By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Midway through the 2026 regular season and coming off a bye week, the Iowa football team is 5-1 overall, 2-1 in conference play and still very much in the playoff hunt with six games remaining.

That so-called brutal three-games stretch to start Big Ten play wasn’t nearly as brutal as previously thought with Iowa having won two of three three games.

The wins over Michigan (20-19) and Washington (41-24) were also on the road, while the 31-14 loss to Ohio State on Oct. 3 was in Iowa City.

It is widely believed that Iowa would have to finish at least 10-2 to make the 12-team playoff field, so Iowa just has to match what it did in the first six games, though, of course, that’s easier said then done.

Iowa has performed better than expected, at least from my point of view since I predicted that Iowa would be 3-3 at this point of the season and already eliminated from the playoff hunt.

The Hawkeyes certainly caught some breaks and had luck on their side in the win at Michigan, buy they also drove 91 yards for the game-winning touchdown in less than two minutes and scored as time expired.

So it took more just luck to win at the Big House.

Iowa’s last six games in order are at Minnesota this coming Saturday, at home against Wisconsin on Oct. 31, at Northwestern on Nov. 7, at home against Purdue on Nov. 14, at Illinois on Nov. 21, and at home against Nebraska on Nov. 27.

Iowa right now would likely be favored in all six games.

Here are 10 takeaways/observations/opinions about this Iowa team in no particular order:

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1. Kirk Ferentz still shows no signs of slowing down: Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Kirk Ferentz is 71 years old.

Because other than his hair turning grey, and that he now takes walks rather than jog for exercise, Ferentz seems as energized and as lucid as he ever has been.

Ferentz is the Big Ten’s all-time winningest head coach with 214 victories and he hasn’t had a losing season since Iowa finished 4-8 in 2012.

Only once since 2015 has Iowa won fewer than eight games, and that was in the Covid-shortened 2020 season when the Hawkeyes finished 6-2.

The college football landscape has changed significantly in this era of the transfer portal and name image and likeness, but Ferentz has shown a willingness to change with it, including adding a program record 16 players from the transfer portal this offseason.

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2. Special teams continue to perform at high level: While many of the names have changed on special teams, starting with the person in charge with Chris Polizzi having replaced LeVar Woods as special teams coordinator, the level of performance remains high.

First-year punter Boston Everitt is averaging a very respectable 43.0 yards on 17 punts, while second-year kicker and first-year starter Caden Buhr has made 9-of-11 field-goal attempts.

Second-year running back Braeden Jackson also returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown in the win at Michigan, while second-year receiver Evan James had a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown in the 40-0 victory over Northern Illinois in the season opener. James is averaging an impressive 14.7 yards on 12 punt returns.

Iowa sustained a high standard of excellence on special teams under Woods, who is now the special teams coordinator at Michigan State, so Polizzi had a lot to measure up to, and so far, so good.

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3. Iowa’s rebuilt defensive line has been better than expected: There certainly was reason to be concerned about the defensive line heading into the season since all four starters had to be replaced.

There also have been times when the defensive line has struggled to pressure the quarterback, especially in the 31-14 loss to Ohio State.

But overall, the good outweighs the bad with how the defensive line has performed in the first six games under position coach Kelvin Bell.

There seems to be plenty of depth with as many as nine defensive linemen playing on a somewhat regular basis.

Some of the younger defensive linemen also are starting to emerge, including second-year defensive end Joseph Anderson, who has three sacks and three tackles for loss while playing in just four the of the first six games.

Fourth-year defensive tackle Bryce Hawthorne, who transferred from South Dakota State prior to last season, leads the Iowa defensive linemen with 19 tackles and with four tackles for loss. He also has 2.5 sacks.

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4. Braeden Jackson deserves to be on the field: This isn’t to suggest that Jackson should start over Kamari Moulton at running back because Moulton has shown that he can be a force with some blocking; the most recent example being his career-high 208 rushing yards in the 41-24 win at Washington.

But Jackson deserves to be on the field in some capacity; whether in the slot, flanked out wide or in the backfield. The Ankeny native has two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown to go along with his 99-yard kick return for a touchdown against Michigan. Jackson also is ranked second on the team in all-purpose yards behind Moulton, averaging 76.2 yards per game despite only seeing spot duty.

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5. Iowa’s three starting linebackers have held their own: Third-year Winfield native Cam Buffington has performed at an All-Big Ten level in his first season as Iowa’s starting middle linebacker as he leads the team with 52 tackles, five tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries. He also has two sacks.

Fifth-year team captain Jayden Montgomery is second on the team with 35 tackles, while fellow fifth-year linebacker Landyn Van Kekerix, another first-year starter, is fourth on the team with 20 tackles.

The fact that three of Iowa’s four leading tacklers are linebackers is a good sign as it shows that the defensive linemen are taking on blocks and creating space for the linebackers to make plays.

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6. Jury still out on the Iowa offensive line: This might surprise some of you, considering Iowa has two of the more established college offensive linemen in the country in fourth-year right guard Kade Pieper and fourth-year left tackle Trevor Lauck.

Iowa was also named to the Midseason honor roll for the Joe Moore Award, which goes to the top offensive line in college football.

The Hawkeyes won the award last season, and in 2016.

But Iowa also lost three All-Big Ten offensive linemen from last season, including center Logan Jones, who was the 2025 Rimington Trophy recipient as the nation’s top collegiate center.

So it was easy to assume there would be some growing pains, and there have been some, most notably the three games against power conference opponents in which Iowa rushed for fewer than 100 yards: Iowa State  (93), Michigan (58) and Ohio State (39).

Iowa still won two of the three games, thanks mostly to defense, special teams and a little luck in the Big House.

In Iowa’s most recent game, the offensive line dominated Washington pretty much from start to finish.

There still is plenty of time for this offensive line to erase any doubt about its potential. And with Pieper and Lauck leading the way, and with how the offensive line performed against Washington coming off a loss and in a short week, there is reason to be optimistic.

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7. Quarterback shouldn’t be either or decision: You’re probably wondering what took so long to address the quarterback situation and why it’s so far down on the list.

It was my way of building suspense, I guess.

Iowa doesn’t have a proven star at quarterback, but does have two quarterbacks that have proven they can win at this level.

Hank Brown is 4-1 as the starter while Jeremy Hecklinski is 1-0 after leading Iowa to the 41-24 win at Washington, throwing three touchdown passes.

If social media is any indication, Hecklinski seems to have a growing number of supporters who believe that he should be the starter based on how he performed against Washington, and on how he played against Ohio State in the fourth quarter, completing all five of his passes for 67 yards.

Brown, on the other hand, led Iowa to the win at Michigan, throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Reece Vander Zee as time expired to cap a 91-yard scoring drive.

Brown also passed for 142 yards in the fourth quarter alone against a very good Michigan defense.

However, against Ohio State, Brown struggled with his accuracy and he also lost a fumble on Iowa’s opening series of the game, which Ohio State almost immediately turned into a touchdown.

Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester said this past Tuesday that Brown and Hecklinski both will take meaningful snaps in the second half of the regular season.

That only seems fair for a quarterback competition that was too close to call heading into the season.

Brown doesn’t really deserve to be demoted, whereas Hecklinski deserves to be more than just Brown’s seldom-used backup.

Kirk Ferentz doesn’t like to use more than one quarterback, but he might have to make an exception this season because Brown and Hecklinski both have shown they deserve to play.

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8. Wide receiver Tony Diaz as good as advertised: The San Marcos, Texas native leads Iowa with 28 catches and 329 receiving yards.

Diaz is on pace for 56 catches, which is almost unheard of for an Iowa wide receiver.

He and Reece Vander Zee give Iowa a potent one-two punch at wide receiver, but they have vastly different playing styles with the 5-foot-11, 184-pound Diaz more dangerous in space, while the 6-4, 220 Vander Zee relies more on his size and physicality to make catches.

Diaz is among the 16 players that joined Iowa from the transfer portal this offseason. He reportedly had a scholarship offer from Alabama, but chose to be a Hawkeye after playing at Texas Rio Grande Valley last season.

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9. Kamari Moulton performing at All-Big Ten level: The Fort Lauderdale, Florida leads Iowa with 519 rushing yards despite missing one game due to an injury. He is also averaging a whopping 6.8 yards per carry.

Moulton has shown that with adequate blocking he can be a force as demonstrated in the win at Washington when he rushed for a career-high 208 yards.

Moulton has to play well, because if he doesn’t, Iowa has other running backs that have shown they can meet the challenge.

South Dakota transfer LJ Phillips has been slowed by injuries, but when healthy, he is arguably Iowa’s second best option at running back.

Iowa has four running backs that have rushed for over 100 yards in a game at least once this season, led by Moulton, who has done it twice.  Xavier Williams, Braeden Jackson and Nathan McNeil also have eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark.

Phillips would likely be in the century club if not for his injuries.

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10. Valuable staff additions: In addition to promoting Chris Polizzi to special teams coordinator, Kirk Ferentz also hired former Hawkeyes Jay Norvell and Tom Moore to his staff this past offseason.

Norvell played defensive back for Iowa in the 1980s under Hayden Fry, earning first-team All-Big Ten as a senior in 1985, while the 87-year-old Moore was a kicker and backup quarterback under Forest Evashevski in 1959 and 1960.

Between the two of them, Norvell, who coaches the running backs, and Moore, who helps with the offense and with advising the head  coach, have over 100 years of coaching experience in both college and the NFL.

Norvell was also the head coach for Nevada and Colorado State, while Moore coached Payton Manning in the NFL, and together they helped the Indianapolis Colts win a Super Bowl.

From an experience standpoint, Ferentz hit the jackpot by hiring Norvell and Moore.

Their Hawkeye roots make them even better fits.