Hawkeyes enter season ranked #18 in USA Today Coaches’ Poll

College football’s Week 0 is less than four weeks away and with each passing day, I get a little more excited for its return. Adding some fuel to that fire is the release of the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, which puts the Hawkeyes 18th.

1) Alabama, 1621 points (63 first place votes)
2) Clemson, 1508
3) Oklahoma, 1481 (2)
4) Ohio State, 1435
5) Georgia, 1386
6) Texas A&M, 1286
7) Notre Dame, 1139
8) Iowa State, 1131
9) North Carolina, 999 note: this is incredible
10) Cincinnati, 979
11) Florida, 870
12) Oregon, 842
13) LSU, 664
14) Southern Cal, 655
15) Wisconsin, 654
16) Miami (FL), 575
17) Indiana, 573
18) Iowa, 554
19) Texas, 427
20) Penn State, 422
21) Washington, 404
22) Oklahoma State, 216
23) Louisiana, 153
24) Coastal Carolina, 150
25) Ole Miss, 149

Others Receiving Votes (Big Ten-only): ~27) Northwestern, 120; ~33) Michigan 30

Quick Hits:

• 4 future Hawkeye opponents rank in the top 25, with ISU & Indiana combining to form as strong a 1-2 punch as any team in the Big Ten, and potentially America, will face in their first two games by these rankings.
• The last time Iowa ranked this high was 2016 after the Rose Bowl season, at 15. The Hawkeyes arguably had more known quantities returning at key positions - QB, OT, DB (Desmond King-post Thorpe Award) - but this season’s iteration may have higher ceiling guys at the most important positions in Tylers Goodson & Linderbaum, Tory Taylor, & Seth Benson/Jack Campbell.
• Slack topic: Are Wisconsin & Penn State granted too much leeway given their 2020 seasons?
• It’s a shame we won’t be able to crack open an ice cold Mountain Dew Hard Seltzer for any Hawkeye football game this season, as they have a targeted release date for early 2022.
• Friend of the Pants, Alex Gookin, did the hard work of counting teams by conference: SEC, 6; Big Ten, 5; Big 12, 4; Pac-12, 3; ACC, 3. Rounding out the 25 are Sun Belt (!!!), 2; AAC, 1; Notre Dame, 1.

What are your thoughts?