College Football: Each conference’s biggest sleeper contender for 2019
Big Ten: Iowa Hawkeyes
The East division teams out of the Big Ten typically form the cream of the crop in the conference, but next season, watch for the West division to take major strides.
While Wisconsin is normally the one team from the West division that is on the radar, Iowa may be the next team up to challenge the blue-bloods of the Big Ten.
Yes, the Hawkeyes lost their lethal tight end combination of Noah Fant and T. J. Hockenson, who rightly so, were each first-round draft picks.
However, Iowa returns the up-and-coming quarterback Nate Stanley, who enjoyed a successful junior year at the helm of the offense.
He threw for more than 2,800 yards and 26 touchdowns while completing 59 percent of his throws a year ago.
While the passing game saw some familiar faces leave for the NFL, the rushing attack is still ripe with seasoned players including junior Mekhi Sargent, the team’s leading rusher in 2018. He ran for 745 yards and nine touchdowns last year.
He is complemented by another junior in Toren Young, who rushed for 637 yards and seven touchdowns in 2018.
Given the offensive numbers last season, Iowa should stick to its guns and forge ahead with a balanced attack.
Defensively, the Hawkeyes lost one of its best defensive backs, Amani Hooker to the NFL, but return its top defensive player up front in lineman A.J. Espensa.
Espensa and Nelson combined for a whopping total of 30 tackles for loss last season. If that trend continues, that duo should be able to stymie Big Ten offenses.
The Hawkeyes are positioned nicely to be crowned the Big Ten West regular season champion. In that case, they would automatically qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game.
The reason Iowa can be considered a sleeper pick is because it has never won the Big Ten, although the Hawkeyes lost in the title game in 2015.
Wisconsin probably poses the biggest threat in their division equipped with star running back Johnathan Taylor, but the Hawkeyes will likely have to contend with the powerhouses of either Ohio State or Michigan from the East division if they want to win the Big Ten.