Spencer Wagen / 1600 ESPN
If you close your eyes right now and take a deep breath, you can almost envision a crisp, fall Saturday. You’re dressed in your favorite team’s colors at your favorite tailgate spot and eagerly awaiting kickoff with a cold beverage in one hand and a brat or a burger in the other. The sun is shining brightly, you’re with your best friends, life is good — and for the next three-plus hours, nothing matters more than making sure you do your part and help cheer the Hawks, ’Clones or whoever your team is on to victory
If you’re allowing yourself to dream about football season right now, I can’t blame you. We’re almost there — and a sure sign of the season being right around the corner is the parade of media days that have made their annual appearance on our sports landscape.
This week is the Big Ten’s turn to take center stage at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. With 18 teams now making up the league with the number 10 in the name, the event is spread across three days, meaning triple the Big Ten coverage for fans of the conference that’s rooted in the Midwest but spreads coast to coast.
Part of the preseason ritual for the Big Ten is the annual preseason media poll done by the folks at Cleveland.com. Their writers have been doing the preseason rankings for the last 14 years after the conference itself stopped doing the exercise.
For those asking where might the Hawkeyes fit into the new-look Big Ten, you’ll find conference media members are actually pretty bullish on Iowa, despite plenty of questions on offense for the Hawkeyes. The media panel has picked Iowa to finish fifth in the conference, behind favorites Ohio State (21 first place votes), Oregon (six), Penn State and Michigan.
All things considered, I think that is a totally fair baseline for the Hawkeyes to begin the season. We know the defense is going to be top-tier again, with talent up and down the lineup — including easily two of the best linebackers in the game in Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson. Add in Sebastian Castro at the CASH position (part linebacker, part defensive back) and an experienced defensive backfield with Jermari Harris, Xavier Nwankpa and Quinn Schulte — you’ve got another very strong unit on that side of the ball.
Where the majority of questions lie — and this is not breaking any new ground — is the state of the offense. Can Tim Lester’s system help revive a unit that’s hit as close to rock bottom as it can the last couple of seasons? That will take time to answer, just as questions about the health of (presumed) starting quarterback Cade McNamara will, too. McNamara told reporters recently that he’s 100% healthy, but coming off two knee surgeries is not easy — and I think Kirk Ferentz and staff made the right call in bringing in a backup with Big Ten experience in Brendan Sullivan this off season that can fill in for McNamara if need be.
When you take into account other questions involving the offense, such as depth at wide receiver and an offensive line that’s been nowhere near the standard of play that you’d expect under Ferentz, it’s easy to see why there might be some pause to putting Iowa any higher than fifth in the Big Ten’s pecking order to begin the year.
If the defense and special teams stay strong, and the offense even makes marginal improvements, I think there is an opportunity for Iowa to finish in the upper half of the league as the pollsters have predicted. How it actually plays out is anyone’s guess, and the only way to find out is to watch the season unfold.
Spencer Wagen is the host of “Spencer on Sports,” weekdays from 4-6 p.m. on 1600 ESPN. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @SWOnTheRadio.
