Iowa College Football Power Poll

With all the different football power polls our there, we here at OTE thought it would be fun to do an all-inclusive power poll for the state of Iowa this week. This poll includes every single NCAA football program from DI to DIII (NAIA was left out for the sake of brevity.) Without further ado, let me introduce the pecking order for football in the state of Iowa

#1: Iowa Hawkeyes

I mean, this one was obvious, wasn’t it? Iowa is the only FBS program in the state that’s had a winning record since 2009. Not much argument here.

#2: Northern Iowa Panthers

The FCS playoffs quarterfinalist from 2015 is coming in hot off their second victory over Iowa State in the last 4 years. They look to build on this momentum as they take on the Montana Grizzlies on Saturday.

#3: Dubuque Spartans

The defending IIAC champions survived a shootout against Bethel last weekend. Their offense was more than impressive, but the the defense will need to improve if they want to repeat last year’s success.

#4: Drake Bulldogs

Drake returns a lot of talent from last year’s team that went undefeated at home. Junior quarterback Cody Thibault is one of the leaders in the locker room, and the rest of the team will need to rally behind him if they want to make the playoffs.

#5: Central Dutch

Central College will face Augustana after traveling all the way to Spokane, WA where they won a thrilling 50-49 game in overtime. A win in Rock Island will certainly turn a few heads

#6: Wartburg Knights

Wartburg opens their season against Monmouth on Saturday, and they are a favorite to contend for the IIAC title this year.

#7: Upper Iowa Peacocks

The Peacocks fell a couple spots after their loss to Bemidji State, but their status as Iowa’s only DII program will give them a bump in the rankings.

#8: Coe Kohawks

Coe climbed up to #8 after their convincing victory over UW-River Falls. If they take care of arch-rival Cornell College this weekend, they’ll be right back in the thick of things.

#9: Cornell Rams

Cornell jumped up a few spots after drubbing Iowa Wesleyan, but they still have a lot of work to do if they want to be taken seriously. This weekend’s game against Coe should be a good barometer of how the rest of the season will pan out.

#10: Grinnell Pioneers

Grinnell barely showed a pulse as they were pounded to the tune of 69 points (nice) by St. Olaf. The mounting injuries aren’t doing the Pioneers any favors though. If they don’t find some young guys who can step up and make plays, they’re in trouble.

#11: Iowa Wesleyan Tigers

The Tigers defense was absolutely torched by Cornell last week. The linebackers looked confused all day. The safeties were beat deep several times, and the offensive line looked like they’d never seen a blitz before. If you have any Iowa Wesleyan stock you better dump it now.

#12: Simpson Storm

Simpson faces an absolute meat grinder of a schedule this season, and I don’t see any way they get through it with a winning record. Last week they fell to UW-Stout, and won’t return home until October.

#13: Loras Duhawks

After a disappointing 4-6 campaign in 2015, the Duhawks lost a heartbreaker against Elmhurst to start the season. Loras opens conference play with back-to-back games against Coe and Central, and they absolutely have to steal one of those games if they want to have a shot at the postseason.

#14: Luther Norse

Luther struggled to move the ball against UW-La Crosse, and likely won’t have a realistic chance to win a game until October 15th against Buena Vista. Luckily for the people of Decorah, Toppling Goliath is there to help them forget about football until next year.

#15: Buena Vista Beavers

BVU doesn’t have much to cheer for this year. After their loss to Mayville State, the Beavers have a very realistic shot at a winless 0-10 season. Coach Jay Anderson needs to build for the future if he wants to stick around Storm Lake much longer.

#16: Iowa State Cyclones

On Saturday night we learned several things that we already knew:

1. In no way was Iowa State a step up from Toledo for Mad Matt Campbell.
2. The Cyclones lose to FCS schools on a regular basis.
3. Iowa State is the football equivalent of a burning pile of diapers.