What Might Have Been: Hawkeyes Ranked In AP Top 25

Iowa comes in at No. 24 in preseason football rankings.

With the Big Ten football season on hold until a possible winter/spring season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything for Iowa right now is in what-might-have-been mode.

The Hawkeyes come in at No. 24 in the Associated Press poll, released Monday morning.

Iowa was No. 23 in the Amway Coaches Poll, released earlier this month.

The Hawkeyes, coming off a 10-3 season that included a win over USC in the Holiday Bowl, would have been facing five ranked teams in their original schedule that included nonconference opponents — Ohio State (2), Penn State (7), Wisconsin (12), Minnesota (19) and Iowa State (23). Three of those games would have been on the road.

The AP preseason poll, like the coaches poll, included teams in conferences that won't be playing fall seasons. Iowa was one of nine teams in the rankings that won't be playing, indicated by asterisks.

Iowa, which had a 10-game conference-only schedule in hand on August 5, had that schedule erased six days later when the Big Ten postponed all fall sports because of medical concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conference is working on a new winter/spring schedule.

There were still plenty of questions with this Iowa team heading into the season. The Hawkeyes would have a new quarterback replacing Nate Stanley — Spencer Petras, Stanley's backup last season, was expected to be No. 1 on the depth chart. Running backs Tyler Goodson and Mekhi Sargent were returning as well as Iowa's four top wide receivers from last season.

Monday was just another reminder of what was lost.