By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – To help make you feel better less than a week before the season opener, here is a glass-half-full evaluation of the 2026 Iowa football team.

Never mind that Iowa had to replace its starting quarterback, who scored 16 rushing touchdowns last season; three starters on the offensive line, all of whom made first-team All-Big Ten; a record-breaking place-kicker; the starting punter; one of the greatest return specialists in Big Ten history; and eight starters on defense.

And never mind that Iowa will play at Michigan, at home against Ohio State and at Washington in its first three Big Ten games.

This evaluation is all sunny side up; the brighter side, some might say.

I’ve been pretty outspoken about this season being a potential skid for the Hawkeyes for a number of reasons, but mostly because of so many key personnel losses, which also includes former special teams coordinator LeVar Woods, who now coaches specials teams for Michigan State, and because of how difficult the first three conferences games almost certainly will be.

My recent prediction of 8-4 still stands, but it’s much closer to being 7-5 than 9-3, largely due to the uncertainty at quarterback, kicker and punter.

But enough with the negativity, and the glass-half-empty narrative because there is always the possibility that Kirk Ferentz and his cohorts will defy the odds and exceed expectations because they’ve done it before.

Not even the most delusional Hawkeye homer would have predicted that the 2015 Iowa team would win its first 12 games and play in the Rose Bowl.

Iowa also won 11 games in 2009, just one year after having to replace Shonn Greene at running back.

This isn’t to suggest that Iowa will win 11 or 12 games this season, but stranger things have happened, such as Indiana going from the depths of Big Ten football to the top of the mountain, in just two seasons.

While so much of the focus has been on who Iowa has lost from a personnel standpoint, and rightfully so, the cupboard hardly is bare.

A good place to start is on that same offensive where three celebrated starters have to be replaced, including Logan Jones, who was the recipient of the 2025 Rimington Trophy, which goes to the nation’s best collegiate center.

Iowa still has two of the best offensive linemen in the country in right guard Kade Pieper and left tackle Trevor Lauck, both of whom made third-team all-Big Ten last season as first-year starters.

Pieper had switched to center after playing right guard last season, but he has since switched back to right guard due to Cael Winter’s emergence at center.

Based on the preseason hype, Pieper is considered one of top college offensive linemen in the country, and Lauck isn’t too far behind him.

They give Iowa offensive line coach George Barnett a rock-solid nucleus to build around.

Of course, the other three starters on the offensive line will have to do their part, but two have two proven stars should only help in that regard.

Iowa also has an emerging star at tight end in third-year former walk-on DJ Vonnahme, and plenty of quality of depth behind him including fifth-year player Addison Ostrenga, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the second game against Iowa State last season.

Vonnhame will obviously attract attention, but opponents would be making a mistake to overlook Ostrenga, who when healthy, is reliable and productive.

If tight end isn’t the deepest position on the team, than running back might be.

Fourth-year player Kamari Moulton leads a talented group of running backs that also includes transfer LJ Phillips, who rushed for 1,921 yards at South Dakota last season, the most in FCS.

There are no proven stars at wide receiver, but if 6-foot-4, 215-pound Reece Vander Zee could just stay healthy for a change, he might reach that status.

Iowa also added receivers Tony Diaz and Evan James from the transfer portal, and both are expected to provide the kind of spark that Iowa sometimes lacks at receiver.

Switching over to defense where there is certainly reason for concern, there is also one of the best college defensive backs in the country leading the unit in fourth-year do-everything safety Zach Lutmer.

The Rock Rapids native is well on his way to becoming Iowa’s next great defensive back, if he isn’t there already.

Lutler will also add punt returning to his role as Iowa moves on without star returner Kaden Wetjen, who now plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Lutmer has been asked to do just about everything as an Iowa defensive back. Ffrom playing safety to cash to cornerback; he can do it all at a high level.

But still, nobody should expect Lutmer to pick up where Wetjen left off last season, but there is also no reason to think that Lutmer would be anything less than effective as a punt returner.

Jayden Montgomery also gives Iowa a solid and reliable middle linebacker to build that unit around, and if Winfield native Cam Buffington lives up to the hype that he has generated since the spring, Iowa would have two solid and reliable linebackers.

Buffington and Diaz have received the most hype amongst the Iowa players that have yet to establish themselves at this level.

Now they just have to live up to it, starting with the season opener against Northern Illinois this coming Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

At least half of the 16 players that Iowa added from the transfer portal will also have to rise to the occasion, or one would think, for this season to be a success.

And who’s to say that won’t happen?

Iowa is being picked to finish near the middle of the Big Ten, including eighth by the media, so to meet that expectation would probably take about eight wins.

Kirk Ferentz is entering his record 28th season as the Iowa head coach, and like always, he’s taking a low key approach and making no bold predictions.

He always considers his team a work in progress, sometimes even a slow work, and that is especially true heading into this season.

But again, Iowa has a sturdy foundation under Ferentz. And if your glass is half full, you believe that foundation, along with some talented players like the ones mentioned in this article, will help to make this season a success.

This was just some positive reinforcement.