Caitlin Clark fell just short of ending her college basketball career as a national champion. While she didn’t leave college with a championship ring, she did do something a lot better than the Iowa Hawkeyes football program.
Clark, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history, is one of the most dominant players college basketball has seen in years. While there will forever remain debate about where she ranks among the best women’s college basketball players ever, her scoring and ability to carry a team made her an all-time great.
- Caitlin Clark stats career (ESPN): 28.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG< 8.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 46.2% FG, 37.7% 3PT
Related: South Carolina Gamecocks ruin end of Caitlin Clark’s Iowa career
The experience of watching Clark and the women’s basketball team was also a much different experience for Iowa’s fan base. Supporters of the Hawkeyes’ basketball team saw four years of elite scoring and playmaking. Meanwhile, Iowa’s football team was anything but that.
As highlighted by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, Clark scored more points this season than the Hawkeyes football program scored in the last four years.
- Iowa Hawkeyes football (2020-’23): 1,028 total points in 49 games, 20.97 points per game
Related: Social media reacts to Caitlin Clark’s insane first-quarter performance
- Caitlin Clark stats this season: 1,234 points in 39 games, 31.6 points per game
It should also come as no surprise that outscoring Iowa’s football team is something Clark did with regularity each year on a per-game basis. From 2020-’24, Clark averaged 26.6 points, 27 points, 27.8 points and then 31.6 points per game. In comparison, the Hawkeyes’ football team averaged and 31.8 points per game, 23.4 points per game, 17.7 points per game and 15.4 points per game over that same span
With Clark headed for the 2024 WNBA Draft and the Haweyes’ football program unlikely to change its approach to competing, it feels safe to say there won’t be a lot of scoring from Iowa in the years to come.
Related: College basketball TV ratings, see the Caitlin Clark effect