By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With the Iowa football team preparing to face Missouri in the Music City Bowl on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, the two guys that can’t seem to agree on anything were at it again.

Mr. Optimist and Mr. Pessimist took time from their holiday festivities to have another debate, with this one exclusively about Hawkeye football.

They were kind of enough to share a copy of the debate with Hawk Fanatic:

Mr. Optimist: The 2025 Iowa football team will receive a significant boost from the return of All-Big Ten center Logan Jones, starting offensive tackle Gennings Dunker, starting defensive end Ethan Hurkett and starting strong safety Xavier Nwanpka, all of whom recently said they plan to use their final season of eligibility.

Mr. Pessimist: That helps to distract from Iowa’s struggles in the transfer portal where at this point only two players have been added: a backup quarterback from Auburn (Hank Brown) and a defensive lineman from Central Michigan (Jonah Pace).

Mr. Optimist: Iowa star return specialist and receiver Kaden Wetjen told the media on Friday in Nashville that he is 98 percent certain that he will return next season.

Mr. Pessimist: There still is a 2 percent chance that he won’t return to an offense that is currently ranked 131^st out of 134 FBS teams in passing offense.

Mr. Optimist: A win over Missouri in the Music City Bowl on Monday would mark the 11^th time that Iowa has won at least nine games under head coach Kirk Ferentz.

Mr. Pessimist: A loss to Missouri in the Music City would mark the 15^th time that Iowa has lost at least five games in a season under Kirk Ferentz.

Mr. Optimist: Iowa is one of five teams in FBS to have won at least eight games in each of the last nine completed seasons, along with Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa is the only one among those five teams that hasn’t made the college playoff or won a conference title in the past 20 years.

Mr. Optimist:  Kirk Ferentz has 204 career victories as Iowa’s head coach — second-most in Big Ten history. With his next victory, he will tie Ohio State’s Woody Hayes (205) for the most overall wins in league history.

Mr. Pessimist: The Music City Bowl will be Kirk Ferentz’s 328^th game as the Iowa head coach, whereas Woody Hayes set the record despite only coaching in 276 games.

Mr. Optimist: The Music City Bowl matchup between 8-4 Iowa and 9-3 Missouri looks pretty even on paper and is intriguing since it matches two border rivals from two different conferences that have only faced each other once since 1911.

Mr. Pessimist: The best offensive players for both teams – Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson and Missouri receiver Luther Burden – have both opted out of the Music City Bowl.

Mr. Optimist: Iowa is the only program in the nation to have a consensus All-American in six consecutive years.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa has now gone two decades without having a quarterback make first-team All-Big Ten.

Mr. Optimist: Iowa has won nine of its last 10 games against Nebraska and Minnesota, and four of its last five games against Wisconsin.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa has lost 15 of its last 17 games against Ohio State, four straight games against Michigan, seven of its last nine against Penn State and two of its last three against Iowa State.

Mr. Optimist: Two of Iowa’s four losses this season were against nationally ranked opponents Iowa State and Ohio State, which had a combined record of 23-4 as of Saturday afternoon.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa’s other two losses were on the road at Michigan State and UCLA, two teams that would go on to finish just 5-7 overall.

Mr. Optimist: Iowa is averaging 199.8 rushing yards per game — the most for the program since 2002 (214.2). The Hawkeyes have rushed for 200-plus yards in eight games (250-plus in four games) this season, a program record.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa is averaging just 131.1 passing yards per game and hasn’t had a quarterback throw for at least 300 yards in a game since Nate Stanley in 2019.

Mr. Optimist: Iowa defeated Missouri 27-24 in the 2010 Insight Bowl, marking the last time the teams have faced each other.

Mr. Pessimist: The 2010 Iowa football team started 5-1 and was thought to be a legitimate Big Ten contender, but then lost three of its last four games to finish just 8-5 overall.