We've reached the portion of the college football season where the AP Poll becomes irrelevant.

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee released its initial CFP rankings on Tuesday, which means the rest of the college football world can overreact about which teams are currently positioned to make the 12-team playoff in what looks to be its final season of existence (24-team has been reported to happen next year).

Iowa football wasn't included in the elusive hypothetical 12-team field, but the Hawkeyes did find themselves ranked No. 19, which means they are in the conversation if they keep winning games, beginning with Northwestern on Saturday night.

What it means for Iowa

Kirk Ferentz and his players will never show much reaction over a ranking in early November, but since we're in the business of crafting opinions, we're going to share ours.

Ever since Iowa's 13-10 loss to Minnesota back on Oct. 24, I've been saying that the Hawkeyes need to be in the conversation to be in the conversation. What I mean by that is Iowa takes care of its business and wins out the rest of the way and hopes the teams ranked ahead of it lose to at least give the Hawkeyes a chance to hear their name called during the selection show.

Iowa doesn't play a ranked team on its remaining schedule as of right now (Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska), but that doesn't mean its slate is a piece of cake, either. Northwestern blew a 20-6 lead against Autzen Stadium last weekend, but had the Wildcats won that game, they would probably ranked just on the outside of the 12-team field at 7-1.

The Hawkeyes might just be in the same scenario had they not fell to Minnesota, but enough with the hypothetical game. This is one of the youngest teams Ferentz has had in quite some time and they can at least say they have a chance as the calendar turns to November.

That's really all you can ask for with Iowa at this point in the season. Again, the odds probably don't fall in the Hawkeyes' favor right now, but if there's one man that can engineer a dominant November stretch, it's Ferentz. According to Brecht's Beat on Substack, Ferentz is 64-33 in November games overall and has won 23 of his last 28 games in November during his nearly three decades in charge of the Hawkeye program. That's an incredible mark, and it's now almost an expectation for Iowa to play its best football in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

Can the Hawkeyes continue that in 2026? We'll soon find out, but Iowa still has an outside chance of qualifying for the College Football Playoff in 2026.