September 12th, 2021 at 2:02 PM ^
How is Iowa only 7
September 12th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^
Agree. A&m looked like shit. I think Iowa, like most of the big ten, has to overcome perception that they're slow Ave can only beat other show teams
September 12th, 2021 at 3:15 PM ^
Because their offense sucks. They've generated 7 turnovers in two games, three of which were returned for scores.
Typical Iowa team. But they have an easy schedule this year so should coast to Indianapolis.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:26 PM ^
Let’s be honest though… does anyone really think Iowa will be anything more then a 9-3 team. They are the definition of a team that has a good year once every 4 years, but still stumbles in games that make you say “WTF”.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:33 PM ^
All of which is better than what Michigan is.
September 12th, 2021 at 4:42 PM ^
They’re not that good. Defense is solid and they’ve benefitted from turnover luck. Three defensive scores. Turnovers are random and it isn’t a sustainable method of success.
Once the turnovers revert to the mean, Iowa will fall back to earth.
September 12th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
You clearly didn’t watch any of the Iowa games. They scored 14 points on offense on the opening 3 minutes against IU and they completely dominated ISU. The D smothered ISU so badly Campbell basically threw in the towel with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter while down 3 scores. The Iowa offense has a strong run game, and a passable throwing game, though that is clearly it’s biggest deficiency. Add in top notch special teams kickers and you have a recipe for an elite team that can have success against anyone. The offense probably doesn’t need more than 20 points against anyone left on their schedule as the D and Special Teams will likely hold anyone (PSU is probably the toughest opponent left on the schedule before the CCG) below that. Iowa also has the longest streak of holding teams below 24 points (24 games).
Will Iowa be able to win a CFP game? Totally depends on who they get. Alabama? No. Clemson? They certainly could by controlling field position and grinding out a 13-7 type game.
All that to say, don’t kid yourself. Iowa does cycle through and have mediocre seasons 3/4 years, but this the year where the schedule and talent is lining up for Iowa to win the West and make a game with whoever the East champ is, including OSU.
September 12th, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^
Clearly YOU haven’t watched Iowa. Considering their second TD against Indiana was an interception returned for a TD. How is that an offensive TD?
303 total yards against IU. 173 against ISU (ISU almost doubled their offense) Iowa isn’t winning because of their offense. They’re winning because of their solid defense and turnovers. Once the turnovers stop, Iowa is back to being a good, albeit flawed team. Certainly not top 10.
September 13th, 2021 at 2:10 AM ^
Doesnt Iowa beat Indiana and Iowa state without the turnover scores? Maybe they arent as pretty on the scoreboard but i would kill for Indiana and Iowa st type wins back to back. Indiana cant be a worthless win only because of the way Iowa whooped them. That doesnt make any sense.
September 15th, 2021 at 5:51 AM ^
Without directly scoring from the turnovers? Probably. But The field position gained from the turnovers was worth points as well.
Iowa scored on a fumble return. Kicked a field goal on a -8 yard drive following an interception at the ISU 33. Another field goal on a drive that started on the Iowa 18 following an interception. And the other interception gave Iowa the ball on the ISU 49 that also resulted in a TD.
The fumble TD and the -8 yard drive that resulted in a TD alone would have made it a tie game. Positive field position from the other two turnovers led to another 10 points for Iowa.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:02 PM ^
How is Iowa only 7
September 12th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
Are Iowa. See also: Iowa.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:03 PM ^
Meh. Iowa is a top 20ish team with a prehistoric offense that was just massively outgained in yardage by another top 20ish Iowa state team that turned the ball over 4 times including a scoop and score.
Does anybody really believe Iowa’s run left strategy and throw to the tight end on 7 yard rollouts would be enough to hang against possibly the best d-line in college football (Clemson).
If you can’t threaten down the field you aren’t beating Bama, UGA, Clemson and generally OSU.
We’ve seen this script multiple times in the B1G when meat machine +sound defense Wisconsin plays OSU and inevitably falls short due to a lack of big play potential.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:07 PM ^
I'm not going to debate whether Iowa is a real contender or if they can hang with Clemson/UGA/Bama, but the polls are not supposed to be predictive of that, they are supposed to rank who the best teams and resumes are. Iowa has two pretty impressive looking (by score) wins over two teams thought to be good and ranked highly. It's reasonable to think they could be higher based on body of work so far combined with initial ranking, and to at least think they should be higher than A&M
September 12th, 2021 at 3:36 PM ^
It would be just as fair to predict that Michigan would shallack them in similar fashion to which they did Washington-likely even worse. They are a hard-nosed, fundamentally sound team. They are not a particularly physically gifted team-mediocre to poor team speed. Watching that game was painful.
September 12th, 2021 at 5:41 PM ^
Uh, I didnt predict anything, I said that by the facts we have so far, Iowa has an impressive enough resume to be ranked highly. Butt how, other than that you just want it t be, would that be just as fair to say?
September 12th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^
Personally I think OSU and ND's drops are appropriate and make sense. OSU's drop is even further than I thought the coaches would do.
With that said, I was surprised that A&M didn't drop a spot. I think Iowa being ahead of them and perhaps Clemson seems about right.
And I can't wait to hear about all of the chips on MSU's shoulder for not being ranked yet....
September 12th, 2021 at 3:06 PM ^
As much as I hate OSU, losing to Oregon should be considered a better result than scraping by Toledo. Reward playing actual teams. OSU should be ranked above ND, especially considering how bad FSU is in hindsight.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
Yes but ND is 2-0. Buckeyes are not.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:13 PM ^
Good lord, do I ever wish we could play those 10th ranked Fig Things, and ram it down their throats. Said it. Meant it. F them
September 12th, 2021 at 3:34 PM ^
ND would destroy this team. They would eat Michigan's secondary up.
Michigan is getting by because the offense is keeping the defense off the field.
September 12th, 2021 at 4:21 PM ^
And ND gave up 264 yards rushing to FSU at 5.5 ypc (JSU gave only 202 yards at the same 5.5 ypc) and threw so much because they haven't been able to crack 3.5 ypc against either FSU or Toledo.
See, I'd argue that ND having to rally to beat Toledo at home because they only scored on 5 of their 13 drives (including a pick-six) while giving up 22 points to Toledo shows a worse offensive output and defensive performance than Michigan scoring on 5 of their 10 drives and holding UW to 10 points (7 of which they scored while down 21 points in the middle of the 4th quarter), but that's just me.
September 12th, 2021 at 7:46 PM ^
I cannot wait to see what mental gymnastics you invoke to leverage the transitive property of college football when Michigan gets into the conference schedule.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:16 PM ^
Lot of one loss teams up there ahead of us, 25th huh? We'll see, probably a good place to be right now.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:20 PM ^
All the one loss teams have losses to top 15 teams.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
Quality losses are even better than wins against P5 opponents by 21 points
September 12th, 2021 at 6:08 PM ^
Yeah, quality losses typically do outweigh home wins over teams that lost to an FCS school and scored a total of 7 points in that game.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
Iowa State barely beat UNI and got stomped by Iowa. They are not a top 20 team.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:16 PM ^
I’d have UCLA and PSU above oSU.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:17 PM ^
So, should be ranked by the time we take on our arch rival from NJ.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:20 PM ^
Shocked, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Lsu, Miss st, and Vanderbilt aren’t ranked…. Maybe they are 26-31 in others receiving votes
September 12th, 2021 at 2:30 PM ^
ND is a fraud (again). No way they should be ranked above UCLA or Penn State. Hoping Purdue and Wisconsin kick their ass.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:03 PM ^
Purdue is not good and Wisconsin is also overrated. But they could still beat Notre Dame.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:30 PM ^
Iowa State should have dropped much more.
September 12th, 2021 at 2:47 PM ^
I had figured somewhere in the low 20s would be right, so a little off.
it will take a bit of time, but keep winning and the ranking will come...
September 12th, 2021 at 3:11 PM ^
I think that the imbalance in the offense probably contributed to his. I have no doubt that when we need it, the forward pass will be there. I'm guessing they pass a lot this coming weekend just to get some game practice with it. Washington with their good DB's and potential for coming back wasn't an optimal situation for practicing passing under game conditions when you were beating them easily on the ground.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:22 PM ^
Northern Illinois has the worst rushing defense in the nation. Expect more thunder and lightning next week.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:00 PM ^
It's early but last year is over. Honestly think Michigan would beat more than half the teams on the board based on their play these first two weeks. Just sayin.
September 12th, 2021 at 3:16 PM ^
ND being ranked ahead of OSU is a joke.
September 12th, 2021 at 4:58 PM ^
Polls are meaningless this time of year.
September 13th, 2021 at 2:04 AM ^
Boy if resume matters Iowa behind A and M is a real head scratcher. Bama will straighten that out but wow.