Originally <a href='/showthread.php?p=22194103'>posted</a> on 07/05/2014:

Quote Originally Posted by BigdaddyQH View Post
Sam, Iowa hosts both Wisconsin and Nebraska in 6 days to end the regular season. They do have a very soft scheduloe, even for Big 10 Standards, but they will not finish undefeated, and they will not defeat either Ohio State or Michigan State in the CC game. Last season Ferentz had more players coming back than he does this season. Ferentz is famous for good seasons when he is suppose to be down, and poor seasons when he is suppose to be up. While I wagered on Iowa to go over the 8.5 wins posted for their total regular season wins, I will be watching the lines closely because I think that Iowa can be a great fade this season. Last year 3 of Iowa's 4 regular season losses came at home, so the schedule does not mean as much as people think. Iowa is 6-8 S/U at home in the past two seasons and 4-8 ATS at home during that time. Now who schooled who?
Big.....come on, Iowa beat Nebraska last year by 21 in Lincoln.

Take a look at Iowa's schedule.....show me any loss before November. Hell, show me loss before November 22nd.

So it comes down to Wisconsin. And while Wisconsin is a nice team, I don't think they are Alabama by any stretch.

Iowa has a very easy Big 10 schedule, and you may be right.. they may fold. But remember, the topic here.. Iowa's inclusion as a team to make the NCAA playoff.

Not a guarantee, a possibility.

I think Steele is using Iowa's schedule as a reason to include them, and I can't argue with that.

More to that. I agree with him leaving UCLA out of the discussion. They play Stanford and Oregon (2 teams that just beat UCLA down), USC, Arizona State on a Thursday on the road, at Washington, and Arizona. I think there are easy 2-4 losses on UCLA's schedule.

As easy as Iowa's schedule is.. UCLA's is that difficult.

Again, I think the list Steele makes has more to do with their path to the playoff than the talent on the roster.

I think Notre Dame will be a much better team than Iowa, but I also don't think ND has a chance at making the playoff with road games at Florida State, USC, and Arizona State, and then having Michigan and Stanford at home.