Minnesota Schedule Preview: Iowa Hawkeyes

Gophers Nation's preseason previews of Minnesota's opponents for the 2024 season continues with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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The Golden Gophers are set to take on the Hawkeyes on September 21, the program's first Big Ten matchup of the season after opening the year with three non-conference matchups against North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Nevada. It will also be the Gophers fourth straight home game to start the year.

Previous Schedule Previews: North Carolina | Rhode Island | Nevada

The Hawkeyes are coming off a strong 2023 campaign that saw them go 10-4 overall including 7-2 in conference play. Kirk Ferentz's program was unsurprisingly led by their defense which allowed just 14.8 points per game, fourth best in the country. Their offense, however, was abysmal, ranking 132 of 133 teams nationally, averaging 15.4 points per game.

The Gophers of course were one of those four losses for the Hawkeyes, a 12-10 victory in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes also dropped games to Penn State (31-0), Michigan (26-0), and Tennessee (35-0). In their four losses, the Hawkeyes were outscored by a combined score of 104-10.

This offseason, the Hawkeyes let go of offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, the son of head coach Kirk Ferentz. The younger Ferentz is now at the University of Maryland as an offensive analyst.

Taking over the play calling duties for the Hawkeyes is Tim Lester, who made the move to Iowa City after spending the 2023 season as a senior analyst with the Green Bay Packers. He also previously spent time at Western Michigan as a head coach from 2017 through 2022.

The Hawkeyes will be tested in 2024 though the schedule on paper isn't overly difficult. After an opening matchup against Illinois State on August 31, the Hawkeyes schedule will quickly take a step up with non-conference matchups against Iowa State and Troy before diving into a slightly more daunting Big Ten schedule.

Iowa will travel to Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA, and Maryland this season while hosting Washington, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Nebraska at Kinnick Stadium.

The longest-tenured in college football and it's not even close, Ferentz is set to enter year 26 at Iowa in 2024 and brings a 196-119 career record into the season. Depending on how the Hawkeyes first four games of the season break, the September 21 matchup between Iowa and Minnesota could be Ferentz's 200th career win.

Ferentz during his career at Iowa has achieved eight 10+ win seasons including four since the 2015 season. The Hawkeyes have won eight games or more in each full season since 2014 and haven't had a losing record since the 2012 season. In fact, that 2012 campaign is just one of four losing seasons all-time under the 68-year old head coach.

The All-American, Mr. Do It All is gone to the NFL after being an unanimous All-American for the Hawkeyes last season. He was also a back-to-back first-team All-Big Ten selection.

A former five-star prospect, Proctor originally transferred to Iowa but then chose to enter the portal again and return to Iowa.

Petras transferred to Utah State to finish his career after completing 468-of-825 career passing attempts for 5,199 yards and 24 touchdowns across five seasons at Iowa. He also threw 19 interceptions in the process.

Now at his third school, Hill transferred to Utah Tech after playing in 13 games for Iowa last season. He completed 122-of-251 passing attempts for 1,152 yards. He had five touchdowns and eight interceptions on the season.

Vines had 12 receptions last season for 68 yards and a touchdown before making his way to Old Dominion.

Borud started all 12 games for North Dakota at center last fall and was one of the top centers in the FCS before transferring to Iowa.

A capable quarterback, Sullivan transferred to Iowa after completing 134-of-195 career attempts at Northwestern for 1,303 yards and 10 touchdowns to five interceptions.

Gill had 16 receptions for 195 yards and two touchdowns across three seasons at Northwestern.

The rising senior running back rushed for a career high 821 yards last season but only found the back of the end zone once in the process.

When healthy, Lachey is one of the best tight ends in the country. He enters this season with 46 receptions for 662 yards and four touchdowns in his career.

One of the best linebackers in the country, Higgins recorded 171 tackles last season including five tackles for loss and two sacks. He also had one interception, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.

Perhaps Cooper DeJean's heir apparent, Castro is a tremendous cornerback with 67 tackles, eight tackles for loss, three interceptions, and eight pass deflections last season.

1. Can Tim Lester spark the Iowa offense?

A change at offensive coordinator was desperately needed for the Hawkeyes and Iowa fans rejoiced at the dismissal of Brian Ferentz. However, will Iowa be able to find new life under Tim Lester? Only time will tell but the talent on the offensive side of the ball for the Hawkeyes is sorely lacking which will only make the former Western Michigan head coach's job that much harder.

2. Can Cade McNamara stay on the field?

When healthy, Cade McNamara is very much a capable quarterback. However, staying healthy has been extremely tough for the former Michigan quarterback over the last few seasons including tearing his ACL last year. The Hawkeyes quarterback room doesn't have a ton of talent so McNamara is likely to reprise his role as the starting quarterback. If he can stay healthy, he should provide a quality floor for the Hawkeyes passing attack but he'll only be able to do so much by himself. Nonetheless, McNamara gives Tim Lester an efficient and quality quarterback to work with in his first year in Iowa City.

3. How will the Hawkeyes replace Cooper DeJean?

Iowa always finds a way to replace elite defensive talent without a beat and they'll likely do so once again in 2024. That being said, Cooper DeJean was one of the most dynamic players in all of college football especially when it comes to special teams. How the Hawkeyes replace DeJean on special teams particularly will be interesting to see.

In 2024, this will likely be your traditional Iowa Hawkeyes team under Kirk Ferentz. An elite defensive team that will do just enough offensively to get by most weeks. However, against elite competition, the Hawkeyes are likely to face significant struggles.

The Gophers offense will have their hands full defensively but the Gophers' defense should be able to do enough to keep the Hawkeyes offense this fall from doing too much themselves. This is shaping up to be another low scoring battle between the Gophers and Hawkeyes on September 21.

In terms of a full season outlook, the Hawkeyes are likely the last true "contender" for the college football playoffs this season, mostly due to their defense. If the Hawkeyes offense can take any sort of step forward they'll have a chance at making a run for the college football playoffs.

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