2018 Schedule Breakdown

[Bryzzo]

2018 Football Schedule:

Week 1: 9/1 - Northern Illinois - W / 1-0
Week 2: 9/8 - Iowa State - W / 2-0
Week 3: 9/15 - UNI - W / 3-0
Week 4: 9/22 - Wisconsin - L / 3-1
Week 5: 9/29 - BYE
Week 6: 10/6 - at Minnesota - W / 4-1
Week 7: 10/13 - at Indiana - W / 5-1
Week 8: 10/20 - Maryland - W / 6-1
Week 9: 10/27 - at Penn State - L / 6-2
Week 10: 11/3 - at Purdue - W / 7-2
Week 11: 11/10 - Northwestern - W / 8-2
Week 12: 11/17 - at Illinois - W / 9-2
Week 13: 11/23 - Nebraska - W / 10-2

Games Ranked in terms of Difficulty (Probability of winning)
1. At Penn State
2. Wisconsin
3. at Purdue
4. Iowa State
5. Northwestern
6. Nebraska
7. at Minnesota
8. at Indiana
9. Maryland
10. Northern Illinois
11. at Illinois
12. UNI

 

[87alum87]

For Iowa to win the West, which seems like a reasonable goal, that game against Wisconsin is vital. In my opinion, Iowa will go 7-2 in the BIG, with Penn State the most likely loss. Wisconsin goes to Michigan, Penn State and Purdue, and has an easier home schedule. If Iowa loses at home to Wisconsin, Wisconsin would likely have to lose all three of those away games. If Iowa beats Wisconsin, and loses two other games in Conference, Wisconsin would only have to lose one of those away games, both teams would be 7-2, and Iowa would have the tiebreaker. That one game against Wi. might have the value of two games, if Iowa takes care of business against the other lower ranked teams.

 

[Bryzzo]

I totally agree that the Wisconsin game is the most vital game of the year.

If the Hawks take care of their non-conference schedule and enter the Wisconsin game unbeaten, the game has a good shot to possibly be a night game in Kinnick, similar to the Penn State game last year, which was an electric atmosphere.

Wisconsin will most likely start the year ranked in the top 10, so if the Hawks are able to knock off a top 10 team to start the Big 10 schedule and then have a BYE week to hopefully address any bumps and bruises from a physical game with the Badgers, they could set themselves up for a special season - pretty similar to the 2009 season after opening with a huge road win over Penn State in Happy Valley.

Both the Hawks and Badgers play at Penn State later in the year, so the early season match-up could prove to be the key to winning the West and getting to Indy. Let's hope Brian and Kirk treat the Wisconsin game in a similar manner to how they treated the Ohio State game last year - leave it all on the line and don't hold anything back.

 

[Johnsoda123]

For Iowa to win the West, which seems like a reasonable goal, that game against Wisconsin is vital. In my opinion, Iowa will go 6-2 in the BIG, with Penn State the most likely loss. Wisconsin goes to Michigan, Penn State and Purdue, and has an easier home schedule. If Iowa loses at home to Wisconsin, Wisconsin would likely have to lose all three of those away games. If Iowa beats Wisconsin, and loses two other games in Conference, Wisconsin would only have to lose one of those away games, both teams would be 6-2, and Iowa would have the tiebreaker. That one game against Wi. might have the value of two games, if Iowa takes care of business against the other lower ranked teams.

7-2 would be even sweeter, unless of course you aren't counting Nebraska as a legitimate B1G opponent.

 

[87alum87]

Yes 7-2. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Steve Waite]

This is probably one of the easiest schedules we have had in awhile and we could run the table like we did in 15. If we take care of home we are West Champions and will probably have a date with OSU in the Big championship. Wisconsin will be a war and I think we will be very focused for this game. If this is a night game we will win this game. If it's a 11:00 am kickoff we will have our hands full and I could see us losing this game.

 

[mikesright]

Maryland is a huge wildcard. They have a couple of duel-threat QB's that 50-burgered Texas and they've been a monster on the recruiting trail the last few years. Northwestern is another boom or bust candidate too. Purdue has a tough schedule and they might be up against the wall to make a bowl game when they play us.

This is not the 2015 schedule we knew and loved. It will be a tough road if our offense isn't extremely improved.

 

[Suterman]

I think we probably lose to Wisky, @PSU and one other game along the way. 9-3 is how I'm seeing this year right now. If we beat Wisky, all bets are off and we could run the table if we can stay healthy.

 

[SWIowahawks]

If Iowa wants to beat Wisconsin, Kirk needs to have an attacking game plan. Not this phone booth body blow mentality that’s hurt Iowa the past few years. Wisconsin is now better at this than Iowa.

I do hope this game is a night game between two undefeated teams. If that’s the case, I like Iowa’s chances.

 

[INXS83]

Maryland is a huge wildcard. They have a couple of duel-threat QB's that 50-burgered Texas and they've been a monster on the recruiting trail the last few years. Northwestern is another boom or bust candidate too. Purdue has a tough schedule and they might be up against the wall to make a bowl game when they play us.

This is not the 2015 schedule we knew and loved. It will be a tough road if our offense isn't extremely improved.

Defense improved? They'll have to get lot better just to be as good as last year. New LB's and no Josh J. Not saying they won't become a good D, but lot's of holes to fill. The O is going to have to step up if the team is to reach 9 or 10 wins, IMHO.

 

[scotthawk1964]

I like our chances vs Wiscy. Stanley is a year older, our O should be overall better and our D solid. Stanley is a superior QB then Hornibrook and if it comes down to throwing to win, my money would be on Stanley. Unless of course he regresses, which would not be the first time a hawk QB has done that. Put that big W on Iowa that day for me. I do worry about Maryland though, and PSU mostly because its at PSU, but Barkley is gone so that is one headache off the turf for us.

 

[Dick Rambone]

Iowa hast done crap on offense recently against Wisconsins attacking 3 -4 , until they show me they are capable of making Wisconsin pay for aggressively attacking then I will continue to put the Wisconsin game in the loss column, Last time Iowa beat them Iowa scored 10 points if memory serves. 10 Points wont do it and J Jacksons pick sixes are gone for the NFL draft. BF has to find a way to neutralize Wisconsins LBs .

 

[Dick Rambone]

If Iowa wants to beat Wisconsin, Kirk needs to have an attacking game plan. Not this phone booth body blow mentality that’s hurt Iowa the past few years. Wisconsin is now better at this than Iowa.

I do hope this game is a night game between two undefeated teams. If that’s the case, I like Iowa’s chances.

BF needs to move the TEs around and split them out and get as many LBs away from the LOS as possible

 

[paladinhawk]

If Iowa wants to beat Wisconsin, Kirk needs to have an attacking game plan. Not this phone booth body blow mentality that’s hurt Iowa the past few years. Wisconsin is now better at this than Iowa.

I do hope this game is a night game between two undefeated teams. If that’s the case, I like Iowa’s chances.

You gotta believe that Brian has had this game circled on his calendar for a long time. I'm hoping they have enough confidence in Stanley to go with an attacking 'un-Iowa like' offensive plan.

 

[hawkfeever]

If Iowa wants to beat Wisconsin, Kirk needs to have an attacking game plan. Not this phone booth body blow mentality that’s hurt Iowa the past few years. Wisconsin is now better at this than Iowa.

I do hope this game is a night game between two undefeated teams. If that’s the case, I like Iowa’s chances.

Need to figure out the 3-4 defense Wisc runs. Many of their starters gone so that will help with getting them early in season.

 

[hawkfeever]

I like our chances vs Wiscy. Stanley is a year older, our O should be overall better and our D solid. Stanley is a superior QB then Hornibrook and if it comes down to throwing to win, my money would be on Stanley. Unless of course he regresses, which would not be the first time a hawk QB has done that. Put that big W on Iowa that day for me. I do worry about Maryland though, and PSU mostly because its at PSU, but Barkley is gone so that is one headache off the turf for us.

The key is he has time to throw. Re-watch last year's game. Needed to get the ball out fast as our line could not handle the stunts their D was running. If he didn't get it out in like 3 seconds it was over.

 

[Suterman]

There was a big, big gap between Iowa and Wisconsin last year. I will have little optimism that we can beat WIsky unless we change how we attack their defense.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

If Iowa wants to beat Wisconsin, Kirk needs to have an attacking game plan. Not this phone booth body blow mentality that’s hurt Iowa the past few years. Wisconsin is now better at this than Iowa.

I do hope this game is a night game between two undefeated teams. If that’s the case, I like Iowa’s chances.

First big conference home game, it will be a night game for sure. That said, Wisconsin seems to think of Iowa as their main divisional competition so they have been going out of their way as of late to get overly jacked to play us. May have to do with the 2015 game, from what I've heard.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

There was a big, big gap between Iowa and Wisconsin last year. I will have little optimism that we can beat WIsky unless we change how we attack their defense.

Kinda like Iowa vs PSU last year, after they mauled us in 2016?......

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

This is probably one of the easiest schedules we have had in awhile.

I wouldn't say that, if you really look back at our previous schedules.

 

[kceasthawk]

Iowa hast done crap on offense recently against Wisconsins attacking 3 -4 , until they show me they are capable of making Wisconsin pay for aggressively attacking then I will continue to put the Wisconsin game in the loss column, Last time Iowa beat them Iowa scored 10 points if memory serves. 10 Points wont do it and J Jacksons pick sixes are gone for the NFL draft. BF has to find a way to neutralize Wisconsins LBs .

Next man in for Josh Jackson as Iowa has three different Thorpe award candidates in four years.

 

[spbc7]

I like our chances vs Wiscy. Stanley is a year older, our O should be overall better and our D solid. Stanley is a superior QB then Hornibrook and if it comes down to throwing to win, my money would be on Stanley. Unless of course he regresses, which would not be the first time a hawk QB has done that. Put that big W on Iowa that day for me. I do worry about Maryland though, and PSU mostly because its at PSU, but Barkley is gone so that is one headache off the turf for us.

Doesn’t matter who is playing QB if nobody is able to get open. The performance of our receivers in that game last year was the worst I have ever seen in a hawk uniform. Have to improve bigly there

 

[Herkmeister]

Iowa will beat Wisconsin. No doubt in my mind.



Our line will roll over them.

 

[Wingman137]

Week 1: 9/1 - Northern Illinois - W / 1-0 31-17
Week 2: 9/8 - Iowa State - W / 2-0 38-27
Week 3: 9/15 - UNI - W / 3-0 20-14
Week 4: 9/22 - Wisconsin - W / 4-0 24-23
Week 5: 9/29 - BYE
Week 6: 10/6 - at Minnesota - W / 5-0 34- 14
Week 7: 10/13 - at Indiana - W / 6-0 28-24
Week 8: 10/20 - Maryland - W / 7-0 21-20
Week 9: 10/27 - at Penn State - W / 8-0 12-10
Week 10: 11/3 - at Purdue - W / 9-0 34-31
Week 11: 11/10 - Northwestern - W / 10-0 24-16
Week 12: 11/17 - at Illinois - W / 11-0 34-6
Week 13: 11/23 - Nebraska - W / 12-0 56-3

BTC vs Michigan W / 17-12

Playoff Bama W / 38-3
Championship Clemson W / 34-33

 

[scotthawk1964]

The key is he has time to throw. Re-watch last year's game. Needed to get the ball out fast as our line could not handle the stunts their D was running. If he didn't get it out in like 3 seconds it was over.

Blocking schemes will be different this year as they figured out zone blocking wasn't effective vs the badgers 3-4. Of course, this makes no difference passing, but I believe they will protect better this year then last. Can't protect any worse. LOL

 

[DodgerHawki]

This is probably one of the easiest schedules we have had in awhile and we could run the table like we did in 15. If we take care of home we are West Champions and will probably have a date with OSU in the Big championship. Wisconsin will be a war and I think we will be very focused for this game. If this is a night game we will win this game. If it's a 11:00 am kickoff we will have our hands full and I could see us losing this game.

Schedule not nearly as favorable as 2015 (my opinion). 2015 was only 8 conference games and no OSU, MSU or PSU. Roadie at PSU and Wisconsin is a legitimate Top 10 team. How difficult the rest of the schedule is can vary. But there is opportunity there for Iowa, if Iowa can find a way to beat Badgers in Iowa City.

 

[hawkeye bb n fb fan]

Schedule not nearly as favorable as 2015 (my opinion). 2015 was only 8 conference games and no OSU, MSU or PSU. Roadie at PSU and Wisconsin is a legitimate Top 10 team. How difficult the rest of the schedule is can vary. But there is opportunity there for Iowa, if Iowa can find a way to beat Badgers in Iowa City.

Unfortunately we can never miss all of the top 4 in the East in a season now that we play Penn State every year

 

[RogerKint]

Week 1: 9/1 - Northern Illinois - W / 1-0 31-17
Week 2: 9/8 - Iowa State - W / 2-0 38-27
Week 3: 9/15 - UNI - W / 3-0 20-14
Week 4: 9/22 - Wisconsin - W / 4-0 24-23
Week 5: 9/29 - BYE
Week 6: 10/6 - at Minnesota - W / 5-0 34- 14
Week 7: 10/13 - at Indiana - W / 6-0 28-24
Week 8: 10/20 - Maryland - W / 7-0 21-20
Week 9: 10/27 - at Penn State - W / 8-0 12-10
Week 10: 11/3 - at Purdue - W / 9-0 34-31
Week 11: 11/10 - Northwestern - W / 10-0 24-16
Week 12: 11/17 - at Illinois - W / 11-0 34-6
Week 13: 11/23 - Nebraska - W / 12-0 56-3

BTC vs Michigan W / 17-12

Playoff Bama W / 38-3
Championship Clemson W / 34-33

Love it!

 

[The Sleeping Dog]

Bucky leaves Kinnick merely a dead rodent in the middle of the road. Iowa goes 11-1 and wins the west.

Special beat downs for Purdue and Wiley on the way this season.

 

[Goldteam]

At Minnesota

0-2

I can't wait to read the "fire Kirk" threads.

 

[Dick Rambone]

At Minnesota

0-2

I can't wait to read the "fire Kirk" threads.

Who is playing QB for the Goofs this year that is capable of beating Iowa? The sailor from the Village People commit and agree to row Flecks boat? Iowa will house the Goofs .

 

[soybean]

2018 Football Schedule:

Week 1: 9/1 - Northern Illinois - W / 1-0
Week 2: 9/8 - Iowa State - W / 2-0
Week 3: 9/15 - UNI - W / 3-0
Week 4: 9/22 - Wisconsin - L / 3-1
Week 5: 9/29 - BYE
Week 6: 10/6 - at Minnesota - W / 4-1
Week 7: 10/13 - at Indiana - W / 5-1
Week 8: 10/20 - Maryland - W / 6-1
Week 9: 10/27 - at Penn State - L / 6-2
Week 10: 11/3 - at Purdue - W / 7-2
Week 11: 11/10 - Northwestern - W / 8-2
Week 12: 11/17 - at Illinois - W / 9-2
Week 13: 11/23 - Nebraska - W / 10-2

Games Ranked in terms of Difficulty (Probability of winning)
1. At Penn State
2. Wisconsin
3. at Purdue
4. Iowa State
5. Northwestern
6. Nebraska
7. at Minnesota
8. at Indiana
9. Maryland
10. Northern Illinois
11. at Illinois
12. UNI

Not a bad effort, but I think Penn State and Wisconsin should be flipped as should Indiana be tougher for the Hawks than Nebraska.

 

[Goldteam]

Who is playing QB for the Goofs this year that is capable of beating Iowa? The sailor from the Village People commit and agree to row Flecks boat? Iowa will house the Goofs .

We had the worst qb'ing in our history last year. I remember a very tight game in Iowa. House us.....LMAO

 

[LetsGoHawks83]

Just beat the freaking Badgers. I Know too many Wisconsin people!

 

[Gridiron24]

This schedule is so boring. No interesting OOC opponents. Besides Penn State, we don't have any cross-divisional match-ups that interest me all that much.It's hard for me to be anything but apathetic until September with a schedule like this.

Thanks B1G for chasing tv-sets to get Rutgers and Maryland. All that TV money we're getting from NY and DC sure is getting me excited for the upcoming season! The only things the TV money has done, from my perspective, is gave us a new basketball scoreboard, new football endzone renovation that we didn't ask for (maybe the wine-and-cheese crowd hospital donors did), and more job security for both our awful sports marketing department and for the most incompetent Athletic director in America Gary Barta.

Yes, I posted this at 3:45 AM.

 

[Big Hawk D-Port]

The home games this year include Iowa State, Wisconsin and Nebraska. UNI and Northwestern are always fun games too. Good season to have season tickets in my opinion.

 

[INXS83]

Iowa hast done crap on offense recently against Wisconsins attacking 3 -4 , until they show me they are capable of making Wisconsin pay for aggressively attacking then I will continue to put the Wisconsin game in the loss column, Last time Iowa beat them Iowa scored 10 points if memory serves. 10 Points wont do it and J Jacksons pick sixes are gone for the NFL draft. BF has to find a way to neutralize Wisconsins LBs .

For one thing the OL will have to step up and hold their blocks better. Must be able to establish some kind of a running game. 3rd and long is an aphrodisiac for the Wiscy D. Stanley needs to find his 'hot reads' better. Finally, the TE's can't get continually knocked off their routes by Wiscy OLB's at the LOS like they did in 2017 game.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

There was a big, big gap between Iowa and Wisconsin last year. I will have little optimism that we can beat WIsky unless we change how we attack their defense.

There were so many factors that contributed to barf that was the Wisconsin game last year. However, despite perceived "gaps" ... the game was a one-score affair well into the 3rd quarter ... and the Hawks were only down 10 early in the 4th quarter. A few self-inflicted wounds later ... Wisconsin ends up winning in a laugher.

However, your point is well made that Iowa's O didn't do a darn thing against the Badgers last year. Why was that ... what were factors that contributed to the historic dismantling of the Hawk O?

• Oddly enough, football is a game that can get swayed A LOT by both momentum, emotion, and motivation. The Hawks were exiting a historic beat-down of Ohio State ... a team that was also supposed to have a mighty D. Furthermore, the Badgers were ridiculed the whole season for tearing apart lesser opponents ... the Iowa game was featured by many as being the Badger's first true "test" of the season. I cannot imagine a better set-up for the Badgers in terms of motivation heading into the game against the Hawks.
• Badger fans like to report how their DC, Leonhard, is a football genius. While I think that Badger players deserve a ton of credit too ... without a doubt, the Badgers have a good one in Leonhard. The defensive side of the football staff really didn't have much turnover ... apart from having him as the new DC. I think that Brian may have had the tougher situation insofar that Iowa's offensive staff was still coming together as a group throughout the whole season. Furthermore, Brian was a newbie at OC ... and, without question, he was schooled in the game against Wisconsin.
• The game was at Camp Randall ... and the Badgers had been away from home for consecutive weeks. While the Hawks are one of the few programs to pull out victories at Camp Randall with some frequency ... it's still an incredibly tough environment for an opposing team to play at. They call it "home field advantage" for a reason.
• Given that the game was AT Madison and the fact that Nate Stanley is a Wisconsin native ... I think that there is reason to believe that Nate wasn't entirely himself in that game. I'm willing to bet that the game holds a little higher importance in his mind ... and it was a little harder than usual for him to approach the game like every other. This factor also perhaps helped the Badger D to shake him even more ... once they were able to get into his head.

I anticipate that the Iowa coaching staff on O has really been continuing to improve and come together as a unit. This can and should reap rewards. Furthermore, Stanley's increased experience should help him in dealing with the adversity of facing off against his home-state team. Lastly, in '18, we get the Badgers at Kinnick!

 

[Johnsoda123]

There were so many factors that contributed to barf that was the Wisconsin game last year. However, despite perceived "gaps" ... the game was a one-score affair well into the 3rd quarter ... and the Hawks were only down 10 early in the 4th quarter. A few self-inflicted wounds later ... Wisconsin ends up winning in a laugher.

However, your point is well made that Iowa's O didn't do a darn thing against the Badgers last year. Why was that ... what were factors that contributed to the historic dismantling of the Hawk O?

• Oddly enough, football is a game that can get swayed A LOT by both momentum, emotion, and motivation. The Hawks were exiting a historic beat-down of Ohio State ... a team that was also supposed to have a mighty D. Furthermore, the Badgers were ridiculed the whole season for tearing apart lesser opponents ... the Iowa game was featured by many as being the Badger's first true "test" of the season. I cannot imagine a better set-up for the Badgers in terms of motivation heading into the game against the Hawks.
• Badger fans like to report how their DC, Leonhard, is a football genius. While I think that Badger players deserve a ton of credit too ... without a doubt, the Badgers have a good one in Leonhard. The defensive side of the football staff really didn't have much turnover ... apart from having him as the new DC. I think that Brian may have had the tougher situation insofar that Iowa's offensive staff was still coming together as a group throughout the whole season. Furthermore, Brian was a newbie at OC ... and, without question, he was schooled in the game against Wisconsin.
• The game was at Camp Randall ... and the Badgers had been away from home for consecutive weeks. While the Hawks are one of the few programs to pull out victories at Camp Randall with some frequency ... it's still an incredibly tough environment for an opposing team to play at. They call it "home field advantage" for a reason.
• Given that the game was AT Madison and the fact that Nate Stanley is a Wisconsin native ... I think that there is reason to believe that Nate wasn't entirely himself in that game. I'm willing to bet that the game holds a little higher importance in his mind ... and it was a little harder than usual for him to approach the game like every other. This factor also perhaps helped the Badger D to shake him even more ... once they were able to get into his head.

I anticipate that the Iowa coaching staff on O has really been continuing to improve and come together as a unit. This can and should reap rewards. Furthermore, Stanley's increased experience should help him in dealing with the adversity of facing off against his home-state team. Lastly, in '18, we get the Badgers at Kinnick!

What I remember from that game is Wisconsin took away our TEs and we didn't have the WRs to take advantage of that. If that changes this year, Iowa has a legitimate chance to win.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

What I remember from that game is Wisconsin took away our TEs and we didn't have the WRs to take advantage of that. If that changes this year, Iowa has a legitimate chance to win.

Yep ... they disrupted our TEs at the line of scrimmage ... and the Hawks couldn't compensate for how that threw off their timing. Without the TEs as a viable outlet ... Iowa needed to be able to move the ball via the passing game to the WRs. They needed to do so while having the QB constantly pressured too ... so we're not talking about being able to probe the Badger team deep either ... because Stanley simply didn't have the time.

Oddly enough, after the Wisconsin game ... I wrote a whole breakdown on what the Hawks would have to do in order to beat a D that tries to bring a lot of heat (with frequency). When I saw the Hawks play the Huskers ... I almost felt that Brian saw almost all the same things I did. Compared to prior weeks - the Hawks attacked outside the hashes more ... both with the quick-pass game ... but also with fades to the edges. When defenses have to defend the whole field ... that opens up the TE-game between the hashes.