By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – First, it was conference realignment then a pop quiz about the Hawkeyes and now Mr. Optimist and Mr. Pessimist are back with another debate about Hawkeye football.

It’s been a busy and eventful weekend.

And incredibly, the two guys that never agree on anything about Hawkeye football, and about Hawkeye athletics overall, did agree on one thing in this debate.

So, give it a read to find out.

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Mr. Optimist: The Big Ten Conference asserted its power and influence in impressive fashion by adding both Oregon and Washington from the Pac-12 Conference, giving the Big Ten 18 teams that stretch from coast to coast and that give the conference massive television markets in some of the most populated regions in the country.

Mr. Pessimist: And yet, Notre Dame still doesn’t seem interested in joining the Big Ten.

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Mr. Optimist: For those that prefer the path of least resistance, Iowa’s 2023 football schedule, which doesn’t include Michigan or Ohio State, is arguably the easiest schedule in the Big Ten on paper, with only one team that finished last season ranked, which is Penn State.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa didn’t play Michigan or Ohio State in 2014 and it also faced Northern Iowa, Ball State and Iowa State in the nonconference schedule , all of which were played at home, but still finished just 7-6 overall.

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Mr. Optimist: The 2022 Iowa defense gave up just 1.09 points per drive, which led the nation, and the defense also led the nation for the second time in three years in stop rate drives (drives that end in punts, turnovers, or turnovers on downs).

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa still lost five games last season as the 2022 Iowa offense finished last season ranked 130^th out of 131 FBS teams in total offense, had just seven touchdown passes and scored 13 or fewer points in five games.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has arguably the best punter/kicker combination in college football in senior punter Tory Taylor and sophomore kicker Drew Stevens.

Mr. Pessimist: That was also true last season against Illinois and Iowa still lost 9-6 in Champaign against a backup quarterback.

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Mr. Optimist: Tory Taylor in each of the past two seasons has averaged 45.4 yards and 46.1 yards per punt, respectively.

Mr. Pessimist: Tory Taylor has combined to punt a whopping 162 times over the past two seasons, including 82 times last season.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa returns multiple offensive linemen with starting experience and has also added two experienced offensive linemen from the transfer portal.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa returns multiple offensive linemen with starting experience, but Kirk Ferentz still felt the unit left something to be desired, so he turned to the transfer portal for help.

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Mr. Optimist: The addition of Cade McNamara at quarterback has given hope to an Iowa offense that performed woefully last season because he has shown that he can perform at a high level and lead a team to a Big Ten championship as he did for Michigan in 2021.

Mr. Pessimist: Two words really stand out in what you just said: for Michigan.

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Mr. Optimist: Junior tight end Luke Lachey took his performance to another level last season as he led Iowa with four touchdown receptions.

Mr. Pessimist: His teammates combined for just three touchdown receptions.

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Mr. Optimist: Floyd of Rosedale has called Iowa City home since 2015 with Iowa having won eight games in a row against Minnesota.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa entered last season with a seven-game winning streak against Nebraska and a six-game winning streak against Iowa State, but then lost both games.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa’s first five home games are sold out, showing that fans are loyal, excited, and energized about the 2023 season.

Mr. Pessimist: That just means there will be hardly any room to move during all those television timeouts that seem to drag on longer than the wedding scene in the Deer Hunter.

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Mr. Optimist: By adding two more teams from the West Coast, the Big Ten is keeping pace with the Southeastern Conference as the two most powerful and influential conferences in major college football.

Mr. Pessimist: Keeping pace?

Since 2000, the SEC has won 14 national titles in football, which is 12 more than the Big Ten has won during that time.

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Mr. Optimist: Of course, you’d prefer to face the Cyclones at Kinnick Stadium, but Iowa has won its last five games in a row against Iowa State in Ames and will try to make it six in a row this season.

Mr. Pessimist: Even in victory, it still comes down to having to spend a Saturday in Ames.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has had 85 players selected in the NFL draft under Kirk Ferentz, including 13 in the first round.

Mr. Pessimist: Of those 85 players selected in the draft under Ferentz, four played wide receiver, three played quarterback and two played running back.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has won at least nine games in nine seasons under Kirk Ferentz.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa has lost at least five games in 14 seasons under Kirk Ferentz.

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Mr. Optimist: Another Iowa football season means another season in which the Wave will further solidify its status as the greatest new tradition in sports.

Mr. Pessimist: That isn’t fair because even an old, miserable, glass-half-empty hater like me can’t think of anything negative to say about something so special.

So, please stick to sports.