Iowa Hawkeyes Earn Spot on Phil Steele's Preseason College Football Top Ten

September can't get here fast enough for Hawkeye fans.

Since Iowa's win over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl, fans have been eagerly waiting for the 2010 season to begin. That's even more true now that Phil Steele has released his Preseason Top 10.

Phil Steele is a sportswriter and analyst who writes football for the Orlando Sentinel . He produces the annual preseason magazine Phil Steele's College Football Preview , which is widely respected in the college football world.

Steele was a member of the 2009 All-America Committee, as well as a member of the John Mackey Award, Davey O'Brien Award, Lombardi Award, and the Ted Hendricks Award voting committees. He might be not a literary genius, but he knows football.

And he knew enough to put the Hawkeyes at No. 7 on his recently released preseason poll.

"The Hawkeyes almost went undefeated during the regular season and had they not lost QB Stanzi vs. Northwestern, could actually have been playing in the Title game. This year they will not be under the radar.

"DE Adrian Clayborn turned down the NFL and the bulk of their outstanding defense that shut down Georgia Tech in the bowl, holding them to 155 yards offense and 9 first downs, is back.

"Offensively, almost all of the key players are back as well and Iowa gets to host Ohio State."

Iowa has to replace a few key losses on the offensive line, but head coach Kirk Ferentz has been quick to remind people it isn't a problem.

"We don’t reload here," Ferentz told ESPN 's Adan Rittenberg . "We’re not one of those schools. We’ve got some very good players coming back, and that’s exciting, but we also have a lot of areas we’re going to need to get better in if we’re going to have a chance to be competing well next fall."

The Hawks return most of their offensive and defensive talent, and they bring in one of the top 25 recruiting classes in the country.  Assuming the offensive line is somewhat close to the 2009 line, Iowa will compete for the Big Ten championship this fall, if not the national title.

If Iowa can ride its good fortunes on the year into the fall, 2010 could be the Year of the Hawkeye.

Phil Steele's Projected Preseason AP Top 10
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. TCU
7. Iowa
8. Florida
9. Nebraska
10. Virginia Tech