Published Aug 12, 2024
Iowa Ranked #25 in AP Preseason Poll
Ross Binder  •  Hawkeye Beacon
Managing Editor

The 2024 college football season is just a few weeks away now, so the preseason Top 25 polls are coming fast and furious now. The AP released its preseason Top 25 poll today, with Iowa checking in at #25 on the poll. That's exactly where the Hawkeyes were slotted in the preseason Coaches Poll released last week.

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AP Top 25
RANKTEAMRECORDPTS

1

Georgia (46)

0-0

1532

2

Ohio State (15)

0-0

1490

3

Oregon (1)

0-0

1403

4

Texas

0-0

1386

5

Alabama

0-0

1260

6

Ole Miss

0-0

1189

7

Notre Dame

0-0

1122

8

Penn State

0-0

1060

9

Michigan

0-0

995

10

Florida State

0-0

971

11

Missouri

0-0

927

12

Utah

0-0

887

13

LSU

0-0

804

14

Clemson

0-0

689

15

Tennessee

0-0

629

16

Oklahoma

0-0

566

17

Oklahoma State

0-0

538

18

Kansas State

0-0

526

19

Miami

0-0

492

20

Texas A&M

0-0

292

21

Arizona

0-0

237

22

Kansas

0-0

231

23

USC

0-0

172

24

North Carolina State

0-0

171

25

Iowa

0-0

140

In fact, not only is Iowa #25 in both polls -- there's very little difference in either poll overall. The Top 10 is identical in each poll -- Georgia, followed by Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan, and Florida State. Each poll contains the same 25 teams as well -- the only differences are minor ranking differences (1-2 spots) in a few places (the Coaches Poll ranked LSU 12 and Utah 13, for instance).

As a result, the breakdown by conference is the same for the AP Poll: six teams for the Big Ten, led by Ohio State at #2, followed by Oregon at #3, Penn State at #8, Michigan at #9, USC at #23, and Iowa at #25. The SEC is the only conference with more teams (9), while the Big 12 has five teams and the ACC has four.

25th is a pretty familiar starting spot for Iowa in the preseason rankings in recent seasons. The Hawkeyes have been ranked in four of the last five AP preseason polls, never higher than 18th: #20 (2019), #24 (2020), #18 (2021), #25 (2023), #25 (2024). Iowa has finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 in six of the last seven seasons. Overall, Iowa has been ranked in the preseason Top 25 11 times since Kirk Ferentz's arrival in 1999.

How accurate is the preseason Top 25 at projecting future College Football Playoff teams? The AP's Ralph Russo ran the numbers and the preseason poll seems to do a good -- but not great -- job of predicting the future field. Over the last 10 years, 9 of the eventual 12 teams that would have comprised a 12-team College Football Playoff bracket (under the format taking effect this year) started the season ranked in the preseason Top 25. You can read the full breakdown here.

The 2024 football season begins for Iowa on August 31 against Illinois State.