The first reveal of the College Football Playoff rankings is set for Tuesday night, offering the first glimpse into how the selection committee views the national landscape.
As for where No. 20 Iowa might land, Kirk Ferentz said he isn't concerned about the rankings. In addressing the topic, however, he couldn't resist taking a lighthearted jab at ESPN, the television home of the CFP rankings show
and the playoffs themselves."It’s great for TV, right? It's going to be televised? ESPN’s loving it, I’m sure. … They do seem to promote the sports they carry. I'm figuring that out. You couldn’t find anything on the baseball World Series (on ESPN) until the last game," Ferentz said
on Tuesday during a media availability. "Oh, yeah, FOX, ESPN — I got it, okay. I better watch out because I'm pro-FOX, right?
"We're a FOX conference and several others, but we're not ESPN, so we probably won't make the rankings."
An all-time KF press conference tangent today about tv networks pic.twitter.com/bI7VqhRCNx
— Hawkeye Historian (@Hawk_Historian) November 3, 2026
To Ferentz's point, the Big Ten does not have a TV deal with ESPN. The conference, however, has multi-year, lucrative broadcasting rights deals with Fox Sports, NBC and CBS.
Iowa got off to a 4-0 start to the season that saw a rise to No. 14 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, catalyzed by its top-20 road win at Michigan on Sept. 26, where Hank Brown threw a game-winning, 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee as time expired.
Since then, the Hawkeyes have gone 2-2 and 1-1 against top-25-ranked opponents, with the loss coming to Ohio State and the win coming last week in a 30-0 shutout win over Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes have the No. 2 scoring defense in the Big Ten as they've given up
Iowa has not made the CFP under Ferentz since its inception in 2014, both in the four-team and 12-team eras.
"Haven't gone that far, but anyway, I'm not too worried about it," Ferentz added.
The CFP rankings show is set to start at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday. It'll be one of five ranking reveal shows before the official 12-team CFP bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday on Dec. 6.
USA TODAY Sports will provide live reaction from tonight's College Football Playoff rankings reveal. Join Blake Toppmeyer and John Brice for their instant analysis on the CFP's first top 25
Be sure to check out USA TODAY Sports' new College Football Unfiltered podcast, hosted by USA TODAY Sports columnist Blake Toppmeyer. You can stream on YouTube or download via Apple podcasts and Spotify.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kirk Ferentz trolls ESPN ahead of CFP rankings: ‘We probably won’t make it’
