Iowa Football: Ranking Hawkeyes’ 2020 opponents by toughness

A road game at Penn State is always daunting and the same could be said for games at Kinnick Stadium for opponents. Under the lights, it’d be hard to pick which one is tougher but no opponent wants to travel to Beaver Stadium nor Kinnick.

Unfortunately, the Hawkeyes get the tough task of playing in a potential white out environment in mid-October and this one could truly tell us how good Iowa will be. This is one of those litmus tests and Hawkeye fans are hoping their guys turn out better than expected.

This isn’t an unwinnable game, by any means, but Penn State has been rolling recently as James Franklin seems to have figured things out. Having Sean Clifford back and Journey Brown stepping up in the backfield will make this even tougher for Iowa.

Obviously the No. 1 team on every Big Ten program’s schedule in 2020 has to be Ohio State. The Buckeyes are just heads and shoulders better than the rest of the conference right now.

But the last time these two teams met, Iowa put a beatdown on the national title-hopeful Buckeyes in Iowa City, 55-24. You can bet that the Buckeyes remember that one fondly and won’t let it happen again, but the Hawkeyes are already at a disadvantage playing on the road with a first-year starting quarterback.

This one could be ugly and it’s not because Iowa is bad, but because the Buckeyes are just really, really good.