We are BACK! We are baaaaack!
Welcome back to college football season and the return of Iowa Hawkeye football! Week zero kicked us off last Saturday but your Hawkeyes re officially back in action this Saturday as they open the 2026 season at home against the Northern Illinois Huskies.
The Huskies come to Kinnick with a new head coach and a rebuild fully underway. NIU finished the 2025 season at just 3-9 overall and 2-6 in the MAC. Now interim HC (and former DC) Rob Harley takes over looking for answers.
Vegas is expecting it to take at least a week to find some as Iowa opened as a massive 31.5-point favorite in this one. The Hawkeyes enter week one ranked #22 nationally in both the AP and Coaches Poll.
We’ll find out on Monday (maybe) who will be under center for the Hawkeyes as Iowa is poised to release their first depth chart of the season. The QB competition remains heated. While Jeremy Hecklinski lit things up during the open Kids Day practice, Hank Brown had reportedly looked slightly better the rest of camp. However, rumblings late last week seemed to indicate Hecklinski may now have the edge.
Either way, Iowa’s offense may not need to do much throwing. The Hawkeyes are poised to have a stacked running attack behind another solid offensive line.
The real question marks for this iteration of the Hawkeyes are on the defensive side of the ball where Iowa lost a plethora of starters. But whether they will actually be tested in the opener remains to be seen. The Huskies lost a slew of starters from a team that wasn’t great a year ago. They do return RB Telly Johnson and a pair of backup QBs. The Huskies added Mississippi State transfer WR Cam Thompson as a weapon on the outside.
As a reminder, the Hawkeyes are opening the year with an afternoon game with kickoff slated for 3:15pm CT. Each of Iowa’s first three home games are sold out and outside that 11am window.
Weather on Saturday is looking a bit iffy. It’s a steamy week in Iowa City with temps bouncing around either side of 90 all week. There’s a decent chance at rain and thunderstorms Saturday morning, giving way to partly cloudy skies around game time. Temps are expected to be in the upper-80s.
Here’s a quick look at the details for Saturday.
Date: Friday, November 28
Time: 3:15 pm CT
Matchup: Northern Illinois Huskies (0-0, 0-0) at #22 Iowa Hawkeyes (0-0, 0-0)
Location: Kinnick Stadium – Iowa City, IA
TV: BTN
Initial Weather Forecast: partly cloudy with temps in the upper 80s, 30% chance of rain early
FanDuel Opening Line: Iowa -31.5, O/U 46.5
Series History
Iowa and Northern Illinois have met ten times is program history. The Hawkeyes have won nine of those games. That one NIU win came back in 2013 when Heisman finalist Jordan Lynch led them to a 30-27 victor inside Kinnick Stadium
The Huskies ultimately went 12-2 that season and won a MAC title. Since the 2013 loss, these two have faced off just once, back in 2018. The Hawkeyes dominated that one 33-7.
Now, Northern Illinois is a member of the Mountain West (yes, you read that right) and looking for their first win in Kinnick since that 2013 MAC title season.
