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After they would've easily been included in a 24-team College Football Playoff Field in 1996, Iowa football entered a period of unprecedented decline. 

No one knew it at the time, but Iowa's Alamo Bowl shutout victory over Texas Tech would be Hayden Fry's final bowl triumph in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes stumbled through a 7-5 campaign in 1997 before bottoming out with a 3-8 mark in 1998. 

That was Fry's worst record with the Hawkeyes, and he announced his retirement the following day, ending a 20-year rebuilding project that culminated in three Big Ten titles and three trips to the Rose Bowl. 

Fry's replacement was Kirk Ferentz, then the offensive line coach for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens and a former assistant under Fry in the 1980s. The hiring drew mixed reactions from fans, but once the dust settled, few Hawkeye fans thought Ferentz would be able to guide Iowa to a bowl game within five years. 

But Ferentz did just that. The Hawkeyes earned an Alamo Bowl berth by his third season (2001), and even upset Texas Tech to finish 7-5. 

2001 was clearly a step in the right direction for Ferentz's Iowa program, but no one expected the memorable ride that 2002 brought. Not only were the Hawkeyes good – they were a national title contender. 

Iowa ultimately fell just short of playing for a BCS title, but had a 24-team playoff existed back then, they would've had a great chance to bring a championship to Iowa City. 

The Rundown 

The Hawkeyes entered the regular season unranked because they featured a quarterback that few people outside the state of Iowa had heard of – Brad Banks. Banks came to Iowa in 2001 after playing two seasons of JUCO ball, but wasn't the starter in 2001 despite playing in 10 games. 

2002 was Banks' job to lose, though, and boy did he prove himself. Aided by a strong supporting cast of running back Fred Russell, tight end Dallas Clark, and a hard-hitting defense, the Hawkeyes finished the regular season 11-1 overall and a perfect 8-0 in Big Ten play to win a share of the conference crown. 

Notable wins were the overtime win at Penn State, the blowout at Michigan, and the "road" win Minnesota to clinch the Big Ten title. Thousands of Hawkeye fans stormed the field at the Metrodome after the victory and even took the goalposts out of the stadium. 

Iowa was ranked No. 5 in the final BCS standings at the end of the regular season, but its Week 3 loss to Iowa State ultimately kept it from potentially reaching the national championship game. 

The Hawkeyes were then controversially not selected for the Rose Bowl, instead going to the Orange Bowl, where they were blasted by Carson Palmer and USC to finish 11-2 and No. 8 in the final polls. 

The Bracket 

It doesn't take rocket science to see that Iowa would've been an instant national title favorite had a 24-team bracket been in place in 2002. 

Though the BCS existed back then, it only ranked the top 15 teams in its poll, so we're going to use the pre-bowl season AP poll rankings for this exercise. 

The hypothetical 24-team field would've looked something like this.

Since Iowa was ranked No. 3 in the pre-bowl game rankings, it would've had a favorable second round test against either Auburn or Colorado. 

The Hawks would've been heavy favorites in either matchup, as well as a quarterfinal clash with Kansas State. If the chalk holds, Iowa would get a highly-anticipated game against undefeated Ohio State. The two teams didn't meet during the regular season (that's an article for another day), but it would've been great to see the Big Ten's two best teams play one another. 

But in the end, this is all hypothetical. Ohio State would battle defending champion Miami in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl and win in a stunning upset in double overtime to capture the national title. 

Man, what a fun opportunity the 2002 Hawkeyes would've had in an expanded CFP. 

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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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