Hawks host Northern Illinois
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IOWA CITY -- The 22nd ranked Iowa football team will open the season with a home contest against Northern Illinois.
The game will kickoff at 3:15 p.m. inside Kinnick Stadium and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
Iowa returns eight starters (five on offense and three on defense) for the 2026 season.
Head coach Kirk Ferentz enters his 27th season at Iowa and is 209-128 as Hawkeye head coach.
Ferentz and Phil Parker as the deans of the Big Ten as the longest-tenured head coach and defensive coordinator in the nation.
The last time the Hawkeyes beat Northern Illinois, Ferentz passed Hayden Frye as the all-time winningest coach in program history.
"Absoutlely none (memory of that win), I'm sorry to say," Ferentz said in his weekly press conference. "It was a good occasion in that way and I think I have the game ball back in my office in a display. I've kind of moved on since that one.
"I've had a lot of good memories and a lot that weren't so good."
Saturday's game is the 11th-all time meeting between Iowa and Northern Illinois. The Hawkeyes lead the series 9-1.The last time they met (2018), the Hawkeyes won 33-7.
Iowa returns a strong backfield, powered by fourth-years Kamari Moulton and LJ Phillips, third-year Xavier Williams and second-year Nathan McNeil.
Moulton returns as the starter after rushing for a team-high 878 yards and five touchdowns last season.
Early in the week, Ferentz was still unsure of who the starting quarterback would be. It could be either Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown.
"I think we probably need more evidence, and the next step is see how guys play in ball games," Ferentz said. "We've been in that situation before, so we'll let that play out as it goes. Hard to predict how it's going to go."