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After a COVID-19-dominated 2020 campaign, things were finally starting to look normal for college football in 2021. 

Not only would teams return to playing the usual 12-game schedule, fans were finally able to pack their home stadiums to see their beloved teams play. 

The return to some form of normalcy was much-needed for Iowa football, which stumbled through a roller-coaster 2020 season that saw a racial bullying scandal overshadow the actual season. 

Though the Hawkeyes would play a typical schedule in 2021, the ensuing season was anything but typical. Iowa threw its fans for a wild ride, but had a 24-team College Football Playoff existed in 2021, the Hawkeyes would've been included. 

We break down why here. 

The Rundown 

For the second consecutive season, Iowa would open its season against a Big Ten team – No. 17 Indiana. 

The Hoosiers blossomed into national media darlings after a breakout 2020 season, with many expecting them to continue their unexpected surge into 2021. Iowa, on the other hand, also had high expectations after winning their final six games of 2020. 

There was a lot of anticipation for the matchup at Kinnick Stadium, but the Hawkeyes, which probably carried extra motivation from the return of their home fans, steamrolled the Hoosiers 34-6 to catch a ton of national attention for themselves. 

Despite often struggling on offense (a little foreshadowing for the years to come), Iowa continued its winning ways, which included top 10 wins over Iowa State and Penn State. 

By Oct. 16, the Hawkeyes were 6-0 and ranked No 2 in the AP Poll – the highest position for a Kirk Ferentz-coached team. Standing in their way from 7-0 was 3-2 Purdue, but in an inexplicable twist, Iowa couldn't move the football and lost 24-7 at Kinnick Stadium. 

Any goodwill the Hawkeyes had built was gone, and the offensive problems continued even after the bye week. Iowa dropped another ghastly game to an unranked foe, this time to Wisconsin, nearly dropping out of the top 25 as a result. 

The Hawkeyes' Big Ten West title hopes were also in doubt by this point, but Iowa closed the regular season with a four-game winning streak and did in fact win the Big Ten West thanks to a Wisconsin loss in the regular season finale. 

That gave the 13th-ranked Hawkeyes a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game, where they were swiftly defeated by Michigan, 42-3. Iowa still earned a January bowl game, but it was defeated by Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl to finish 10-4. 

The Bracket 

Using the final CFP rankings, here is what Iowa's portion of a potential 24-team -playoff would've looked like. 

The Hawkeyes boasted a dreadful offense (99th in total offense in 2021), but their defense probably would've been enough to get by No. 18 NC State in the first round. 

The run ends there, though. 

We all saw Iowa get a crack at Michigan, and it's probably safe to assume a similar result would've occurred in this hypothetical CFP. Either way, just making it to the CFP would've been a great achievement for Iowa, as it would've been just the second time (at least in our list) that the Hawkeyes would've qualified for consecutive playoff berths under Ferentz (other time was 2002-2004). 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io

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