“Almost” has been a theme for Iowa in the Big Ten West race recently.

Since going undefeated in the 2015 regular season and appearing in the conference championship game, the Hawkeyes have finished second-place in the division three times in the last five years. I think this season could go either way between Iowa and Wisconsin as far as winning the West.

And, for the sake of preseason predictions, I’ll take Iowa.

There’s not much I can say about Wisconsin that’s negative. The Badgers are going to be really good this season. But I think Iowa will be better.

We already know what Iowa’s strengths are going to be this season.

The team’s defense should be among the best in the conference — if not the best. Five returning starters in the secondary will do that. Plus, Jack Campbell and Seth Benson could emerge as the best linebacker duo in the conference. The defensive line — because of all the players the team lost here from last season’s team — is really the only spot-on defense I could question. But this is a Phil Parker defense we’re talking about. Everything is going to be OK on that front.

Offensively, Tyler Goodson has his sights set on the Doak Walker Award in the backfield. The offensive line lost both starting tackles from last season, and Kyler Schott will miss the early part of the year. But again, this is Iowa we’re talking about. The offensive line will be fine. Despite losing its top two receivers from last season, this year’s corps — led by Tryone Tracy Jr. — should be explosive.

What this season is really going to come down to for Iowa is how Spencer Petras performs at quarterback. Subpar quarterback play was part of what contributed to both of Iowa’s two losses last season.

If not for blowing a 17-point first-half lead against eventual West champion Northwestern last season, Iowa would have been representing the division in Indianapolis.

Iowa has a relatively tough Big Ten schedule. Luckily for the Hawkeyes, they avoid Ohio State. Plus, the team has seemingly difficult games against Indiana, Penn State, and Minnesota at home. A road contest against Wisconsin will be tough, though.

Forgive me for being optimistic ahead of the season, but I think we’ll see Petras take a step next season, which will propel Iowa to the top of the West.