Saturday Blitz Big Ten Power Rankings Week 5
6. Iowa Hawkeyes, 4-1 (1-0), Defeated Purdue Boilermakers 24-10 Last Saturday
Iowa’s loss to Iowa State was rough, but the Hawkeyes have looked like a very solid Iowa team in every game outside of that one. Beating Pittsburgh two Saturdays ago may not look like a very good win anymore, but then defeating Purdue has this team at 4-1 heading into a bye week.
The Hawkeyes have a very good defense that has yet to look bad in any of their games, but the offense needs to start stepping up for us to affirm this team’s placement in the No. 6 spot. It has still not yet scored more than 24 points in a game since the opener, when it put up 31 points against an FCS school. That has to change over the course of the next few weeks with Big Ten play really starting to take off. The defense can’t carry this team forever.
After the bye, Indiana is the next game, and it’s a toss-up given how much we don’t know about the Hoosiers. And then the Terps are on the schedule in Maryland, which will be really tough. The Hawkeyes could easily get to 9-1 before games against Wisconsin and Nebraska to close out the season. But they could also fall to 4-6.