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Teams / Big Ten / Iowa
Index · this season
78
at its 5-year level
Career71since 1936
Peak911960
Last 576seasons
#21 nationally · 5-1 (2-1 conf)
Résumé #15
Schedule so far #39
Margin ±5 pts (tightens with games)
Why 78? →

Iowa Hawkeyes

Big Ten · Iowa City, IA · Kinnick Stadium · Head coach Kirk Ferentz
Rival
Heated rivalry
48-49-2 all time (99 meetings since 1894)
Wisconsin leads
Last: won 37-0 (2025) · Iowa has won 4 straight
Holds it
program traits are earned from history
No recognized national titles since 1936. Counted: AP poll champion, a coaches-poll champion, or the BCS / playoff title-game winner; a split year counts for both. The school claims 5.0national titles
Heisman Trophy winners1Heisman
Seasons finishing in the AP top 10 since 193613AP top-10
Consensus All-Americans since 193628All-Americans
NFL draft picks since 1967157NFL picks
Winning percentage since 193651.9%win pct
History since 1936 · football since 1894. Every season →
Chemistry
Chem 62: typical62
Chem 58: typical
58Foundation
Chem 66: typical
66Gel
gel counts 45% so far
▼ Below its norm -9Trending up
early · #48 of 138
HC year28
Ret. starters27%
QB yrs w/ OC1
View chemistry →
Team chemistryearly · #48 of 138 FBS teams
Chem 58: typicalFoundation58+Chem 66: typicalGel66=Chem 62: typicalChem62Gel counts 45% so far (it grows as games are played, up to half)
Foundationwhat the program has built · moves over seasons
Foundation58Staff stability — Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnoverStaff stability73Roster continuity — Returning starters and the lineup's experienceRoster continuity54Unit cohesion — QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played togetherUnit cohesion51Administration — Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignmentAdministration61Investment — Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruitingInvestment56Fan base — How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matterFan base82
ContinuityClimate
Continuity · who has played and coached togetherlive

Who has played and coached together, and for how long, ranked against every FBS team at the same point of the season.

▸Staff stability
Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnover
73
Staff cohesion92
HC year 28 · OC year 3 · DC year 15
Assistant turnover54
50% of on-field staff new this season (FBS average about 45%)
▸Roster continuity
Returning starters and the lineup's experience
54
Returning core53
27% of last season's starters · FBS median 32%
Experience54
10 career starts per starter · FBS median 12
▸Unit cohesion
QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played together
51
QB & coordinator55
1st season together · same as 76% of FBS teams
QB & receivers18
1.0 games started together on average · FBS median 3.9
Line cohesion75
7.3 games per linemen pair · FBS median 5.2
Defensive cohesion71
5.1 games per defensive pair · FBS median 4.5
Climate · around the programlive

The administration, money and fans around the team: athletic director continuity, willingness to invest, and crowds.

▸Administration
Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignment
61
AD continuity61
Beth Goetz · year 4 (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
▸Investment
Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruiting
56
Football's share72
34% of department spending goes to football
Investment trend29
+3% over three years
Football investment76
$50.9M on football (2024-25 federal report)
Recruiting spend63
$1.55M men's recruiting
Department resources75
$180M athletic department revenue
▸Fan base
How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matter
82
Sellouts82
sellout crowds (95%+ of capacity) at 43 of 52 home games (last 8 seasons)
Sells out anyway81
sellout crowds at 22 of 31 games that didn't matter: cupcakes, or a team expected to lose or having a losing season

Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures, as reported by each school. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Attendance: reported crowds vs stadium capacity.

Gelhow it is working right now · moves week to week
Gel66Playing above its parts — Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by gamePlaying above its parts72Settled & sharp — A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normalSettled & sharp56Alignment — Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one pageAlignmentsoonResilience — Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversityResiliencesoonFan & media mood — Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins laterFan & media mood75Coach security — The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new ADCoach security70
InternalOn-field fitExternal
Internal · how the program talkscoming

How the team talks in press conferences and interviews, each program against its own normal, so a naturally terse coach isn't read as upset. Being built program by program, Big Ten first.

▸Alignment
Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one page
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.
▸Resilience
Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversity
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.

Readings are team-level; we don't publish psychological readings of individual players.

On-field fit · how it is playing togetherlive

How the team is playing together this season: beating or missing its preseason expectation, a settled lineup, clean execution.

▸Playing above its parts
Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by game
72
This season72
+3.5 points a game vs its preseason projection (5 games)
▸Settled & sharp
A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normal
56
This season56
85% of starters kept game to game
External · pressure from outsidelive

Pressure from outside the building: the hard-facts hot seat now; this season's fan and media mood as it is measured.

▸Fan & media mood
Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins later
75
This season75
AP preseason #22 -> now #20 · results 5-1 (+11, recent games count more)
▸Coach security
The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new AD
70
This season70
Kirk Ferentz, year 28 · 83% wins so far · +3.5 pts a game vs preseason expectation · last two seasons -3% vs the program's norm · impatient fan base

Dashed gold ring = typical (62). 20-50 is the warning zone; under 10 is a collapse. Spokes with no data yet are dashed and left out until they fill in. Chem blends the two halves, then places the blend among this season's teams.

Trend · Foundationeach program year runs Feb 1 to the title game
'1673'1773'1872'1968'2073'2171'2276'2368'2467'2570'262016 wk 1 vs Miami (OH): 76 · W2016 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 86 · W2016 wk 3 vs North Dakota State: 76 · L2016 wk 4 vs Rutgers: 71 · W2016 wk 5 vs Northwestern: 79 · L2016 wk 6 vs Minnesota: 80 · W2016 wk 7 vs Purdue: 81 · W2016 wk 8 vs Wisconsin: 80 · L2016 wk 10 vs Penn State: 82 · L2016 wk 11 vs Michigan: 81 · W2016 wk 12 vs Illinois: 76 · W2016 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 72 · W2016 wk 1 vs Florida: 73 · L2017 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 71 · W2017 wk 3 vs North Texas: 74 · W2017 wk 4 vs Penn State: 75 · L2017 wk 5 vs Michigan State: 75 · L2017 wk 6 vs Illinois: 76 · W2017 wk 8 vs Northwestern: 74 · L2017 wk 9 vs Minnesota: 67 · W2017 wk 10 vs Ohio State: 73 · W2017 wk 11 vs Wisconsin: 74 · L2017 wk 12 vs Purdue: 76 · L2017 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 76 · W2017 wk 1 vs Boston College: 73 · W2018 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 67 · W2018 wk 3 vs Northern Iowa: 69 · W2018 wk 4 vs Wisconsin: 71 · L2018 wk 6 vs Minnesota: 72 · W2018 wk 7 vs Indiana: 69 · W2018 wk 8 vs Maryland: 69 · W2018 wk 9 vs Penn State: 72 · L2018 wk 10 vs Purdue: 70 · L2018 wk 11 vs Northwestern: 70 · L2018 wk 12 vs Illinois: 71 · W2018 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 72 · W2018 wk 1 vs Mississippi State: 72 · W2019 wk 2 vs Rutgers: 64 · W2019 wk 3 vs Iowa State: 59 · W2019 wk 5 vs Middle Tennessee: 61 · W2019 wk 6 vs Michigan: 62 · L2019 wk 7 vs Penn State: 66 · L2019 wk 8 vs Purdue: 66 · W2019 wk 9 vs Northwestern: 65 · W2019 wk 11 vs Wisconsin: 63 · L2019 wk 12 vs Minnesota: 60 · W2019 wk 13 vs Illinois: 67 · W2019 wk 14 vs Nebraska: 67 · W2019 wk 1 vs USC: 68 · W2020 wk 9 vs Northwestern: 68 · L2020 wk 10 vs Michigan State: 72 · W2020 wk 11 vs Minnesota: 71 · W2020 wk 12 vs Penn State: 72 · W2020 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 72 · W2020 wk 14 vs Illinois: 72 · W2020 wk 15 vs Wisconsin: 73 · W2021 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 70 · W2021 wk 3 vs Kent State: 70 · W2021 wk 4 vs Colorado State: 72 · W2021 wk 5 vs Maryland: 68 · W2021 wk 6 vs Penn State: 72 · W2021 wk 7 vs Purdue: 69 · L2021 wk 9 vs Wisconsin: 69 · L2021 wk 10 vs Northwestern: 71 · W2021 wk 11 vs Minnesota: 69 · W2021 wk 12 vs Illinois: 66 · W2021 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 63 · W2021 wk 14 vs Michigan: 68 · L2021 wk 1 vs Kentucky: 71 · L2022 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 75 · L2022 wk 3 vs Nevada: 75 · W2022 wk 4 vs Rutgers: 76 · W2022 wk 5 vs Michigan: 78 · L2022 wk 6 vs Illinois: 78 · L2022 wk 8 vs Ohio State: 77 · L2022 wk 9 vs Northwestern: 76 · W2022 wk 10 vs Purdue: 77 · W2022 wk 11 vs Wisconsin: 78 · W2022 wk 12 vs Minnesota: 79 · W2022 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 79 · L2022 wk 1 vs Kentucky: 76 · W2023 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 73 · W2023 wk 3 vs Western Michigan: 71 · W2023 wk 4 vs Penn State: 74 · L2023 wk 5 vs Michigan State: 73 · W2023 wk 6 vs Purdue: 71 · W2023 wk 7 vs Wisconsin: 73 · W2023 wk 8 vs Minnesota: 70 · L2023 wk 10 vs Northwestern: 71 · W2023 wk 11 vs Rutgers: 75 · W2023 wk 12 vs Illinois: 70 · W2023 wk 13 vs Nebraska: 70 · W2023 wk 14 vs Michigan: 68 · L2023 wk 1 vs Tennessee: 68 · L2024 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 74 · L2024 wk 3 vs Troy: 74 · W2024 wk 4 vs Minnesota: 75 · W2024 wk 6 vs Ohio State: 75 · L2024 wk 7 vs Washington: 75 · W2024 wk 8 vs Michigan State: 75 · L2024 wk 9 vs Northwestern: 74 · W2024 wk 10 vs Wisconsin: 75 · W2024 wk 11 vs UCLA: 71 · L2024 wk 13 vs Maryland: 72 · W2024 wk 14 vs Nebraska: 66 · W2024 wk 1 vs Missouri: 67 · L2025 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 70 · L2025 wk 3 vs Massachusetts: 71 · W2025 wk 4 vs Rutgers: 71 · W2025 wk 5 vs Indiana: 71 · L2025 wk 7 vs Wisconsin: 71 · W2025 wk 8 vs Penn State: 71 · W2025 wk 9 vs Minnesota: 72 · W2025 wk 11 vs Oregon: 70 · L2025 wk 12 vs USC: 71 · L2025 wk 13 vs Michigan State: 71 · W2025 wk 14 vs Nebraska: 71 · W2025 wk 1 vs Vanderbilt: 70 · W2026 wk 2 vs Iowa State: 63 · W2026 wk 3 vs Northern Iowa: 64 · W2026 wk 4 vs Michigan: 64 · W2026 wk 5 vs Ohio State: 64 · L2026 wk 6 vs Washington: 65 · W2026 wk 8 vs Minnesota: 58 · next gametypical 62

Every game since 2016, one continuous line; thin rules separate seasons and the chip is where each season finished. Navy dot = win, red = loss. Big drops usually mean a new staff, a new quarterback or a rebuilt line.

Trend · Gelthis season, after each game
typical 62wk 1 · on-field 48 · fan mood 65541wk 2 vs Iowa State · W · on-field 64 · fan mood 73672wk 3 vs Northern Iowa · W · on-field 57 · fan mood 79663wk 4 vs Michigan · W · on-field 61 · fan mood 90724wk 5 vs Ohio State · L · on-field 59 · fan mood 71635wk 6 vs Washington · W · on-field 59 · fan mood 76656

How the team is working right now, rebuilt after each game from only the games so far: on-field fit (results vs preseason expectation, lineup settling, execution) and that week's fan & media mood. Coach security is part of today's Gel number but isn't rebuilt week by week yet. Navy frame = win, red = loss.

Continuity facts
Head coach
Year 28
at this school
Offensive coordinator
Year 3
at this school
Defensive coordinator
Year 15
at this school
HC & OC together
3 seasons
working together
QB with his OC
1 seasons
same play-caller
QB & receivers
1.0 games
started together, average
Offensive line pairs
7.3 games
started together, average
Returning starters
27%
from last season
Starter experience
10 starts
career average
Internal facts
Pressers read
soon
this season, coaches and players
Coach tone
soon
vs his own normal
"We" vs "I"
soon
share of team language
Owning mistakes
soon
vs pointing outward
Same story
soon
coaches and players agree
After losses
soon
how fast tone recovers
Leaders named
soon
players teammates point to
Newcomers
soon
transfers talked about as part of it
Openness
soon
forthcoming vs guarded
Measured from press conferences and interviews, program by program.
Climate facts
Athletic director
Beth Goetz
year 4
Football spending
$50.9M
2024-25 federal report
Spending trend
+3%
over three years
Department revenue
$180M
all sports
Recruiting spend
$1.55M
men's teams
Home crowds
—
of capacity
Staff turnover
50%
on-field staff new this season
Fan mood
soon
fans and local media
Coach & AD
soon
on the same page
Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Offense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Hecklinski
Moulton
Zee
Diaz
Ostrenga
Vonnahme
Dotzler
Lauck
Jones
Pieper
Winter
QBJeremy Hecklinski11111111111
RBKamari Moulton11585385135135
WRReece Vander Zee181665468686
WRTony Diaz15663466666
TEAddison Ostrenga135314234343
TEDJ Vonnahme18442949494
OLJack Dotzler15663466666
OLTrevor Lauck11386496196196
OLLeighton Jones15663466666
OLKade Pieper11386496196196
OLCael Winter15663466666

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Defense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Merrieweather
Hubert
Epenesa
Hawthorne
Montgomery
Buffington
Lee
Lutmer
Watson
Wallace
Styles
DLKenneth Merrieweather66666666631
DLWill Hubert66666666631
DLIose Epenesa66666666631
DLBryce Hawthorne66676677631
LBJayden Montgomery66661361113831
LBCam Buffington66666666631
DBDeshaun Lee66671163217731
DBZach Lutmer66671361719831
DBJaylen Watson66668678831
DBJacob Wallace33333333331
DBXavier Styles11111111111

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Chemistry is Scorebook's own rating of how well a program fits together, on the same all-time 0-99 scale as our other ratings (compared with every FBS team since 2016; 62 is typical, 20-50 signals something is wrong, and single digits are reserved for true collapses; each season is compared with its own era). This early version blends continuity (who has played and coached together, and for how long; it counts most) with the climate around the program; how the program talks joins as it is measured. Within continuity, quarterback-centered pairings count most because they held up when we tested them against results. How our ratings work →