Magazines like Hawkeyes, but only one has them in top nine
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Drew Tate can't pass a newsstand without seeing his face on the cover of a college football publication.
His team is unanimously considered a top 15 outfit, a Big Ten title contender and a candidate for a BCS bowl.
And for once, the prognosticators are piling onto the Iowa bandwagon prior to the season and the Hawkeyes can no longer claim they're not getting respect -- not when they're ranked third in the country by one magazine and picked to win the Big Ten.
Athlon Sports has the Hawkeyes pegged to repeat as conference champions and has them ranked behind only USC and Tennessee, despite the fact Iowa needs to replace all four starters on its defensive line.
"But after the Hawkeyes went 7-1 in Big Ten competition last fall without a Division I-ready running back healthy enough to play, we have learned one indisputable lesson: Never sell Kirk Ferentz short or underestimate his resourcefulness," Athlon Sports writes. "The Iowa coach stands among the elite in his profession."
Five preseason publications -- Athlon Sports, Lindy's, Phil Steele's, Street & Smith's, and The Sporting News -- have Tate on the cover of their regional magazine, have the Hawkeyes ranked in the top 15 and project Iowa to finish in the top four of what figures to be an ultra-competitive Big Ten race.
"Kirk Ferentz could be the best coach in college football," writes Street & Smith's, which ranks Iowa 13th and picks the Hawkeyes to finish fourth in the conference, behind Michigan, Purdue and Ohio State. "The return of wizard-like QB Drew Tate -- last seen beating LSU with a game-ending bomb in the Capital One Bowl -- makes the Hawkeyes as savvy a pick as any in the Big Ten."
Iowa hasn't been a trendy pick in recent preseasons, but the publications have been burned by watching the Hawkeyes compile a 31-7 record, claim two Big Ten titles and post a 20-4 record in the conference since the beginning of the 2002 season.
"The Hawkeyes are in a bit of a rut," writes Lindy's, which ranks Iowa 15th, and picks the Hawkeyes fourth in the Big Ten. "They have finished eighth in the final AP poll for three consecutive seasons -- we didn't say it was a bad rut. They will, for the first time, probably get their due preseason love. ... but has the pendulum swung too far? Iowa could be better, but so is much of the Big Ten and all those good teams will be beating up on each other, making it hard for them to get into the top 10."
The schedule doesn't seem to help Iowa's case to finish atop the Big Ten. Of the consensus top four picks in the conference, the Hawkeyes are the only team that plays the other three. Purdue doesn't play Michigan or Ohio State, while Iowa goes to Columbus and West Lafayette -- pair of cities the Hawkeyes haven't left victorious since 1991.
The Sporting News, which ranks the Hawkeyes 10th and picks them to finish third in the league, ranks Iowa's schedule the second toughest in the Big Ten, behind Minnesota.
The Hawkeyes return 11 starters, including first-team all-Big Ten linebackers Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge and Tate, who passed for 2,786 yards and 20 touchdowns last year in his first season as a starter.
"Kirk Ferentz is amazing," writes Phil Steele. "If games were based on (first downs) and yardage totals, his team would be about .500 in Big Ten play the last three years, but instead they have chalked up a 20-4 record.
"Provided the replacements on the defensive front are adequate, this team is stronger than 2004's with an improved O-line. They can only have better health at RB and have one of the best QB's in the country in Drew Tate. ... If they continue to have good fortune and win their close games, they have a shot at getting to that big Rose Bowl game."
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