illini on senior day from Kinnick Stadium, Saturday’s matchup is set to kick off at 1pm CT on FS1.