Over at the Si.com College Football Blog Stewart Mandel wonders Why not the Hawkeyes? Mandel points out that nobody is picking Iowa in the top 10 and in spite of a 7-5 season last year, by the end they looked great. He also likes Iowa’s schedule with two tough games early at home, Iowa State and Ohio State.

“You’ve got to think those will go a long way toward determining whether it’s going to be a truly special
season — i.e. a return to the BCS for the first time since 2002 — or one that ends in another trip to Tampa.”

Nice that the downside is another Jan 1 bowl in Florida.

Since Missouri won’t play Iowa on the field, Ferentz has decided to beat Missouri in recruiting instead. Iowa landed a verbal commitment from their top QB target in Marvin McNutt from Hazelwood in the St. Louis area. He is the 3rd recruit from Missouri in the past 2 years. McNutt fielded offers from Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas State, Kansas, and Missouri, but chose Iowa because he felt that “Iowa was more of a family”. McNutt should be the only QB recruit in the 2007 class as he has 3 potential QBs ahead of him waiting for Tate to graduate.