Iowa Football Bowl Projections: CFP Contender or Citrus Bowl Bound?

The bowl projections for the Iowa Hawkeyes are only going to get more and more divisive as we come down the stretch of the 2026 college football season. It's really simple for Iowa. Can the Hawkeyes win the games they are supposed to?

That's putting it down to a very elementary level, but it doesn't need to be more complicated than that. Win what's in front of you. Avoid laying an egg or stumbling. And history could very well be on the horizon.

Sports Illustrated

Iowa's win over Washington on the road to get to 5-1 is enough for Sports Illustrated to have the Hawkeyes in the College Football Playoff. The Hawkeyes aren't just in; Iowa is the No. 9 seed traveling to No. 8 UCLA.

Iowa is on the cusp of getting to host a game in Kinnick Stadium if they can jump up one spot in the seeding, as seeds No. 5 through No. 8 host first-round games on campus.

CBS Sports

Unlike Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports is still requiring more from the Hawkeyes. While they have Iowa on the cusp of the CFP, CBS is slotting Iowa into a familiar bowl game: the Citrus Bowl, where they predict a matchup against the Missouri Tigers, a rematch of a recent Music City Bowl.

ESPN

The projections from ESPN get a little wonky, considering Iowa is sitting at 5-1. One sends Iowa to the Citrus Bowl to take on the Tennessee Volunteers, a rematch of just a few years ago.

Things get wonky with another projection sending Iowa to the Music City Bowl to take on Mississippi State, which would feel like a disappointment after the start to the season that the Hawkeyes have had.

College Football News

Pete Fiutak of College Football News is joining the train taking Iowa to the College Football Playoff. He sends No. 10-seeded Iowa on the road to take on a No. 7-seeded Texas team that suddenly looks like it might have some vulnerabilities.

Riley Donald's Iowa Hawkeyes Bowl Projection

Iowa navigated the toughest stretch of the schedule by going 2-1, with road wins over Michigan and Ohio State sandwiching a loss to Ohio State that is unlikely to hurt the resume all that much.

Now, the Hawkeyes have a schedule that is set up for success that simply requires execution and fundamentals.

Riley Donald's Iowa Hawkeyes Bowl Projection: Iowa vs. Ole Miss, College Football Playoff First Round

I wanted to put Iowa in the CFP last week. I said I needed to see one more big-time win, and Iowa delivered that. A 41-24 beatdown of Washington, which wasn't even that close, was what I needed to put Iowa into the 12-team field.

If Iowa can get to 11-1, I foresee them getting to host a game at Kinnick Stadium in December, which would be a spectacle in itself. Coming to Iowa is Ole Miss of the SEC, a team that is going to have the quality wins the committee likes, but may have one too many losses to retain a home game.

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