The USA Today Sports AFCA preseason Coaches Poll is just that. Preseason. The start of the action is still a few weeks away, and not a single real down has yet to be played.

But every year since 2018 Kirk Ferentz's Iowa Hawkeyes have made these rankings, which is why experts are calling it one of the biggest snubs of the preseason that the team was left off this time. Technically, they are just outside the promised land at #26, according to Hawk Central.

It's always tough being a Hawkeye fan. For every person who thinks it's a travesty they aren't getting more respect, you hear others lamenting the culture of "mediocrity" perpetuated by the Ferentzes (head coach Kirk and especially offensive coordinator Brian) and how they don't deserve to even see a whiff of any poll.

The team finished 10-4 last season including a trip to the Big Ten Championship to get trounced by Michigan, and a loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl. The knock on Coach Ferentz is that in his 20+ years he hasn't gotten the team closer to the other "promised land" of a national championship. With those two losses in a couple of important late-season games, it then sort of makes sense they aren't ranked in the preseason coaches' poll. There will be other early-season polls that come out, and rest assured as soon as Iowa shows up in one of them, the naysayers will be heard. For me, I'd much prefer to enjoy the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in real time as the season progresses rather than doom or overshoot the team's chances based on preseason rankings.

 

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