Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Move Up In Coaches Poll, Steady in AP, again

The Iowa Hawkeyes win over the Colorado State Rams might not have felt particularly good but the result has the Hawkeyes as the #5 team in both the AP & USA Today Coaches’ Poll. For posterity, Iowa’s points went down 11 points, as Penn State and Oklahoma flipped spots.

Yesterday certainly wasn’t a result that anyone would have drawn up as an ideal win but looking around college football, there are plenty of teams with warts bigger than Iowa’s, at the moment. Their two top 25 wins have lost some shine as Indiana is joined by Iowa State among the legion of the unranked after the Cyclones lost a tight one to Baylor.

Around the country, Clemson fell all the way to 25th & 19th with their six-point loss at North Carolina State while ya boy’s Arkansas Razorbacks were the high fliers of the week, rising to 8th & 11th on the back of their Jerrydome win over Texas A&M.

The Big Ten lost Wisconsin after getting rolled up by Notre Dame in Chicago. Penn State (4/6), Ohio State (11/10), Michigan (14/14, up 5!), and Michigan State (17/16) round out the conference. Michigan & MSU are lessons in “Just Win, Baby!” as their victories over Rutgers and Nebraska induced a little more high blood pressure across their fanbases than the Hawkeyes’ over CSU.

Also,

Shouts to The Gazette’s newest beat writer for the CFB reference shoutout.

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

1) Alabama, 4-0 (54 first place votes)
2) Georgia, 4-0 (4)
3) Oregon, 4-0
4) Penn State, 4-0
5) Iowa, 4-0
6) Oklahoma, 4-0
7) Cincinnati. 3-0
8) Arkansas, 4-0
9) Notre Dame , 4-0
10) Florida, 3-1
11) Ohio State, 3-1
12) Ole Miss, 3-0
13) BYU, 4-0
14) Michigan, 4-0
15) Texas A&M, 3-1
16) Coastal Carolina, 4-0
17) Michigan State, 4-0
18) Fresno State, 4-1
19) Oklahoma State, 4-0
20) UCLA, 3-1
21) Baylor, 4-0
22) Auburn, 3-1
23) North Carolina State, 3-1
24) Wake Forest, 4-0
25) Clemson, 2-2

Others Receiving Votes (Big Ten-only): ~27) Maryland

Dropped Out: #14 Iowa State, #18 Wisconsin, #21 North Carolina, #25 Kansas State

Over in the Coaches Poll, the Hawkeyes have slowly started to garner similar respect to the AP Poll. Iowa climbed another spot this week, jumping over A&M and into 5th.

1) Alabama, 4-0 (64 first place votes)
2) Georgia, 4-0 (1)
3) Oregon, 4-0
4) Oklahoma, 4-0
5) Iowa, 4-0
6) Penn State, 4-0
7) Notre Dame, 4-0
8) Cincinnati, 3-0
9) Florida, 3-1
10) Ohio State, 3-1
11) Arkansas, 4-0
12) Ole Miss, 3-0
13) Texas A&M, 3-1
14) Michigan, 4-0
15) BYU, 4-0
T-16) Michigan State, 4-0
T-16) Coastal Carolina, 4-0
18) Oklahoma State, 4-0
19) Clemson, 2-2
20) UCLA, 3-1
21) Fresno State, 4-1
22) Auburn, 3-1
23) Kentucky, 4-0
24) Baylor, 4-0
25) Wake Forest, 4-0

Others Receiving Votes (Big Ten-only): ~30) Maryland; ~31) Wisconsin, ~46) Indiana

Dropped Out: #14 Iowa State, #15 Wisconsin, #20 North Carolina

This weekend’s game will be Iowa’s first evening kickoff, Friday at Maryland. They’ll return to Kinnick and a 4p kickoff against Penn State.

While Hawkeye fans are no doubt eyeing the potential for ESPN’s College Game Day making their first trip to Iowa City since 2006, there will be competition. While week six features current #5 Iowa vs. #6 Penn State, it also has #1 Alabama at #7 Texas A&M, the Red River Rivalry and a few other potential candidates. Iowa has hosted just twice all-time with both prior instances being losses to Ohio State.

Game Day is slated to be in Athens, GA this weekend as #8 Arkansas takes on #2 Georgia.