– Last Updated on June 8, 2018 7:50 am
2017 Football Preview – Big Ten – Hawkeyes
Looking for 2017 Iowa Hawkeyes predictions? The Iowa Hawkeyes had a solid 2016 season, but probably for the team and fans a bit disappointing considering they were a goal line stand away from winning the Big Ten and moving on to be one of the final four teams in the College Football Playoff in 2015. Ready to bet on college football futures odds namely the Hawkeyes CFB futures? Click for updated odds on today’s games plus grab a 50% bonus up to $3000 now at MyBookie.ag. Let’s break down and make a prediction on the 2017 Iowa Hawkeyes football team.
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- 2017-18 College Football Preview – Iowa Hawkeyes
- Head Coach: Kirk Ferentz
- 2015 Record: 8-5
- Iowa Hawkeyes to win the 2017 FBS Championship: 66/1
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2016 filled with some highs and plenty of lows. The lows coming early when they lost to North Dakota State and Northwestern at home.
But, their highs came late in the season when they rallied to win three in a row including a 14-13 upset over Michigan and 40-10 trouncing over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
2017 Iowa Hawkeyes Predictions: Team Strengths
Joe Moore Award O-Line: Not many teams have all five of their starting offensive line unit returning and no team in the country is bringing back the best offensive line in the country. But, this Iowa Hawkeyes team is.
Last year, the Iowa Hawkeyes won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the country and it is very much expected that they may win it again, or at the very least, be in contention because all five offensive linemen are coming back.
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Senior left tackle Boone Myers will look to protect his new quarterback’s blindside while senior guard Sean Walsh is expected to be the highest drafted player from this unit.
Potential Top 50 Picks: Senior halfback Akrum Wadley could have declared for the draft last year, but he opted to stay in Iowa for one more year. All things considered, that was right move.
Wadley is a superb athlete. Wadley has the speed, quickness and overall skill that you need to be a versatile player in the NFL.
However, he’s a bit under sized and so another year in college won’t hurt as he puts on a little bit of size to bolster his frame. He gained over 1,000 yards last year, and with his big fellas up front coming back look for yet another 1,000 yard season.
We’ve talked about the offense, but let’s not overlook the defense. Iowa’s defense will be led by linebacker Josey Jewell who is the definition of a football player.
Jewell is a smart kid who possesses that leadership quality, and, of course, the instincts for a standout linebacker. He had 124 tackles last year and I would expect similar results this year, as well.
2017 Iowa Hawkeyes Predictions: Team Weaknesses
Who’s Throwing And Catching?: Iowa has plenty of legitimate strengths that will carry them to wins, but they also have some major weaknesses they will have to attend to this year. The big concern is who will start at quarterback?
It’s a two battle as sophomore Nathan Stanley and junior Tyler Wiegers will look to handle the quarterbacking duties this year for the Hawkeyes.
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Not only do the Hawkeyes have to develop a quarterback, but they need receivers. Senior Matt VandeBerg was expected to be the safety blanket out wide, but he missed nine games last year and has been banged up this spring.
Someone will have to step up whether it be sophomore Devonte Young, junior Adrian Falconer or someone else.
Big Shoes To Fill: Defensively, they are having to rebuild the line and secondary. Sophomore’s Anthony Nelson and Cedrick Lattimore will look to fill in the gap that Jaleel Johnson is vacating.
In the secondary, Iowa will have to replace 2015 Jim Thorpe Award winner Desmond King who ended up getting picked in the fifth round in this year’s NFL Draft.
Iowa Hawkeyes Prediction
8-4
All in all, this is an interesting Iowa Hawkeyes team that has plenty of strengths to boost this team, but a lot of glaring weaknesses that may end up sinking this team.
The schedule, for the most part, is neutral. It’s not an easy schedule by any means, but it’s not outrageously hard either. They avoid Michigan, but they get Ohio State; the good news is it’s at least a home game. Also, they have the benefit of having seven home games compared to five road games.
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The expectation for Iowa is stay undefeated as they head into conference play. Then it’ll get tricky. Penn State will be tough, but Iowa will be at home looking to take out their frustration on after last year’s humiliating 41-14 loss.
While Michigan State is rebuilding, that won’t be an easy game on the road and three of those final four games will be extremely tough games.
Overall, I think this is an Iowa Hawkeyes team that should expect roughly the same results as last year. I definitely think they’ll have a winning season anywhere from seven to nine wins.
For me, I’ll say the Hawkeyes finish the regular season at 8-4 and then we’ll see if they can snap their five game bowl losing streak.
2017 Iowa Hawkeyes Football Schedule
- 9/2/17 TBD WYO
- 9/9/17 TBD @ISU
- 9/16/17 TBD UNT
- 9/23/17 TBD PSU
- 9/30/17 TBD @MSU
- 10/7/17 TBD ILL
- 10/21/17 TBD @NW
- 10/28/17 TBD MINN
- 11/4/17 TBD OSU
- 11/11/17 TBD @WIS
- 11/18/17 TBD PUR
- 11/24/17 TBD @NEB
What do you think about our 2017 Iowa Hawkeyes predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2017!
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