Iowa
Iowa Looks to Extend Streak vs. MAC Opponents
A pair of lengthy streaks will go up against each other at Kinnick Stadium. Saturday, September 13 marks Week 3 of the college football season. Iowa and UMass are set to do battle at 7:30 p.m. EST.
The Hawkeyes return home with a 1-1 record. Their Week 1 victory over Albany wasn’t close, 34-7 in favor of the Hawkeyes. As for last week, Iowa wasn’t able to get past No. 16 Iowa State. Their three-point loss marked the second season in a row they lost to the Cyclones. Last year, they fell, 20-19. While they’ve only lost by four-combined points in the last two seasons, these are still key losses that don’t sit well with HC Kirk Ferentz.
Ferentz has been with Iowa since 1999. The 70-year-old head coach most recently won the Big Ten West in 2023 with his Hawkeyes finishing the 2024 season 8-4 (6-3). While Big 10 play has yet to begin, the legendary HC has a different streak that he’d love to keep alive.
Omar-Rashon Borja of the Mid-American Conference wrote, “The Hawkeyes have not lost to a MAC school since 2013, when a Jordan Lynch-led NIU Huskies squad scored 10-unanswered points with five minutes remaining to take a 30-27 win at Kinnick Stadium.”
He added that Iowa had also lost to Central Michigan the year prior, 32-31, marking back-to-back MAC losses for the Hawkeyes. Since falling to the Huskies by three-points in 2013, Iowa hasn’t looked back. They remain perfect against a conference that no Big 10 team has any right losing to in the first place.
As for the Minutemen, UMass has a streak of their own that they’ll bring to Kinnick Stadium, “The Minutemen have not defeated an Autonomous/Power conference team or an automatic qualifying team since beating Boston College in 1981,” Borja said.
Borja spoke highly about Iowa, but he knows that anything can happen in college football, “Sure, the conventional wisdom says the Minutemen stand no chance over the reliably consistent Iowa Hawkeyes, but Iowa has been the type of team to let an underdog hang around and stay in the game in the past due in the part to their style of play under long-time head coach Kirk Ferentz.”
Both streaks will go head-to-head in a Saturday night showdown that could see UMass shock the world. Iowa is far from a perfect team, but on paper, they should have no issue getting past 0-2 UMass. Borja predicted a 27-11 Iowa victory, you can find On SI’s score predictions here.
If UMass is able to get their biggest road victory in recent memory, it would snap their 44-year drought. Not only that, but it would snap a 10-year streak for Iowa that the Hawkeyes have no plans on dropping anytime soon.
Don’t forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!
When it comes to the Iowa Hawkeyes 2026 football season, it doesn’t get much bigger than Ohio State coming to Kinnick Stadium.
No one knows at this stage where the Buckeyes will be come Oct. 3, but Iowa has a chance to make an early impression against a team that is no stranger to winning the big one.
Iowa’s B1G schedule couldn’t get off to a worse start as they head to Michigan and then welcome the Buckeyes to Kinnick.
Hopefully for Iowa’s sake, their first three games against Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa are enough to get them prepared. If not, things could get ugly.
ESPN Believes Ohio State is Iowa’s Biggest Opponent in 2026
The Michigan game will certainly be a test, but hosting the Buckeyes is a different animal. That gives the Hawkeyes an advantage like no other, and if there was ever a time to give OSU a run for their money, it’s in Iowa City on Oct. 3.
“The Hawkeyes haven’t faced Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium since 2017, when Nate Stanley threw five touchdowns as they stunned the Buckeyes 55-24. An early October win over Ohio State could propel Iowa into the Big Ten title and playoff conversations,” Jake Trotter wrote.
To put things into perspective, Indiana and Oregon were the other two teams that had the Buckeyes listed as their defining game in the 2026 season. Shockingly, Iowa was actually selected against a team, that being Minnesota. Seeing as that’s for the Floyd of Rosedale, it makes complete sense.
Iowa Can’t Let Regular Season Opportunities Go To Waste
Last year was seemingly the Hawkeyes’ first time to actually make the College Football Playoffs. They came up short as their losses to No. 16 Iowa State, No. 11 Indiana, No. 9 Oregon and No. 17 USC all added up. Sure, those were by a combined 15 points, but that doesn’t matter, as it’s bad enough that a three-loss team made the playoffs.
Iowa ended with a bang as they took down No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl, 34-27. Now, all eyes are on either Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown. One of those men will have a chance to make their first B1G start at the Big House in Michigan.
It doesn’t get any tougher than that, as Iowa is immediately putting their new QB into deep water. They’ll have three games prior to that to get up to speed, but other than that, it’s go time as OSU awaits after their trip to Michigan.
Don’t forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!
MANCHESTER, Iowa — The state of Iowa lost a titan of the prep coaching world this week. Former Kee High School baseball coach Gene Schultz died on Monday at the age of 80.
Schultz spent 45 seasons as the baseball coach at Kee, helping turn the program into an Iowa dynasty. He won 9 State championships (not counting 2 fall titles, which the IHSAA doesn’t recognize in the record books), and took the Hawks to 19 State tournaments, which is also the most in Iowa history.
His 1,754 wins are not only the most in Iowa history, but the most of any high school baseball coach in the country.
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