Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Picked to Finish 8th in Big Ten Preseason Poll

Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Picked to Finish 8th in Big Ten Preseason Poll

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Iowa Football: Hawkeyes Picked to Finish 8th in Big Ten Preseason Poll
IOWA CITY, IA – OCTOBER 25: Defensive back Zach Lutmer #6 of the Iowa Hawkeyes scores a touchdown after an interception in the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on October 25, 2025 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Big Ten Media Days kick off on Tuesday, July 28th in Chicago and with the annual event comes the official start of preseason poll season. The most notable one comes from Cleveland.com, which polls a total of 31 writers who cover the Big Ten across several different outlets. This year’s results come without a ton of surprises.

Your Iowa Hawkeyes are picked to finish 8th in the conference, which feels about right. There is some split in voting at the top with Ohio State receiving the most overall votes at 540, as well as the most 1st place votes (15). The Oregon Ducks come in second with 527 total votes and 11 for 1st place. Notably, defending national champion Indiana is picked to finish third with 509 total votes, while 5 people have them winning the conference.

Other notables include Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin, which are picked to finish behind Iowa in that order. The Purdue Boilermakers are this year’s pick to finish dead last in the conference standings.

Here’s a look at the full voting results for conference standings:

  1. OHIO STATE (15) 540
  2. OREGON (11) 527
  3. INDIANA (5) 509
  4. USC 446
  5. MICHIGAN 430
  6. PENN STATE 380
  7. WASHINGTON 366
  8. IOWA 361
  9. ILLINOIS 304
  10. MINNESOTA 268
  11. NEBRASKA 246
  12. WISCONSIN 207
  13. UCLA 199
  14. NORTHWESTERN 140
  15. MARYLAND 137
  16. MICHIGAN STATE 99
  17. RUTGERS 97
  18. PURDUE 45

While Cleveland.com is the standard with polling across the conference, the USA Today also put out their preseason polling on Monday ahead of Media Days and there weren’t a ton of differences. The national folks also have Iowa pegged to finish 8th in the conference with the top-11 identical to the conference media. The only two differences are at the bottom, where the USA Today has Wisconsin and UCLA flipped, ditto Rutgers and MSU.

Here’s the full poll from USA Today:

  1. Ohio State (11 first-place votes)
  2. Oregon (5 first-place votes)
  3. Indiana
  4. USC
  5. Michigan
  6. Penn State
  7. Washington
  8. Iowa
  9. Illinois
  10. Minnesota
  11. Nebraska
  12. UCLA
  13. Wisconsin
  14. Maryland
  15. Northwestern
  16. Rutgers
  17. Michigan State
  18. Purdue

Lutmer Leads the Way on Defense

Beyond the conference standings, the media also released their picks for the pre-season All-Big Ten teams and the Hawkeyes have some modest representation this year.

It should come as no surprise that Ohio State superstar WR Jeremiah Smith is the conference media’s pick to be offensive player of the year. He was one of three Buckeyes to earn votes for the honor – the same number of Hoosiers also received votes, led by incoming QB Josh Hoover.

Jeremiah Smith – WR – OSU – 82 (21)

Dante Moore – QB – Oregon – 62 (8)

Julian Sayin – QB- OSU – 25 (2)

Jayden Maiavia – QB – USC – 7

Josh Hoover – QB- Indiana – 5

Turbo Richard – RB – Indiana – 1

Demond Williams – QB- Washington – 1

Carter Smith – OL- Indiana – 1

Drake Lindsey – QB – Minnesota – 1

Bo Jackson – RB – OSU – 1

That lines up with the USA Today polling, which also has Smith as the offensive player of the year while Hoover was selected as newcomber of the year.

On the defensive side of the ball, things are a bit more wide open and the Hawkeyes actually have some representation. The Big Ten media is pretty split on which Oregon defender is best but the Ducks are well represented with five players earning votes, led by defensive back Brandon Finney.

While the Ducks are split, Minnesota saw votes consolidated around DL Anthony Smith, who led the way with 26 total votes. While he edged out Finney in the total vote count, Finney tied with fellow Duck Teitum Tuitoti (DL) with six 1st place votes.

Iowa DB Zach Lutmer finished 11th in the voting, receiving 4 total votes.

Anthony Smith – DL – Minnesota – 26 (2)

Brandon Finney – DB – Oregon – 25 (6)

Koi Perich – DB – Oregon – 22 (4)

Teitum Tuioti – DL – Oregon – 20 (6)

A’Mauri Washington – DL – Oregon – 20 (5)

Tyrique Tucker – DL – Indiana – 17 (3)

John Henry Daley – DL – Michigan – 15 (2)

Rolijah Hardy – LB – Indiana – 8 (2)

Matayo Uiagalelei – DL – Oregon – 7

Jamari Sharpe – DB – Indiana – 6

Zach Lutmer – DB – Iowa – 4

Earl Little – DB – OSU – 3

Anthony Jones – DL – Nebraska – 2

Amare Ferrell – DB – Indiana – 1

Kenyatta Jackson – DL – OSU – 1

Jaylen McClain – DB – OSU – 1

Isaiah Jones – LB – Indiana – 1

Interestingly, there’s quite a divergence here from the national media at USA Today. They have Indiana LB Rolijah Hardy picked as the conference’s defensive player of the year in the preseason. The Big Ten media had him second among Hoosiers and 8th in the total voting.

Three Hawkeyes Make Pre-Season All-Big Ten

We won’t get the Big Ten media’s full picks for preseason All-Big Ten teams until media days officially kick off, but that didn’t stop the national folks from weighing in ahead of Tuesday. The Hawkeyes had three players make the cut with a fourth named honorable mention.

On the offensive side of the ball, offensive linemen Kade Pieper and Trevor Lauck. That tracks with the DNA of the program as well as the mix of newcomers at the skill positions. The running back room figures to be well stocked, but with a workload split expected it’s difficult to see anyone making a preseason awards list from that group.

Budding star tight end DJ Vonnahme was the only other Iowa offensive player to receive votes for preseason All-Big Ten on the offensive side of the ball. He received honorable mention.

On defense, it’s just the aforementioned Lutmer to be honored by the national media. While it makes some sense to only see one Hawkeye on the list with so much talent consolidated at the likes of Oregon and Indiana, it is interesting that not a single other Hawkeye defender received a vote to earn honorable mention. History indicates that won’t hold in the final season polling.

Here are the full USA Today results:

2026 USA Today Preseason All-Big Ten

* unanimous selection

OFFENSE
  • QB: (tie) Julian Sayin, Ohio State and Dante Moore, Oregon
  • RB: Bo Jackson, Ohio State
  • RB: Antwan Raymond, Rutgers
  • WR: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State*
  • WR: Charlie Becker, Indiana
  • WR: KJ Duff, Rutgers
  • TE: Jamari Johnson, Oregon
  • OL: Carter Smith, Indiana*
  • OL: Austin Siereveld, Ohio State
  • OL: Kade Pieper, Iowa
  • OL: Iapani Laloulu, Oregon
  • OL: Trevor Lauck, Iowa
  • All-purpose: Wayne Knight, UCLA
DEFENSE
  • DL: Tyrique Tucker, Indiana
  • DL: A’Mauri Washington, Oregon
  • DL: Anthony Smith, Minnesota
  • DL: John Henry Daley, Michigan
  • LB: Rolijah Hardy, Indiana*
  • LB: Isaiah Jones, Indiana
  • LB: Teitum Tuioti, Oregon
  • DB: Brandon Finney Jr., Oregon
  • DB: Koi Perich, Oregon
  • DB: Amare Ferrell, Indiana
  • DB: Zach Lutmer, Iowa
SPECIALISTS
  • K: Nico Radicic, Indiana
  • P: Bryce McFerson, Maryland
  • KR/PR: Jacory Barney Jr., Nebraska

HONORABLE MENTION (received votes)

  • Illinois: DB Xavier Scott
  • Indiana: WR Nick Marsh, OL Drew Evans, OL Joe Brunner, DL Mario Landino, DB Jamari Sharpe
  • Iowa: TE DJ Vonnahme
  • Maryland: LB Daniel Wingate, K Sean O’Haire
  • Michigan: RB Jordan Marshall, OL Andrew Sprague, DB Jyaire Hill, DB Zeke Berry
  • Michigan State: LB Jordan Hall, P Rhys Dakin, KR Kenneth Williams
  • Minnesota: RB Darius Taylor, OL Greg Johnson, DB John Nestor
  • Nebraska: OL Justin Evans, LB Owen Chambliss
  • Northwestern: LB Mac Uihlein, DB Robert Fitzgerald
  • Ohio State: OL Luke Montgomery, DL Kenyatta Jackson Jr., LB Payton Pierce, DB Jermaine Mathews, DB Jaylen McClain
  • Oregon: RB Dierre Hill Jr., RB Jordon Davison, WR Dakorien Moore, OL Dave Iuli, DL Bear Alexander, DL Matayo Uiagalelei
  • Penn State: LB Caleb Bacon, DB Marcus Neal
  • Purdue: LB Charles Correa
  • USC: DB Jontez Williams
  • Washington: LB Jacob Manu
  • Wisconsin: LB Mason Posa

Beyond the USA Today, The Athletic also published their preseason all-conference selections on Sunday evening. There aren’t a ton of notable differences.

The one thing worth calling out is the faith The Athletic puts in Phil Parker. While USA Today only flags Lutmer as a 1st team All-Big Ten selection (and potential defensive player of the year), The Athletic also tabbed linebacker Cam Buffington as a second team All-Big Ten selection.

Big Ten media days kick off at 10:30 am CT on Tuesday, July 28th from Chicago. Kirk Ferentz will represent the Hawkeyes on day one. You can follow along live on Big Ten Network. Below is the full schedule of events over the next three days.

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