Big Ten, Iowa football release conference schedule, details

IOWA CITY — At long last, Iowa football knows its path through 2026.

The Big Ten released its football conference schedule on Big Ten Network Tuesday evening, putting together the final piece of the Hawkeyes lineup. The schedule will be head coach Kirk Ferentz’s 28th season as the Iowa leader, and also include new special teams coordinator Chris Polizzi’s first year in his new role.

It’s also the first time since the Big Ten expanded to 18 teams where there’s only one bye week, making it a 13-week college football schedule.

The Hawkeyes have a three-game homestand to begin the year, including Iowa’s opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 5 and the first meeting against UNI since 2018 to close out the nonconference year. Iowa hosts the 2026 Cy-Hawk game against Iowa State on Sept. 11.

Then begins the three-game, conference opening stretch, facing two of the top teams in the conference: visiting the Big House to face Michigan then returning to Kinnick Stadium to welcome Ohio State. It’s the seventh consecutive year where Iowa kicks off conference play on the road, and the first time since 1954 that Iowa faces the Wolverines and Buckeyes in back-to-back weeks.

The Hawkeyes will then make their West Coast trip to Washington for just the eighth time in program history, and first matchup in Seattle since 1963, before the lone bye week at the official halfway mark of the season.

Iowa’s lone bye week of the season then sets up matchups at Minnesota and hosting Wisconsin for the annual trophy games, before heading up to Chicago to see Northwestern’s brand new football stadium on Nov. 7.

Iowa hosts Purdue and Nebraska to close out the home calendar, with a visit to former-Hawkeye-turned-Illinois-head-coach Bret Bielema squeezed in between on Nov. 21.

Official game times for each matchup will be announced at a later date, with the majority of games receiving their time slot 12 days before kickoff.

Full Iowa football 2026 schedule

Comments: madison.hricik@thegazette.com, sign up for my weekly newsletter, Hawk Off the Press, at thegazette.com/hawks.