(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
As a writer who covers college football, I suppose it had to be done sooner or later. The following is a modest assessment of the country's 25 best teams, complete with 2008 records and final ranking, anticipated records for the upcoming season, and criterion for each team's place within the rankings.
Without further ado, here's my teams Nos. 21-25 in my preseason Top 25 poll:
25. Iowa Hawkeyes
2008 record: 9-4 (ranked No. 20)
Projected 2009 regular season record: 10-2 (losses at Penn St. on Sept. 26; at Michigan St. on Oct. 24)
The 411: Between the years of 2002-04, Iowa was one of the premier programs in the country, winning a total of 31 games, including bowl wins over Florida and LSU, and representing the Big Ten in the Orange Bowl once. Then came a three-year disappearing act.
As teams like Ohio State and Michigan flexed their muscle, Iowa ran away and hid, failing to capture a bowl victory while averaging just six wins a season from 2005-07. It appears now as if the pattern is set to recycle. On the heels of a nine-win season—one that included a streak of six wins in the final seven games, as well as all four losses by five points or less—the Hawkeyes are again front and center in the Big Ten picture, even if no one wants to notice.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a publication that picked them to finish any higher than third in conference in 2009, but that's what makes the Hawkeyes so dangerous. Eight starters return to the Big Ten's best defense from last season, and the offensive backfield will house solid quarterback Ricki Stanzi, yet it remains to be seen how Iowa will compensate for the loss of promising sophomore tailback Jewel Hampton, who will miss the entire season due to a knee injury initially suffered earlier this summer.
Prior to the injury, Hampton was being counted on to fill the shoes of the departed Shonn Greene.
24. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Bo Pelini's 'Huskers are the favorite in the Big 12 North (AP)
2008 record: 9-4 (unranked)
Projected 2009 regular season record: 8-4 (losses at Virginia Tech (9/19); at Missouri (10/8); at Baylor (10/31); vs Oklahoma (11/7))
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