Little strength so far in Hawkeyes’ strength-of-schedule

What is it about playing Iowa that seems to discombobulate football teams after they've done it?

A couple weeks ago, the consensus was that the Hawkeyes' nonconference schedule wasn't too bad after all, and maybe a lot better than people realized.

Ball State, which Iowa edged 17-13, was a Mid-American Conference title-contender, we heard. It had to be after taking a 13-3 lead into the fourth quarter at Iowa, right? And Pittsburgh, ooh, tough outfit. A rough, tough, rock ‘em, sock ‘em ACC squad that began the year with three convincing wins.

Both have gone catatonic since losing to Iowa.

Ball State hasn't won since its Iowa game, losing 27-20 to FCS Indiana State and 34-23 at Toledo.

Pittsburgh's follow-up to its 20-17 home loss to the Hawkeyes was a 21-10 home defeat to Akron. The Zips had one previous win, against Howard. Akron lost 21-3 to Penn State and 48-17 to Marshall before going to Pitt.

What's the deal? Did losing to Iowa drain Ball State and Pitt of their spirit? Or, were those teams simply not that good?

Pitt made a statement of sorts in its second game when it won at Boston College, 30-20. BC turned around eight days later and beat USC at home, 37-31. So Pitt must have been really good, right?

Except that BC turned around again last Saturday and lost at home to Colorado State, 24-21. Boston College isn't college football royalty and wasn't just because it upset USC.

Never mind that, though. Pitt lost at home to Akron? Ouchie!

The best running back in that game wasn't Conner, but Conor. Akron's Conor Hundley rushed 19 times for 148 yards. Pitt's James Conner carried 25 times for 92 yards.

Had Iowa defeated Iowa State to be sitting 5-0 right now, America's answer to that would be 'Yeah, but the Hawkeyes haven't played anybody yet.” And, with no disrespect to a UNI team that is now roughing up teams from its own FCS level, how could you argue?

I'd suggest the two best teams the Hawkeyes have faced are from their own state. Flip a coin to tell me if it's Northern Iowa or Iowa State.

But UNI is 0-1 against FBS teams that aren't Iowa, and Iowa State is 0-3.

The Panthers followed up their 31-23 loss to Iowa by falling 27-24 at Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors have won just one of their last 14 games against FBS teams.

Iowa State's only win was at Iowa. The Cyclones have at least lost to premier programs in 3-time defending FCS champ North Dakota State, Kansas State and Baylor. If you're Iowa, what's your record right now if you played North Dakota State, Iowa State, Kansas State and Baylor?

The Sagarin Ratings say the Cyclones have played the fourth-toughest schedule in the nation so far, behind only West Virginia (Alabama, Towson, at Maryland, Oklahoma), SMU (at Baylor, at North Texas, Texas A&M) and Tennessee (Utah State, Arkansas State, at Oklahoma, at Georgia).

According to Sagarin, Iowa has played the 76th-toughest schedule to date.

Let us not forget Purdue, the Hawkeyes' most-recent foe. The Boilermakers' wins were against Western Michigan and FCS Southern Illinois. They lost to Central Michigan and Notre Dame. They still look like a sorry Big Ten team, an outfit with a chance to go 0-8 in the Big Ten for a second-straight season.

Added up, Iowa's first five opponents are 3-7 against FBS teams other than Iowa, and the wins were against Boston College, Florida International and Western Michigan. Three of those seven losses were against teams from the MAC.

All that said, the Hawkeyes need not apologize. It wasn't their fault Pitt lost to Akron or that Purdue was their Big Ten-opener, or that Ball State isn't on a course for its second-straight 10-win season.

Iowa is 4-1. It was won two straight road games, is 1-0 in the Big Ten, and has done nothing to remove itself hey from the Big Ten West championship quest.

It's not like the rest of the Big Ten has been playing the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos every week. Six Big Ten games were against teams in the FBS Top 25. Big Ten teams have played an opponent that was in the Top 25 on just six occasions. The other 59 times? Uh, no.

But hey, Nebraska is at Michigan State Saturday night in a clash of ranked clubs. That'll be interesting.

Whether anyone notices it nationally amid all the noise from Saturday's Alabama-Ole Miss, LSU-Auburn and Texas A&M-Mississippi State SEC games remains to be seen. Which of the four games do you think Paul Finebaum will ignore this week?

But we'll watch here in middle America. We're stubborn folks.