An 8-4 record is nothing to be disappointed with, but it sort of feels like that record doesn’t indicate how good the Iowa Hawkeyes truly were this season. With their 6-3 B1G record, they were only three plays away from going 9-0 and being a sure-fire candidate to make the College Football Playoffs.

While Iowa had plenty of dominant wins this year, beating bad teams isn’t necessarily the most fulfilling thing in the world. Beating good teams is, and that’s something Iowa failed to do not once, but four times. One could argue that Iowa State isn’t even a good team, though they were ranked when the Hawkeyes went to Jack Trice Stadium at the beginning of the year.

The CyHawk rivalry is no joke, and once again Iowa State got the best of Iowa. At the time, the Cycoles were ranked No. 16. A ranked loss didn’t look so bad on Iowa’s record, but their offense was sluggish as their defense failed to get a stop when they needed them to the most.

Sure, Iowa State was coming off a ranked win over Kansas State, but the Wildcats turned out to be horrible. The Cyclones weren’t much better, and they’ll have a chance to end their season with the same record as Iowa.

If there was ever a way to follow up on the Iowa State loss, it was by scoring their most points since October 1, 2021. Iowa dropped 51 on Maryland on that night four years ago, but their dominant victory over UMass was just the beginning of a few blowout victories where Iowa had pleasure in running up the score.

This game will go down as the biggest “what if?” of the season. Had quarterback Mark Gronowski not gotten hurt, would Iowa have been the one team to take down the Hoosiers this season? It sure seemed like it. Other than only beating Penn State by three, this 20-15 loss was Indiana’s closest game of the season.

Iowa had a chance to go into halftime up 13-7, but a blocked field goal changed the course of the game. The Nittany Lions, down QB Drew Allar and without head coach James Franklin, led Iowa, 21-10. Somehow, the Hawkeyes were able to work some late-game magic, something that later reappeared against Michigan State. Regardless, taking down the Nittany Lions was huge, no matter how shorthanded they were or what their record showed.

The Hawkeyes had not one, but two chances to punch their ticket to the CFP. Even though they lost to Oregon, the CFP dropped them only one spot. They had a chance to go to Los Angeles and take down USC, something they once again failed to do. Time and time again, Iowa loses big games. There’s no doubt they’ll look back on this season and wonder what could’ve been as their four losses are by a combined 15 points. It’s tragic, to say the least.

While Iowa vs. Nebraska isn’t a true rivalry due to how one-sided it’s been in recent years, it sure felt good to see Iowa go out with a win like that. They dropped 40 points for the third time this year, something that older teams couldn’t even dream of. It was a great season, no doubt, but this could’ve been the one chance the Hawkeyes had to make a deep run.

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