Hlas: Whither the 2017 Iowa Hawkeyes? No one knows

IOWA CITY — In the autumn of my life, I cling more tightly to summer. Winter here is too long and spring sometimes fails to deliver on its promise.

But here we are having said farewell to August and hello to September and another college football season. The solace I'm taking is knowing the team I'll primarily write about is an unpredictable story-to-be.

No one seems to have a clear feel for the 2017 Hawkeyes of Iowa. They aren't saddled with great expectations. Nor are they regarded as anyone's foot wipes. The potential for a fun season is in place, but it's far from a given. The journey is on a path with lots of possible potholes.

Starting with Saturday's opener against the Cowboys of Wyoming, Iowa has nine games that now appear to be anything but sure-wins. That's a lot of intrigue.

But when you look at those nine games — they exclude the home dates against North Texas, Illinois and Purdue — you also see a lot of surely-can-wins. The Hawkeyes are double-digit favorites against Wyoming, for starters.

Iowa, meanwhile, has a QB in Nate Stanley with fewer career completions (5) than Wyoming's Josh Allen had on many scoring drives a year ago.

But Stanley should be surrounded by a better 10 players in his huddle than Allen is in his, and you'd rather go to the rodeo with Iowa's defense than Wyoming's.

Of course, we said the same sorts of things before the Hawkeyes played North Dakota State last year, and that was when Iowa had a senior quarterback on his way to becoming a third-round NFL draftee.

The number Nevada oddsmakers assigned Iowa as its over/under wagering point for victories is 6.5. That feels like an 'over' play to me. Especially if it's your money rather than mine.

That's said with the belief Stanley, who physically looks like he was sent from Central Casting — will mentally grow into a Big Ten quarterback as the season moves along. It's also said with the belief there is much talent among the running backs, blockers and defense.

Whether that's all manifested by 2:30 p.m. Saturday is the immediate question. Wyoming has its own agenda. It wants the Group of Five's spot in the New Year's Six Bowls, and that's more math than we need here.

So, the games that are cared about the most around here resume Saturday. But for whom or what are the players playing? Here's a clue: It ain't us.

'My mother, 100 percent,' said Hawkeye running back James Butler. 'On gameday when I get on the bus, the only person I text is my mom.'

'First off, I'd say my faith,' Stanley said. 'Then, just for my family and my friends. I know that all of them would love to have the opportunity that I've been granted. So I try to do my best to make them proud, to not waste the talent that God's given me.'

'First, I think about the team because I always want to help the team,' said Hawkeye receiver Devonte Young. 'But then I've got family at home that I go back to. That's why I'm here.'

'Honestly, for my teammates,' Iowa defensive tackle Nathan Bazata said. 'Just because if I don't do my job we're not going to be successful as a defensive line.

'Me being undersized — Iowa was really my only offer. So proving the naysayers wrong, that's what I play for. When I hear 'He's too small' or something like that, that gets me ready to play, just angry.'

Former Iowa State basketball player Paul Shirley has written a wonderful book called 'Stories I Tell on Dates.' It will be released next month. It includes this passage about a moment when an ISU student approached him for an autograph two days after Iowa State's heartbreaking Midwest Region final defeat to Michigan State in the 2000 NCAA tournament:

'I cared about the game I played for a set of wide-ranging reasons, which drove some kind of fire in me. She, in turn, pretended I was playing for her. ...'

Summer is over. Your gladiators are back in the coliseum.