Iowa Football: Can Hawkeyes escape 8-win purgatory?

Iowa football finally has the talent to break out their streak of mediocrity. Can a young defense and an unstable running back group figure it out?

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Iowa football has been more consistent than just about any other team in America. They’ve been that way since Kirk Ferentz came to town in 1999. That consistency, while generally positive, is sometimes the biggest issue at Iowa.

Since 2001, Iowa has missed a bowl game just twice. There a plenty of programs that would kill for that kind of production. However, outside of a 31 win stretch from 2002-2004, the Hawkeyes have been a model of mediocrity.

Since 2004, Iowa has won nine or more games just three times. Inversely, they’ve had seven seasons with either seven or eight wins in that same time span. Just one true down year, in 2012 (4-8) in that time makes it almost impossible to make a tangible argument for change in Iowa City.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t unrest at Iowa. Going 8-5 every season can drive a fan base mad, and the occasional breakout seasons (like 2015) just make the struggles that much more frustrating. Kirk Ferentz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so Iowa can almost certainly expect more of the same.

That may not be the case this season. Despite some key losses, Iowa returns quite a bit of production in 2018. After back to back 8-5 seasons, Iowa may finally have the talent to compete for the Big Ten West again this year. The key will be the development of young players.