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Iowa football ranked No. 25 in preseason coaches poll
5 Big Ten teams are ahead of Hawkeyes in coaches poll; AP Poll comes out next week
IOWA CITY — Iowa football will begin the 2024 season as the No. 25 team in the country in the preseason coaches poll.
The poll, which was released Monday morning, includes five other Big Ten teams ahead of the Hawkeyes — No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oregon, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Penn State and No. 23 USC. The only one of those teams on Iowa’s 2024 regular-season schedule is Ohio State.
Washington, Wisconsin, Maryland and Nebraska also received votes.
Iowa’s No. 25 ranking precedes a season in which the Hawkeyes have an especially experienced defense — eight starters are returning from last year’s 10-win team — while questions linger about how much the offense will improve under new coordinator Tim Lester.
The preseason Associated Press Poll will be released next Monday. Iowa has been ranked in the preseason AP Poll in four of the last five seasons.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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