Iowa football team jumps up to No. 3 in Week 6 AP Poll

This is the highest the Hawkeyes have been ranked since November of 2015.

Jerod Ringwald

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz enters the field during a football game between Iowa and Maryland at Maryland Stadium on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The Hawkeyes defeated the Terrapins 51-14.

Robert Read, Pregame Editor
October 3, 2021

The Iowa football team jumped up to No. 3 in the Associated Press’ Week 6 Poll after defeating Maryland, 51-14, in College Park on Friday night. Iowa had been No. 5 for the past three weeks.

The No. 3 ranking is the program’s highest since November of 2015.

Along with Iowa’s 37-point thumping of Maryland, previously No. 3 Oregon lost to unranked Stanford, leading the 5-0 Hawkeyes to move up in the poll. Iowa’s victory over Maryland was so impressive that it jumped Penn State despite the Nittany Lions shutting out Indiana. The fourth consecutive week in the top-five is the program’s longest run since 2002.

Three other Big Ten teams are ranked in the top-10: No. 4 Penn State, No. 7 Ohio State, and No. 9 Michigan. Next weekend’s No. 4 Penn State vs. No. 3 Iowa game will be the first top-five matchup inside Kinnick Stadium since No. 1 Iowa beat No. 2 Michigan in 1985.

Here is the full poll: