Sorry, Coach, but Hawks should be ranked high

I hope Kirk Ferentz doesn't hold this against me, but people should stand up for their beliefs.

That's why, in the wee, wee hours of Sunday morning, I placed Ferentz's Iowa team No. 8 on my Associated Press Top 25 ballot.

“You guys all know how I feel about rankings in September. I really don't think they mean much,” Ferentz said here after his guys took down formerly fifth-ranked Penn State, 21-10.

“We'll probably be ranked next week,” Ferentz said, “and I'm not going to be real impressed with that.”

But how many teams in the nation should an objective person rank ahead of the Hawkeyes? The criteria is supposed to be performance, not reputation.

I'll probably get called a homer, a kiss-up, and an all-around loon. And that's just from my co-workers. But would you vote Oklahoma ahead of Iowa when the Sooners have a loss to BYU and have yet to play a ranked team?

Would you take Ohio State over Iowa when the Buckeyes haven't beaten a ranked team and have lost a home game, to USC?

My top seven are Florida, Texas, Alabama, Boise State (has two road wins and whipped Oregon, which crushed California on Saturday), Virginia Tech (suffered a close loss to 'Bama, but then beat two ranked teams in Nebraska and Miami), LSU (unbeaten, but did what USC couldn't and won at Washington) and USC.

USC lost at Washington, yes, but that was the week after winning at Ohio State so I cut the Trojans a little slack.

So who else should arguably be ahead of a 4-0 Iowa team that did what it did here Saturday night in scoring a 21-10 win? Maybe Houston, which has two wins over Big 12 clubs. But fellow unbeatens like Kansas, Cincinnati, TCU or Michigan? None owns a victory over a team that is currently ranked.

When not playing the Hawkeyes, Iowa's four opponents have a combined record of 12-0. Iowa State has taken care of business nicely in its two games after Iowa, and Arizona began Pac-10 play with a win at Oregon State.

Those in St. Pete or San Pedro who mock Iowa's 17-16 win over FCS Northern Iowa should know there's a ranked FBS team or two the Panthers might beat on a neutral field.

But back to the Hawkeyes. They need to ignore their sudden fame and glory and realize two-thirds of the season is left.

“That's the next challenge,” Ferentz said. “That's coming. That's human nature. How can you handle a little success? I've always thought that's tougher than adversity. I think it's more true now than I ever thought.

“There will be a lot of guys patting them on the back and all that stuff.”

Arkansas State, a home-field loser to Troy on Saturday, is next up. So this is too easy a week for the Hawkeyes to relax a bit, to absorb praise directed at them from pundits all over the land. ESPN's Mark May said Iowa should be ranked in the top five. Oh boy.

“We're four games into it,” Ferentz said. “Three weeks ago we were fortunate as heck to win. It's such a long season.”

That's so true. You already can hear some in Hawkdom talking about the Ohio State game and what enormous possibilities that game could bring. It's in mid-November, the 11th game of the season. Uh, October presents Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State, the latter two on the road.

But, as Ferentz conceded, “To go on the road and have success, that took some maturity. It takes a team that's got some maturity and some focus. And at least we'll have the chance to maybe to combat (complacency). Because I think we've got good leadership.”

It doesn't take a homer or a loon to agree with that.