We are still very far away from even envisioning the 2026 College Football season, but we got significant news about the season on Tuesday.

The Big Ten as a conference solidified its schedules for the upcoming campaign.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, who are welcoming back Coach Kirk Ferentz for at least one more year in guiding the program, will play 7 home games this Fall.

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Per HawkeyeSports.com:

Three of Iowa’s first four conference games will be played on the road. The Hawkeyes will open conference play at Michigan on Sept. 26.

Iowa will then host Ohio State in its conference home opener (Oct. 3), before traveling to Washington (Oct. 10) and Minnesota (Oct. 24). It marks just the fourth time – and first time since 1954 – that Iowa plays Michigan and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks. Iowa’s lone bye falls on Oct. 17.

The Hawkeyes will host border-rival Wisconsin for Homecoming on Oct. 31 and then opens the month of November at Northwestern in its new stadium on Nov. 7. The contest against the Badgers will mark the 18th time Iowa plays on Halloween, with the last three times also taking place in Iowa City (2009, 2015 and 2020).

Iowa rounds out the regular season with a home date against Purdue (Nov. 14), at Illinois (Nov. 21), and hosting Nebraska on Black Friday (Nov. 28).

The Hawkeyes open their season with three straight home games in September in Kinnick Stadium hosting Northern Illinois (Sept. 5), Iowa State (Sept. 12) and UNI on Family Weekend (Sept. 19).

2026 Iowa Football Schedule

Sept. 5	Northern Illinois
Sept. 12	Iowa State
Sept. 19	UNI (FW)
Sept. 26	at Michigan
Oct. 3	Ohio State
Oct. 10	at Washington
Oct. 17	Idle
Oct. 24	at Minnesota
Oct. 31	Wisconsin (HC)
Nov. 7	at Northwestern
Nov. 14	Purdue
Nov. 21	at Illinois
Nov. 27 (Fri.)	Nebraska