Iowa City Today

Iowa and Iowa State will meet for the 72nd time on Saturday, September 6, at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. The annual rivalry game is part of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series, which is in its 21st season and sponsored by Iowa Corn for the 13th year. The game will be broadcast on FOX with kickoff scheduled for 11:10 a.m. Central Time.

Iowa enters the contest with a record of 1-0 after defeating UAlbany in its season opener, while Iowa State holds a 2-0 record and is ranked No. 22/21 nationally. The Hawkeyes have had recent success in Ames, winning their last six games at Jack Trice Stadium and holding a 22-8 all-time advantage there. Overall, Iowa leads the series 47-24.

Recent meetings between the two teams have been closely contested; eleven of the last thirteen games have been decided by ten points or fewer, including five one-score contests since 2017. Saturday’s matchup marks the earliest date these teams have played in series history.

The Hawkeyes' roster features 43 native Iowans, while Iowa State has 44. Head coach Kirk Ferentz has a career record of 14-11 against Iowa State and has won eleven of the last sixteen meetings dating back to 2008.

First-year starting quarterback Mark Gronowski reached his fiftieth career win as a starter during Iowa’s opening victory over UAlbany. This places him tied for second-most wins among college quarterbacks across all divisions.

Iowa’s offense showed improvement under offensive coordinator Tim Lester last season, increasing its scoring average from 15.4 points per game in 2023 to 27.7 points per game in 2024—a jump from ranking last nationally to No. 72.

Redshirt freshman Xavier Williams made an impact in his debut against UAlbany with a team-high 122 rushing yards on eleven carries and one touchdown—the most by an Iowa freshman since at least 1970 in their first game.

The Hawkeyes rushed for a total of 310 yards as a team against UAlbany, marking only the second time in six games they surpassed the three-hundred-yard mark on the ground.

Graduate quarterback Mark Gronowski added another dimension to the offense with both passing and rushing touchdowns; he now has thirty-eight career rushing scores.

Defensively, Iowa limited UAlbany to just one hundred seventy-seven total yards—its lowest allowed in an opener since holding South Dakota State to similar numbers two years prior—and just thirty-three yards after halftime.

Although some key defensive players departed after last season, graduates Ethan Hurkett (team leader in sacks and tackles for loss) and Aaron Graves return as anchors on the defensive line alongside Max Llewellyn and transfers Jonah Pace (Central Michigan) and Bryce Hawthorne (South Dakota State).

At linebacker, Jaden Harrell, Karson Sharar, and Jaxon Rexroth are expected to step into starting roles despite having no previous collegiate starts between them but combining for ninety-nine games played overall.

Graduate Kaden Wetjen was recognized as college football’s top return specialist by winning The Jet Award after leading FBS players with over one thousand combined kick return yards—including both kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns during the previous season.

Senior kicker Drew Stevens moved into third place all-time at Iowa with fifty-six career field goals following two successful attempts against UAlbany—one from twenty-eight yards out and another from fifty-five yards that tied for fourth-longest in school history.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz continues his tenure as college football’s longest-serving active head coach entering his twenty-seventh season at Iowa. He is currently tied with Woody Hayes for most Big Ten Conference victories at two hundred five wins: “Ferentz won his 200th career game as a member of the Big Ten Conference on Oct. 12, 2024, against Washington.”

Four assistant coaches—Phil Parker (26 years), LeVar Woods (17), Seth Wallace (14), Kelvin Bell (12)—have spent sixty-nine combined seasons under Ferentz’s leadership at Iowa. Three current assistants also played under Ferentz during their collegiate careers.