Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Ranked 22nd in Initial College Football Playoff Rankings

Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes have seen their season take a turn for the worse over the last two weeks. After starting 6-0 and climbing to as high as #2 nationally in the AP poll, Iowa now finds itself at 6-2 fresh off of back-to-back losses to Big Ten West rivals.

With the fall from grace, Iowa fans have begun looking for answers and potentially something else to watch on Saturdays. That’s been due almost exclusively to an offense that has look inept for consecutive games. In those last two games, the Hawkeyes have scored just 14 combined points and have averaged

The Hawkeyes have fallen to 19th in the AP poll and all the way down to fourth in the Big Ten West standings. But on Tuesday night, we saw just how far Iowa has fallen from grace as the College Football Playoff committee released the first set of rankings for the 2021 season.

The Hawkeyes debut at #22 overall in this week’s rankings.

That’s third in the Big Ten West and sixth in the Big Ten overall. Wisconsin, who defeated the Hawkeyes 27-7 last week, comes in one spot ahead of Iowa at #21. And just in front of them comes #20 Minnesota, who currently sits atop the Big Ten West.

While three Big Ten West teams make the rankings, there are three Big Ten East teams in the top-10 of initial College Football Playoff Rankings. Michigan comes in at #7 while the Michigan State Spartans, who took down the Wolverines 37-33 last week, come in at #3. Ohio State is, of course, the other Big Ten East team in the top-10 as they come in at #5

The SEC leads all conferences with seven teams ranked in the initial CFP rankings. That includes the top-2 teams in the country, despite Alabama sitting there with a loss. The Big 12 has three teams ranked in the top-25, led by undefeated Oklahoma at #8. The ACC also has three teams ranked with Wake Forest leading the way at #9. The Pac-12 trails with just Oregon, at #4, in the initial rankings.

Here’s a look at the full rankings for this week.