Ranking Iowa’s football games 1 through 12

Last year, I had a countdown.

I ranked the games on Iowa's football schedule by how much I was looking forward to them, 12 through 1. It took 12 posts, 12 days. That was smart of me. Or not. Don't look back in anger.

My 12-through-1 last year: 12. Ball State, 11. at Purdue, 10. Northern Iowa, 9. Iowa State, 8. Indiana, 7. at Illinois, 6. at Pittsburgh, 5. at Minnesota, 4. Northwestern, 3. at Maryland, 2. Nebraska, 1. Wisconsin.

I was right about No. 1 and 2, anyway. The Wisconsin-Iowa game, a 26-24 Badgers win in Iowa City, was the game of the year. And Nebraska's 37-34 overtime victory over the Hawkeyes the following Friday in Kinnick Stadium was No. 2.

What would you have said was the third-most interesting game Iowa played last season, assuming you agreed with the first two? The 17-13 squeaker over Ball State? The 24-20 comeback win at Pitt? Something else?

This year I'll knock it all off in this one post, and you can tell me how wrong I am. Just like Iowa State fans did last August when I said the ISU-Iowa game didn't grab me. They were right. The game bore no resemblance to a classic, but Iowa State's 20-17 win was definitely interesting.

So let's do this from 12 to 1 this year in one swoop.

12. North Texas (Sept. 26 in Iowa City):

The only hook is it's the return of former Iowa player/assistant coach and former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney.

McCarney got the Mean Green to a bowl win two seasons ago, then they dipped to 4-8 last season. They are 5-20 in road games under McCarney and 1-6 against teams from Power Five conferences. This should be Iowa's easiest win, but I said the same thing about Ball State last year.

11. Purdue (Nov. 21 in Iowa City):

I'm just happy to have this game in Iowa City after driving to West Lafayette in each of the last two seasons. That's a long haul for the atmosphere at Ross-Ade Stadium, where football once mattered.

It will be the Boilermakers' second-straight road game and late in the season. Purdue lost its last 10 games in 2013 and its last six games a year ago. So I'll need convincing it will be November-strong this year, though the popular opinion is that it's a more experienced and skilled team than it's been under Darrell Hazell.

10. Maryland (Oct. 31 in Iowa City):

Maryland lost 45-21 to Stanford in the Foster Farms Bowl. Iowa lost 45-28 to Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

Two lousy performances. Two bowl games with goofy names.

This will be the first time the Terrapins have ever played at Iowa. But they are conference rivals. Technically.

9. Illinois (Oct. 10 in Iowa City):

The reason I have Illinois listed ahead of Maryland is geography.

As far as the Illini's team goes, yes, it played in a bowl last year. But it was the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and it ended with a 35-18 loss to Louisiana Tech and a 6-7 record for Illinois.

This game is situated in an interesting spot on Iowa's schedule. The Hawkeyes open league play at Wisconsin, then come home for Illinois. If they beat the Badgers, Kinnick might be koo-koo for this one. If they fall in Madison, this game will have no buzz.

Comedian Andy Kindler says his doctor told him he's not going to make it. Andy's cholesterol is fine, the doctor said, but Andy is low on buzz.

8. Pittsburgh (Sept. 19 in Iowa City):

Playing this thing at night helps the buzz (OK, that's my last reference to buzz), but Pitt Panthers football doesn't stir the imagination.

Yes, Pitt's new head coach is Pat Narduzzi, the architect of Michigan State's defense under Mark Dantonio. But he won't have built the Beast of the ACC by just his third game.

Iowa beat Pitt last year at Heinz Field. The playoff-bound Pirates rallied to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park the night before. The baseball stadium is a lot more charming than its football neighbor.

7. Illinois State (Sept. 5 in Iowa City):

This could have been placed even higher. Perhaps it should have been.

Season-opener? Check. An opponent with a potent offense that was a whisker from winning last season's FCS national-title game? Check.

A game Iowa simply cannot afford to lose from a public-relations standpoint? Check-a-roo.

But this isn't a ranking of potential angst, and I don't see this game as enticing as the six above it. Like ...

6. Indiana (Nov. 7 at Bloomington):

Indiana could be 5-3 or 4-4 when it hosts the Hawkeyes. It will be on a quest for bowl-eligibility. It has not been to a bowl since 2007, and just once in the last 21 years.

This is Kevin Wilson's fifth year as the Hoosiers' coach, and he needs to get his men to a bowl this year.

Plus, IU has a very nice quarterback in Nate Sudfeld. But it has been a woeful defensive team under Wilson, and that needs to change this fall if the Hoosiers are to get some wins that matter. Like against Iowa.

This is the kind of game that will determine if Iowa has a good season or something less.

5. Minnesota (Nov. 14 in Iowa City):

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Maybe this night game in mid-November will be cold enough for Iowa to serve up some revenge for its 51-14 belly flop of a loss at Minnesota last season.

I wonder what Minny's mental makeup will be as they arrive at Kinnick. It will have played at Ohio State the Saturday before, and will have hosted Michigan the Saturday before that. The Gophers will have already played TCU at home, Colorado State (10-3 last year) on the road, Northwestern on the road, and Nebraska at home.

Will the Gophers be 7-2 heading to Iowa City, or 4-5? If I knew that, I'd be in my cottage in Bali right now, wondering how all the working stiffs are doing.

The night game in mid-November guarantees one thing: Those who attend will have a thirst for vengeance, and someone will feel their wrath.

That may be a wild exaggeration.

4. Iowa State (Sept. 12 in Ames):

Yes, a game against a team that went 2-10 last season and was goose-egged in the Big 12 is an interesting matchup.

That's because Iowa State has been known to defeat the Hawkeyes. It happened in 2014. And in 2012. And in 2011.

The Cyclones allowed 30 or more points in every game but one last year, their 20-17 win at Iowa. The Hawkeyes scored three points in the second half. In Kinnick Stadium.

So ... does Iowa perform a temporary exorcism at Jack Trice Stadium? Or does it cede the Cy-Hawk Trophy yet again and cause its own fan base to have a reaction that can be called thermonuclear?

That may not be a wild exaggeration.

3. Nebraska (Nov. 27 at Lincoln):

Black Friday, Edition No. 5.

Last year's overtime loss to the Huskers cost Iowa's athletics department a pile of cash. That come-from-way-ahead defeat combined with the bowl fiasco in Jacksonville helped cause season ticket sales to drop.

But there isn't rampant poverty in Hawkeyeland just yet.

As Pulitzer Prize-winner Gilbert M. Gaul writes in his book 'Billion-Dollar Ball: A Journey Through the Big-Money Culture of College Football,' college football programs are 'giant entertainment businesses that happened to do a little education on the side.'

Anyway, this is again the regular-season finale for both teams. Maybe it helps determine the Big Ten West champion. Maybe it simply gives the winner less anguish heading into bowl season.

2. Northwestern (Oct. 17 at Evanston):

This is my reach.

The Hawkeyes clobbered the Wildcats last year in Iowa City, 48-7. It was thorough and it was nasty. It made you wonder what Iowa's ceiling really was, especially when Northwestern won at Notre Dame two games later.

But many think Northwestern will get out of its two-year rut of 5-7 seasons. Many think the 'Cats have been plagued by an unusual amount of costly injuries in those two years. Many think they could be a dark horse West title-threat.

Here's what we know: The home team has won the last five games of this series.

That's what makes this matchup intriguing to me. Win this game on the road, and it could be part of a long conference winning streak for the Hawkeyes. Lose it — especially if Iowa had fallen at Wisconsin two weeks earlier — and it's hard to care about the final five games of the year. Especially with a bye week following this game.

1. Wisconsin (Oct. 3 at Madison):

Again, Wisconsin.

Who knows how good the Badgers will really be this season in Paul Chryst's first as head coach?

It's a veteran defensive team, has a veteran quarterback in Joel Stave, and Corey Clement is viewed as a very capable replacement to Melvin Gordon at running back.

But two first-team All-Big Ten offensive linemen have to be replaced, and that's not easy even at Offensive Lineman U.

That said, this will be the Big Ten lid-lifter for both teams, making the stakes fairly high for both.

Chryst is 0-1 against Iowa, having coached Pittsburgh in its defeat against the Hawkeyes last season. He'll have better talent to ply against the Hawkeyes this time around. But Iowa has won in three of its last four visits to Madtown.

If the Hawkeyes lose, they would instantly be two games behind the Badgers in the West for all practical purposes and would have precious little margin for error if they are to reach Indianapolis for their first league title game.

If Iowa gets the upset, the entire narrative of the program changes for the better and hope reigns. Wisconsin's beloved 'Jump Around' will be replaced by Iowa singing whatever it wants to sing.

Oct. 3 isn't that far away, is it?