Dumping Them Out: The Iowa Hawkeyes Exist

Welcome back to another episode of Dumping Them Out. To start today's blog, in honor of National Tight Ends Day (which clearly NFL announcers across the world have guns to their heads by Roger Goodell DEMANDING they remind us every time a tight end makes a catch), here's a reminder that Harold Fannin Jr., the owner of every single-season college TE record that have ever existed (or at least a lot of them) was the steal of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Harold Fannin Jr. is making a strong case for being the hardest player to tackle in all of the NFL. And he only turned 21 a few months ago.

As a long time Big Ten defender whose guilty pleasure is letting himself buy into the narrative that the Big Ten is just as good as the SEC from top to bottom… which I know deep down they're not… but it doesn't stop me from getting mad to myself on Saturday night after a long day of football watching when I tune into Barstool Sports premier college football podcast Unnecessary Roughness, and hear them talk about how impressive Alabama is for beating an objectively bad South Carolina team in fucking overtime. Because when Indiana beats Iowa by 5 on the road it's a blemish on their record. But when Alabama does it, it shows how phenomenally resilient they are. I may have even taken the time to clip the parts of the podcast that upset me. I ultimately decided that I was being a salty bitch, so I didn't tweet them out. Because again, I know deep down I'm taking it too personally. But had I tweeted one of them out, it would have looked something like this.

Anyways… as a Big Ten guy… I've noticed that NOBODY is talking about the Iowa Hawkeyes. Whenever I hear people at Barstool (mostly Dave Portnoy) defend the integrity of the Big Ten, I never hear them bring up Iowa. But Iowa is in a pretty damn good position right now. They are one win away from being squarely in the college football playoff picture.

I'm not saying I think it's going to happen, but look at what Iowa has going on. They have a 6-2 record. Both of their losses are to Top 25 teams. The first was @ #16 Iowa State (final score 16-13). Iowa State has been devastated by injuries since then. They're not the same team anymore. But at the time, they were formidable. They were considered a favorite to win the Big 12, and Iowa was right on par with them.

Iowa's second loss was at home vs Indiana (final score, 20-15). That's a pretty damn good loss. There aren't many teams in college football capable of playing Indiana that closely. But on that day, Iowa was right on par with Indiana.

Iowa doesn't have any great wins over impressive teams. But they've had moments that make you think, "Oh shit… maybe Iowa is onto something." They actually have a little bit of an offense this year. It's not great. I'm not even sure you classify it as good. But it's capable. Unlike most seasons, this year, I am not convinced that Iowa would be better off running the triple option. They boat raced a 5-2 Minnesota team yesterday (final score, 41-3). They shutout Wisconsin 37-0. They also beat Penn State the week after they fired James Franklin. Which isn't especially impressive, but Penn State is still a team full of 4 and 5 star talent, and Iowa had no problems matching up against them physically. I mean… neither did Northwestern. But whatever. They won the game. 

Nothing Iowa has done is going to jump off the page at anyone, but they're in a position right now where they could wind up with a real argument for a playoff bid. They're really just one win way. This week, they have a bye. But two weekends from now they host Oregon. The line for the game isn't out yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's almost a pick'em. Oregon and Iowa haven't played since 1994. Kinnick Stadium is one of the toughest places to play in college football. Oregon also might not be as good as we think. But they still have a #6 by their name. Which would be huge for voters. If Iowa wins that game, they'll have a 3-game stretch to finish the season of USC, Michigan State, and Nebraska. A trio of teams who's perfectly beatable, yet not bad enough that people can dismiss them as nobodies.

If that happens, Iowa will most likely still not make the Big Ten Championship. But they'd finish the season 10-2 with a win over a top 10 team, and their only two losses coming to ranked teams. Iowa is LIVE to make the college football playoffs. I look forward to getting pissed off two weeks from now when the beat Oregon, and the only takeaway people have from it is how weak Oregon is, instead of giving Iowa any credit for maybe actually being a good football team.