Big Ten Power Rankings Week 2: Does Anybody Belong at No. 1?
Saturday Blitz Big Ten Power Rankings Week 2
12. Iowa Hawkeyes: 2-0 (0-0), Defeated Ball State 17-13 Last Week
The Hawkeyes almost became the third Big Ten team to lose to a MAC team last week, but fortunately they avoided that at the very end. Still, this is a team that has now had to escape twice against two very bad teams as it has opened the season, and it looks nothing like the team that analysts had been hyping up at the beginning of the year as the one that could win the Big Ten West.
Iowa’s offense at least looked good again despite only 17 points, but it couldn’t avoid costly turnovers or stalled drives. Those will do you in, and it almost did them in.
A win is a win, and the Hawkeyes are fortunate to escape. But they don’t look like a top Big Ten team right now after struggling to put away Northern Iowa and Ball State. Now they have Iowa State coming to town, and if they struggle again, they could move further down this list.
Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, though, the two teams below them have been so awful so far that it will be hard to bump them down the list, even if they do play poorly on Saturday against a rival team.