Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Move Up to 20th in College Football Playoff Rankings

The Iowa Hawkeyes didn’t look markedly better last week than they had in the two games prior, but the Hawkeyes did find a way to get back in the win column. That was more than could be said for a number of other top-25 teams this week, including several ranked just ahead of Iowa in the initial College Football Playoff rankings from a week ago.

In total, eight teams ranked in the CFP top-25 went down in week ten of the college football season. That included a pair of top-10 teams. For Iowa, however, the more impactful losses came from #20 Minnesota, #18 Kentucky and #17 Mississippi State. Those losses, along with the Hawkeyes finding a way to win with backup quarterback Alex Padilla at the helm, paved the way for Iowa to climb in the rankings heading into a week 11 showdown with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

After the win over Northwestern, Iowa moved up to #20. That’s a jump of 2 spots and puts the Hawkeyes fifth in the Big Ten and third in the Big Ten West.

Including Iowa, the Big Ten has a total of six teams ranked inside the top-25 this week. That’s unchanged from a week ago as the Purdue Boilermakers take the place of this week’s Iowa opponent, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Goofs, of course, lost to Illinois in week 10 to fall out. Purdue, meanwhile, took down their second top-5 opponent of the year as they defeated then-#3 Michigan State. Now they’ll get a shot at one more top-5 team as they travel to #4 Ohio State on Saturday.

For their loss, Michigan State falls to 7th. Purdue, on the other hand, enters the ranks at #19, one spot ahead of the Hawkeyes. Michigan continues to climb in the top-10 coming in at #6 after beating up on Indiana. The Big Ten West leading Wisconsin Badgers jumped up 3 spots to #18 this week after obliterated Rutgers last week.

After leading the country with 7 ranked teams a week ago, the SEC is now tied with the Big Ten with six total teams in the rankings. Georgia and Alabama are again #1 and #2. Kentucky and Mississippi State fall out of the ranks while Arkansas jumps in at #25.

The Big 12 stays with three teams ranked, including both Oklahoma schools in the top-10. The ACC also has three teams ranked despite Wake Forest dropping to North Carolina last week.

Here’s a look at the full CFP top-25 for week 11:

The Hawkeyes will look to continue climbing up the ranks by staying in the win column. They play host to the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 2:30pm CT on Saturday in Kinnick Stadium. This week’s matchup will again be televised on BTN.