Iowa Jumps Up To #12 In The Country After Their Blowout Win Over Northwestern
7-0, baby! It wasn’t a dream. The 2015 Hawkeyes are still undefeated after 7 games and they will still be undefeated come this time next week thanks to a bye next Saturday. I said it before but no team has ever needed a bye week more than this team. CJ Beathard needs to get fully healthy. Running back LeShun Daniels and Jordan Canzeri are banged up. The team needed this.
That Northwestern game was a tipping point in a lot of ways. If you looked at Iowa’s schedule before that game you would’ve marked it as the Hawks toughest opponent (by far) for the rest of the season. Win that game, on the road, against a ranked opponent and there would a real shot for Kirk Ferentz and this team to unexpectedly make history. And guess what? They blew the Wildcats out. 40-10. First half was real sketchy but ended up ripping out their hearts in the second. Now? Now I don’t know what’s gonna happen because I didn’t expect t be here. I feel like Ricky Bobby when he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. Even the most optimistic Hawkeye fan would’ve put this team at mayyyyyyyy be 5-2 after the first 7 games. More likely 4-3. For sure fucking not 7-0.
So what now? 12-0, a Big Ten West title and a trip to the B1G Championship game on the horizon? It would appear that way if the Hawks don’t fuck it up. Maybe mess around, win the B1G championship game and lock down a spot in the playoff? It might seem crazy to think that far ahead but it’s actually plausible (assuming they’d let us in the playoff even though everybody can’t stop talking about how soft our schedule has been and will be the rest of the season).
Here’s the rest of Iowa’s schedule
That is the part everybody wants to talk about and call Iowa’s schedule soft and it’s true. The Hawks will be favored in every single one of those last 5 games. It’s an easy road and I’ve even said as much but guess what? Iowa has no control over that part of their schedule. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Those games are decided by the B1G. So go ahead and kick and scream about that being a ridiculously easy schedule but direct your anger at the B1G, not Iowa. Sorry we took care of business in the first 7 games? Sorry we beat Wisconsin on the road (who was ranked at the time). Sorry we murdered Northwestern on the road when they were ranked #20. Oh and we also beat Pittsburgh at Kinnick Stadium early in the season. They’re now ranked in the top 25. I don’t know about you but I’d call those some quality wins. Iowa shouldn’t be penalized for not facing the Michigans, Michigan States and Ohio States of the world when they have no say in it. They can only work with what is put in front of them.
Bottom line. Iowa is 7-0, we have a bye week coming up for all of our guys to get healthy and have a very favorable schedule the rest of the way. They couldn’t possibly be in a better position right now. Let’s see where and how far this ride can take us. Shit’s about to get weird.
PS- I just wanna take a step back and remember how crazy and out-of-the-blue this Hawkeye season has been. If we rewind the clocks back to just the beginning of January the Hawks were about to play Tennessee in the Taxslayer Bowl (LOL). At that point we still didn’t know who the starting quarterback was gonna be: Jake Rudock or CJ Beathard. The fans wanted Beathard but Ferentz wanted Rudock so we got Rudock.. The Hawks get BLOWN OUT by the Vols and the chirps for Ferentz to be fired become yells. Everybody talking about the buyout on his contract and if it’s finally time to move on. AD Gary Barta keeps Kirk on despite unrest among the fan base (Barta would never fire Ferentz. He doesn’t have the stones). Now fast forward to Saturday at Ryan Field against Northwestern. Iowa is beating NU 40-10 and on their way to a 7-0 start for the first time since 2009. The Hawks are ranked, Rudock is a Michigan Man, Beathard is the starter, people are happy and, at one point, the ESPN guys in the booth started saying Ferentz would be in line for a few NFL head coaching jobs were he to leave Iowa at some point. What a world.