Iowa's Preseason Bowl Projections Are Too Predictable. That's the Problem.

Football season is almost here, and what better way to begin looking way too far ahead than preseason bowl projections?

Personally, I am of the side that bowl games do matter. They are fun. They are a great reason for fans to travel. They give fans one more football game before the long, cold offseason.

What's not to love about them? I mean, the whole "College Football Playoff or bust" attitude sets up a lot of teams for failure. But if you get past that, looking forward to a bowl game is a nice treat.

Iowa's Preseason Bowl Projections

The Iowa Hawkeyes are a team and program perennially going bowling in the postseason, and 2026 shows no signs of that slowing down. The last time Iowa didn't qualify for a bowl game was back in 2012.

It's not a lock, but Iowa playing in a bowl game is one of the more sure things in college football.

In the most recent preseason bowl projections, we see them recycling recent bowl trips at venues they are familiar with.

ESPN is sending the Hawkeyes to the Music City Bowl in Nashville to take on either the Tennessee Volunteers or the South Carolina Gamecocks. Iowa has played in this bowl twice since 2022.

CBS Sports is recycling Iowa's bowl bid as well. They are sending Iowa back to Tampa to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl for the second year in a row. Iowa is drawing the Alabama Crimson Tide this year after beating Vanderbilt last season.

The Problem

The first, and most obvious, problem with these bowl projections is the fact that both of these games are not new for the Hawkeyes or their fans. They are recent trips, which loses some allure for fans looking to attend the bowl game.

Now, the opponents aren't as bad. Sure, Iowa played Tennessee back in 2023, but Alabama and South Carolina would be a breath of fresh air.

The other problem is the predictable and lazy pairings based upon the bowl game conference tie-ins. With certain games requiring certain conferences, the matchup possibilities become extremely limited.

The SEC taking on the Big Ten isn't the problem, but when it's the same teams, the fun of a new matchup is gone.

The Fix

First things first, we have to remember that any changes to bowl games are going to be based on money. That's the reality of these games.

Companies and bowl committees won't agree to just anything. Getting teams with dedicated fanbases, like Iowa, incentivizes bowls to request them.

How do you fix this? Rather than bowls being a one-to-one lineup of the top remaining Big Ten team playing the top remaining SEC team, down the line, you pool them.

You put the top three or four of each conference in a pool, then the next three or four in their pool, and you make the matchups out of those games. You can't repeat the same bowl venue as last year, nor the same opponent. Both have to be different.

It isn't a perfect fix, but is anything in college football? What it does help is to avoid rematches, the same location, and to keep a pulse on bowl games, which could be on life support with College Football Playoff expansion looming.

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