Iowa football is back in action on September 2, facing off against Utah State at Noon on FS1.

The Hawkeyes are looking to improve upon an8-5 end to last season and, more than anything, need to improve their efficiency on offense if they want any chance of truly competing for a B1G title. For what it’s worth, Iowa currently holds a 20.1% chance of winning the B1G West according to ESPN’s FPI.

Here is Iowa’s chance to win every game on its 2023 schedule, according to ESPN’s FPI:

  • Sept. 2 vs. Utah State: 90.6%
  • Sept. 9 at Iowa State: 48%
  • Sept. 16 vs. Western Michigan: 91.7%
  • Sept. 23 at Penn State: 19.2%
  • Sept. 30 vs. Michigan State: 53.9%
  • Oct. 7 vs. Purdue: 66.3%
  • Oct. 14 at Wisconsin: 33.1%
  • Oct. 21 vs. Minnesota: 52.8%
  • Nov. 4 vs. Northwestern: 73.2%
  • Nov. 11 vs. Rutgers: 81.6%
  • Nov. 18 vs. Illinois: 61.8%
  • Nov. 24 at Nebraska: 55.9%

As you can see, the Hawkeyes are favored in all but 3 of their games. They’re underdogs against Penn State and Wisconsin, with their a slight edge to Iowa State in Week 2.

Iowa’s most important game of the season is probably its October 14 matchup against Wisconsin. Win that and the Hawkeyes could be representing the West in the B1G title game.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still plenty of work for the Hawkeyes to do, especially with Michigan transfer Cade Mcnamara already running into some minor injury issues at the QB spot.