Happy Fourth of July, Hawkeye Nation! 

Not only is Independence Day a great way to express our passion for this great country, it also gives us a chance to watch one of the greatest sporting events ever created - the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. 

Seventeen-time Mustard Belt champion Joey Chestnut will probably capture another title this year, but before he can do that, let's take a look at some Iowa football players that could win this contest if given the chance. 

The Hawkeyes are known for producing big and talented offensive lineman, so you're probably going to see a lot of them in this piece. 

Remember that this is all in good fun. Here's my list: 

Allgeyer is very early in his playing career, but he's no stranger to winning eating competitions off the field. The sophomore from St. Louis just won his second consecutive Hy-Vee charity bratwurst-eating contest on June 24 downing eight brats in three minutes (shoutout to Daily Iowan sports editor Jackson Miller for his award-winning coverage of that event). 

The Nathan's contest requires contestants to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. That's a lot more time than the short three-minute contest that Allgeyer won, but keep this difference in mind - brats are very dense and are larger than hot dogs, so one could think that Allgeyer could continue this pace into the hot dog eating contest. 

He even knows how to prepare for an eating competition, too. 

“It definitely takes some due diligence,” Allgeyer told The Daily Iowan. “You’ve got to not eat as much during breakfast and eat a lot in the days leading up to it just to get the stomach spread out.”

Not only will Pieper be one of the main anchor's of Iowa's offensive line in 2026, I think he's capable of doing well in a hot dog eating challenge, too. Though it's not an eating competition, Pieper is the two-time defending Hay Bale Toss champion at the Solon Beef Days, with his winning toss in 2025 registering 13 feet. 

Winning the highly-prestigious event takes a lot of strength, so one would think that Pieper's 290-pound frame could handle the rigorous Nathan's contest.  

You can pretty much throw any member of this terrific offensive line on this list, but there's no better name than Trevor Lauck. Lauck won the starting left tackle position last year and ran with it, helping Iowa capture the Joe Moore Award for the nation's best offensive line. 

Neither Lauck or Pieper competed in the Hy-Vee brat-eating contest, so they don't have any competitive eating records on file, but to be a successful offensive lineman in the Big Ten, you have to eat a lot of calories (just look at Gennings Dunker). 

All jokes aside, both Lauck and Pieper are going to be key focal points of this offense this season. Whoever earns the starting quarterback job will rely heavily on the offensive line to protect them, and as long as Pieper and Lauck stay healthy, they'll be just fine. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]