Looking Ahead to Brutal 2025/2026

[Beattheohiostate]

Never under Ferentz.

Men's basketball under Fran refuses to schedule UNI or Drake. I think that's dumb and ridiculous, regardless of the fiasco in Cedar Falls way back when. Iowa men's basketball should play UNI and Drake every single season. Period. Home or away. There are no excuses.

Meanwhile, Iowa football NEVER should play UNI, but KF loves those tough early games. LOL KF would gladly schedule Drake too if he could. Iowa, as is often the case, kinda has things backward.

 

[Beattheohiostate]

Those are big boy schedules, except for the non-con, of course, but I don't see either one as being more difficult than an Iowa team should expect. If you don't wanna swim in the big pond, join the Big 12 or the Mountain West. Or go independent like Notre Dame. LOL

 

[LaQuintaHawkeye]

I didn't read through the entire thread, so hope this doesn't repeat someone else's thoughts...

As long as PHIL sticks around the defense will be fine, maybe not as dominant as this year with all the returning starters, but it will still be T5 in the B1G and probably T25 nationally.

If Kirk leaves, there is a very good chance someone with a more "modern" offensive approach will take his place, so that could be a good thing.

Just need to weather the storm in the portal and recruiting trail while the transition takes place.

 

[coorsoriginal02]

Really? Worse then Mercer? I could even tell you where that is.......

Mercer is an absolute joke.

 

[coorsoriginal02]

UNI...seriously? aren't we done with FCS teams?

It’s really dumb.

 

[coorsoriginal02]

2024 - WKU, USF, Mercer
2023 - Middle Tenneessee, Chattanooga, and USF
2022 - Utah State, ULM, Austin Peay
2021 - Mercer, Southern Miss, New Mexico State

Keep in mind that one of each of these games are played in November, where the most pivotal football games take place, every year.

Iowa's OOC is either as hard, or if not harder than what they play. It's cute to be purposefully obtuse, though.

It’s cute that you saw they played Texas but decided to not include them in your little post about previous opponents.

 

[Niko13]

UMass in mid November? Huh?

 

[Birky]

I see alot of people pimping them as an elite top 5-10ish team. Not buying that with their move to the B1G until I've seen them have to defend teams on a weekly basis, and play against teams that do play defense.....

Neither am I, that doesn’t mean they aren’t tough. I’m not chalking it up as a lay up.

I’m suggesting the OP probably put them in the “tough” category. Agree, or no?

 

[2D_]

You conveniently left out Texas as an ooc opponent in '22 & '23.

Nope. I simply forgot that Texas wasn't a part of the SEC at that time.

Thier OOC opponents are still majority worse than Iowa's and they've always played at least one in November, which is a total pussy move.

 

[2D_]

It’s cute that you saw they played Texas but decided to not include them in your little post about previous opponents.

Nope. I simply forgot that Texas wasn't a part of the SEC at that time.

Thier OOC opponents are still majority worse than Iowa's and they've always played at least one in November, which is a total pussy move.

 

[squeezebox]

It’s really dumb.

Why does it matter if it is UNI or Illinois State? there is zero incentive to add another p5 school with ISU already on the schedule.

 

[NCHawkeye24]

Keep in mind that the one thing we do not know about is how well these Pac 12 teams are going to adapt to B1G football.

 

[mvhomerl]

Why does it matter if it is UNI or Illinois State? there is zero incentive to add another p5 school with ISU already on the schedule.

Bama's OOC is not that much weaker than Iowa's and this year and beyond it's not even close. Oh and Mercer was what 3 years ago? Also small school love the pay day... just like UNI!

 

[LagunaBeachHawk]

Nope. I simply forgot that Texas wasn't a part of the SEC at that time.

Thier OOC opponents are still majority worse than Iowa's and they've always played at least one in November, which is a total pussy move.

I get it, it was easy to forget since Texas wasn't in the SEC. They have been in that conference all of 1 day.

 

[2D_]

I get it, it was easy to forget since Texas wasn't in the SEC. They have been in that conference all of 1 day.

Texas' move to the SEC has been something that's been talked about for the better part of two years. Funny you always forget to talk about the powerhouses of Austin Peay and Mercer, though. C'mon buddy, you're clearly the intellectual here. Tell us about these incredible OOC opponents.

 

[59DAWG]

2024 - WKU, USF, Mercer
2023 - Middle Tenneessee, Chattanooga, and USF
2022 - Utah State, ULM, Austin Peay
2021 - Mercer, Southern Miss, New Mexico State

Keep in mind that one of each of these games are played in November, where the most pivotal football games take place, every year.

Iowa's OOC is either as hard, or if not harder than what they play. It's cute to be purposefully obtuse, though.

Admittedly the Tide has played some soft non-conference schedules in the last few years. Usually, one big game and 3 nothings. However, they have picked up the pace. In 2026 they have West Virginia, Florida State and South Florida. In 27 they have West Virginia and Ohio State. In 28 Ohio State and Oklahoma State. Some of the future home and homes include Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Arizona, Minnesota and Virginia Tech. Two a year.

I would rather see the Hawkeyes play some of these schools opposed to playing Iowa State and two nothing schools every year. It doesn't have to be Notre Dame or Alabama, but playing somebody like Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech to go with Iowa State would be nice.

 

[Urohawk]

UNI...seriously? aren't we done with FCS teams?

I said the same thing as you.

 

[ichawk24]

Iowa has played 10 P5 games almost every year in the last 20.

Alabama has played 10 P5 games probably five times in the last 20. And OOC P5 games always neutral site, rarely on the other team's campus.

Saban is a coward.

 

[Birky]

I said the same thing as you.

The B1G has been allow to schedule FCS teams since 2017. The ban on scheduling them only lasted a couple of years.

Half of those teams are better than the cupcakes from the bottom half of the MAC and Sunbelt anyway. Plus, it’s cheaper.

 

[warriors dad]

From looking at the roster this year, Iowa could lose up to 10 starters on Defense if Graves and Nwankpa declare for draft early! Remember the covid years are over!

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I was listening to the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast and Trent was talking about how 2024 could be Kirk's possible last season, as 2024's schedule is favorable and we have a huge amount of returning talent. But then he spoke about how 2025 and 2026 are going to be a brutal years. We'll be losing a huge amount of starters on both the offense and defensive sides, plus grueling schedules. The next two years will be rebuilding years for the team. We don't even know who will be QB after Cade leaves. There's no guarantee Sullivan will be the next starter.

Notable losses of Jay Higgins, Nick Jackson, Sebastian Castro, and almost our entire OLine.

How do you think the team will fare in the next few years? Maybe the 2026 schedule will change if we add more teams to the B1G?

2025 Iowa Football Schedule​

Saturday Sep. 6		at Iowa State Cyclones
Saturday Nov. 15		UMass Minutemen
Date TBA		Indiana Hoosiers
Date TBA		Michigan State Spartans
Date TBA		Minnesota Golden Gophers
Date TBA		Oregon Ducks
Date TBA		Penn State Nittany Lions
Date TBA		at Nebraska Cornhuskers
Date TBA		at Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Date TBA		at USC Trojans
Date TBA		at Wisconsin Badgers
Date TBA		Florida Atlantic Owls

Concerning the OPs contention ... it just makes me think of Watchmen.

... you're locked in here with me!

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

I will truly never understand fans who hope for a weak schedule and are scared to death of a difficult schedule. I don’t know if all those years in the B1G West conditioned the fan base or what, but it’s weird.

I want to see my Hawkeyes playing OSU, Michigan, Penn St, Oregon, Washington and USC as much as possible. I’m ok with the Wisky and Neb rivalries but could do without Minnesota. That’s B1G football. Playing weak schedules makes your program weak. It’s pretty easy to make the argument that Iowa football was “tougher” prior to the start of division play.

Iowa has had 8 10+ win seasons under KF. My favorite were against tough schedules (‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘09, ‘19), while the other 3 were paper tiger seasons that were not nearly as enjoyable as a 10-win season should have been, with essentially no marquee wins.

I would hope that the players all came to Iowa for the challenge of playing against the best, not to hope for the easiest path to get KF his bonus…

 

[eyesofhawk]

I will truly never understand fans who hope for a weak schedule and are scared to death of a difficult schedule. I don’t know if all those years in the B1G West conditioned the fan base or what, but it’s weird.

I want to see my Hawkeyes playing OSU, Michigan, Penn St, Oregon, Washington and USC as much as possible. I’m ok with the Wisky and Neb rivalries but could do without Minnesota. That’s B1G football. Playing weak schedules makes your program weak. It’s pretty easy to make the argument that Iowa football was “tougher” prior to the start of division play.

Iowa has had 8 10+ win seasons under KF. My favorite were against tough schedules (‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘09, ‘19), while the other 3 were paper tiger seasons that were not nearly as enjoyable as a 10-win season should have been, with essentially no marquee wins.

I would hope that the players all came to Iowa for the challenge of playing against the best, not to hope for the easiest path to get KF his bonus…

Minnesota has won 7 straight bowl games

 

[BonzoFury]

Minnesota has won 7 straight bowl games

Not to mention the battle for Floyd is considered one of the top trophy games in college football. Some say the best.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

Not to mention the battle for Floyd is considered one of the top trophy games in college football. Some say the best.

Floyd of Rosedale is an awesome trophy with a great origin story, but no, there are tons better “trophy games.” Michigan didn’t cry when the Little Brown Jug game was not an annual event anymore. B1G schedule assures home and away with each opponent every 5 years; I could live with that. That gives opportunities for better opponents.