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Following a spectacular 2009 season, it appeared that Iowa football was on its way to being a regular Big Ten championship contender again. 

The Hawkeyes narrowly missed out on winning the 2009 conference crown, but brought back nearly their entire team for the 2010 season. 

Iowa was a preseason top 10 team that year, but close losses and injuries derailed the season and it finished unranked. As a matter of fact, 2010 would be the last time the Hawkeyes appeared in the AP Poll for another four years. 

Iowa won just 26 games from 2011-2014, including a dismal 4-8 mark in 2012. The Hawkeyes were a mess, and the quarterback controversy that dominated the 2014 season didn't help Kirk Ferentz earn much goodwill from the fanbase. 

After a blowout loss in the Tax Slayer Bowl, Ferentz did something unusual. He released a post-bowl game depth chart that listed backup C.J. Beathard as the starting quarterback for 2015. 

Though the move was completely out of the ordinary for Ferentz, it was the first piece that led to a memorable 2015 campaign. 

Most of you probably remember what happened, but what would've happened if Iowa had a chance to play in a 24-team College Football Playoff that year? 

We're trying to unpack the answer. 

The Rundown 

2015 marked the debut of what some Hawkeye fans coined "New Kirk." Ferentz always leaned on the conservative side during his nearly two-decade run on the sidelines, but Iowa fans were treated to aggressive play calling in 2015. 

The Hawkeyes even attempted a fake field goal in the season opener against Illinois State. Though it was unsuccessful, the crowd at Kinnick Stadium gave their team a roaring applause to appreciate the effort for trying to make something new. 

Not only was "New Kirk" changing some of his philosophies, he was winning football games, too. Iowa didn't have an insanely tough schedule in 2015, but wins at ranked Wisconsin and Northwestern teams were impressive. 

By Nov. 14, the Hawkeyes 9-0 and ranked No. 5 in the country. This was a similar position Iowa faced six years earlier, but it couldn't get the job done in 2009.

But 2015 was different, though. The Hawkeyes toppled Minnesota in a high-scoring 40-35 affair at Kinnick Stadium. Two weeks later, Iowa put the finishing touches on its first 12-win season with a 28-20 victory at Nebraska. 

The perfect regular season earned the Hawks the Big Ten West Division title and a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game. With a CFP berth on the line, Iowa fell to No. 5 Michigan State in heartbreaking fashion, 16-13. 

The Hawkeyes' consolation prize was a trip to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 25 years, but Iowa was simply out of gas and allowed Christian McCaffery and Stanford to cruise to a dominant win. 

Nevertheless, the Hawkeyes still finished with a remarkable 12-2 record and No. 9 in the final AP Poll. 

The Bracket 

This is the first article in this long series where the CFP actually exists, so we're making our hypothetical 24-team bracket based on the final pre-bowl game CFP rankings. 

Iowa would've been the No. 5 seed in this bracket, and the draw is pretty favorable here. 

The Hawkeyes would be heavy favorites over a good, but not great Ole Miss or Navy team, and a potential quarterfinal matchup against Bob Stoops (an Iowa alum) and Oklahoma would've been really fun to see. 

But this is a hypothetical bracket for a reason, though. Michigan State earned the final CFP spot with its win over Iowa, but it was blasted by Alabama in the semifinal. The Crimson Tide would then go on to win the national championship by beating Clemson in the final. 

It's hard to tell if the Hawkeyes would've had a better chance against Alabama than Michigan State, but Iowa just simply had nothing left in the tank after the Big Ten Championship Game defeat. 

Even if they had won the Big Ten title and gotten blown out in the CFP, making a four-team CFP would've been something Hawkeye fans could've bragged about until the end of time. 

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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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