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Times listed in Central. Remaining windows are set during the Big Ten’s in-season 12- and 6-day selection process.
Iowa Football Schedule 2026: Full Hawkeyes Slate, Dates, and Key Games
Games That Will Decide Iowa’s Season
| Sept 12 vs Iowa State | The Cy-Hawk Series under the lights on NBC — just the third primetime meeting in Iowa City, after 2002 and 2016. Iowa has won only one of the last four. |
| Sept 26 & Oct 3 | At Michigan, then Ohio State at home. It’s just the fourth time Iowa has played both in back-to-back weeks, and the first since 1954. The season likely turns here. |
| Oct 9 at Washington | A Friday night West Coast trip with an 8 p.m. Central kickoff — meaning a 6 p.m. local start and a very late flight home before a short week. |
| Nov 27 vs Nebraska | The Heroes Game on Black Friday at 11 a.m. on CBS, at Kinnick. For a bowl-bubble team, this is the one that sets the postseason destination. |
Three Trophy Games
Iowa plays for the Cy-Hawk Trophy, Floyd of Rosedale at Minnesota, the Heartland Trophy against Wisconsin, and the Heroes Game trophy vs Nebraska — four trophies in all.
A Halloween Tradition
The Wisconsin game marks the 18th time Iowa has played on Halloween. The last three Halloween games were also in Iowa City — 2009, 2015, and 2020.
A New Ryan Field
The Nov 7 trip to Northwestern is Iowa’s first look at the Wildcats’ rebuilt stadium in Evanston.
How the Schedule Sets Up
Three home non-conference games is a gentle open, though the Cy-Hawk game is never comfortable. Then the schedule delivers its verdict early: Michigan on the road, Ohio State at home, and a Friday night at Washington in a span of 14 days. Iowa could plausibly be 5-1 or 3-3 leaving that stretch. The bye on Oct 17 is well placed, and the back half is where a Ferentz team typically makes its money — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois are all winnable, and the Black Friday finale against Nebraska closes at home. Nine or ten wins is realistic if the Ohio State game breaks right; for the postseason picture, here’s how the College Football Playoff works under the 12-team format. The nine-game Big Ten slate reflects the NCAA FBS shift toward deeper conference scheduling.
The Bottom Line
Seven home games, the Cy-Hawk under the lights, Michigan and Ohio State back-to-back for the first time since 1954, and Nebraska on Black Friday morning — Iowa’s 2026 schedule front-loads the difficulty and gives Ferentz a navigable November. Bookmark this page; times, networks, and results are updated throughout the season.