How Iowa Can Earn the National Media's Respect

The Iowa Hawkeyes have vaulted dramatically up the AP Top 25 College Football Rankings in the past month, reaching their current peak at the #2 slot after a come-from-behind win over former #4 Penn State this past weekend. Despite their ranking, many prominent voices in sports media have questioned whether the Hawkeyes, led by head coach Kirk Ferentz, are truly deserving of such a lofty ranking. USA Today sportswriter and resident cold-take artist Dan Wolken pulled no punches in his analysis of the state of college football:

He's never been wrong about anything before, so I would take his opinions very, very seriously.

Wolken isn't the only member of sports media that doubts the Hawkeyes, though. SB Nation's Spencer Hall offered this scathing point that severely undermines the case of any Iowa fan attempting to justify their team's ranking:

There are dozens of other examples of national perception about the Hawkeyes not aligning with the voters of the AP Poll that I won't get into, but it's abundantly apparent that the Iowa Hawkeyes have a severe national PR problem. Fortunately, after close examination and research, I think I've accumulated enough input to advise the #2 Hawkeyes to take a couple steps going forward that would win over some of the hearts of those who so adamantly denigrate them day in and day out. If you have Kirk Ferentz's e-mail address, you might want to send this article his way. He would do well to follow my advice and the advice of so many sports experts all around the country.

Start Losing More Games to Improve Strength of Schedule

Several columnists around the country that feel Iowa is over-ranked have aptly pointed out that Iowa has received credit from the AP voters for beating teams that were likely over-ranked by the preseason rankings. While Iowa fans may point out that Iowa is one of two teams in the country (the other being #1 Georgia) that currently owns two wins over teams that were formerly top-10 units, critics of Iowa point out that those teams have dropped in the rankings since then.

Iowa's win over Iowa State may have been a top-10 road victory at the time, but the Cyclones have since lost another game (unlike every single team that Georgia and Alabama have played). If the Hawkeyes had instead dropped their game in Ames, there's a considerable chance that Iowa State would have rode that momentum to a currently-undefeated record and would reside in the top 10. A road loss to a Top 10 team sounds a lot better than whatever Iowa gained from their game in Ames this year.

Even further, a couple of Iowa's signature wins were a tight 34-6 home win over the Indiana Hoosiers when they were ranked #17 and a 51-14 squeaker over Maryland on the road. If Iowa drops both of those games, there is a considerable chance that both Indiana and Maryland would have been ranked at least one additional week compared to what they actually have been. I don't know about you, but a 5-1 Maryland team with a top-5 victory over Iowa sounds a lot better than a 4-2 team that got shellacked at home.

This doesn't even take into account the clout that Iowa could have received by losing a tight game to Penn State, who would likely be #2 this week in a different universe. As it stands, we now have to question whether or not Iowa's schedule is actually difficult.

In an era where style points matter, I agree with the assertion of several of my sportswriting colleagues that it's important to make your schedule look as impressive as possible. Iowa would do well to follow that model going forward.

Stop Getting Lucky On Defense

Iowa's defense forces so many turnovers each week, and it's becoming apparent that relying on a ballhawking defense just will not be sustainable. With every fluke interception or forced fumble, Iowa's reliance on an aspect of the game that is entirely out of its control is established further, and we all know that as they play more games, they'll regress to the mean. There's literally no historic precedent for them being good at forcing turnovers, and eventually one of the statistical models generated by a guy punching box scores into calculators in his mom's basement will be right and they'll get exposed again.

Coach Ferentz, I'm trying to help you. It is impossible to force turnovers at the rate Iowa has been doing this year for more than one or two games. Please stop stealing all of the other team's passes. That's not how the great teams do it.