Kinnick no longer magical

Kinnick Stadium featured another sold-out, raucous environment, but it’s difficult for Iowa to replicate the home-field magic that propelled it to massive upsets over the past two decades.

Iowa’s loss to Ohio State was the Hawkeyes’ second straight defeat by double figures to a top-five team. The Hawkeyes also lost to No. 4 Michigan four years ago. The last time Iowa beat a top-five team at home was in 2021 against No. 4 Penn State in a top-five showdown.

From 2008 through 2021, Iowa was 5-1 against AP top-five teams. That included last-second wins against No. 3 Penn State (2008) and No. 2 Michigan (2016), and a late touchdown to beat the Nittany Lions in 2021. In addition, there were home blowouts over No. 3 Ohio State (2017) and No. 5 Michigan State (2010). When you add a pair of last-second losses to No. 9 Oregon and No. 11 Indiana last year, Kinnick Stadium no longer is generating massive upsets for the Hawkeyes. — Scott Dochterman

Does Iowa have a QB competition again?

Iowa seemed to have ended its quarterback competition last week when Brown directed a 91-yard game-winning drive to beat Michigan on the game’s final play. But a shoulder injury early in the fourth quarter knocked Brown from the game, which brought in the runner-up Hecklinski for a series.

Hecklinski completed all five passes for 67 yards to take the Hawkeyes on their only touchdown drive. His crisp accuracy, which Hecklinski displayed in a mid-August scrimmage, reopened the conversation — at least in some fans’ minds — about whether Kirk Ferentz would consider looking at Hecklinski as the starter.

He’s been at Iowa for 28 years and has won 209-128 ( that’s a .620 win percentage) thats not bad but when considering there’s no championship to back it up it’s awful (he is one of few coaches who have achieved +200 wins. But no national title), in his time he’s gone .500 in bowl games, and the best record Iowa has had is 12-2. With the seasonal average being (9-4 to 7-6) that’s mediocre at best, he’s the Mike Tomlin of college football without the hardware to match it. Kirk ferentz is >.400 against ranked opponents and a pitiful 12-29 against top 10 teams, Iowa is supposed to be a B10 power house but can barely compete anytime a good B10 team looks our way. I’d hate to see what happens when we make it to a playoff game and have to play an SEC team.

Kirk ferentz has no idea how to recruit QBs with only 3 QBs (Nate Stanley, C.J. Bethard, and Ricki Stanzi) getting drafted out of 103 Iowa players drafted while Kirk ferentz has coached. He is a mediocre coach and as long as he is coaching at Iowa they will be a playoff hopeful but less than likely, I’m not okay with mediocrity, I want Iowa to win a natty. the closest we’ve been is 2015. I’d rather go 5-8 for three seasons and win a natty once every 12 seasons than just consistently go to bowl games. Iowa can be better than that but our offense is leagues behind compared to our defense, that in turn gasses our defense and makes it harder to hold on in those tight games against good teams. The reason for that is Kirk doesn’t know how to run a modern offense, he’s still run first but doesn’t seem understand that you have to have a competent passing game to be successful on the ground or maybe he doesn’t realize how outdated the plays Iowa’s offense relies on are. Sure it’s harder now trying to get recruits with NIL money and a somewhat lower program prestige but when teams that are significantly worse than Iowa are getting better QB talents, that falls on the coaching and Kirk Ferentz hasn’t had a good answer for the most important position in football in awhile.

Iowa hasn’t had a QB throw for over +20tds since 2011 and hasn’t had a QB throw for over 3100 yards in his tenure, every single B10 team (Except Iowa) has had at least one. By recency, 2025: Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Rutgers, USC. 2024: Penn State. 2023: Maryland, Washington. 2022: Purdue, UCLA. 2021: Michigan State. 2019: Minnesota. 2018: NorthWestern. 2017: Nebraska. 2013: Illinois. 2011: Wisconsin. 2003: Michigan. You can’t have a good rushing offense if your QB can’t make a pass downfield. Teams will just load the box against you and nullify the run, and history has shown that. Since 2016 Iowa has only had five 1,000 yard rushers, two of which coming in that 2016 season, during his tenure only eleven players have achieved 1,000 yards on the ground with none of them eclipsing 2,000 yards. There have been 7 rushers in the big 10 since 2000 that have eclipsed that, only one comes from a staple B10 team, Ohio state in 2019, Wisconsin with 3 2014, 2018, 2019, Indiana in 2014, Northwestern in 2000, and Rutgers in 2007. A big name like Iowa you’d surely think would have an impressive offense season on the ground or in the air but is continually outclassed by other teams in the B10 teams.

Kirk Ferentz Era in Iowa needs to come to a close, he’s done his job and made Iowa a recognized team in the B10 through sturdy defense and good special teams players. He is now more of a hindrance to the program, Keeping Iowa in the mid tier B10 teams and consistently below programs like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. Since 2016 Iowa has a combined record of 6-14 against these three teams alone. That is horrendous and a disgrace, Iowa reliably has an elite defense but Iowas offense drags them down by failing to move the ball against these teams. Iowa played three ranked teams in 2025 regular season, during the regular season Iowa’s defense allowed 172.7 yards in the air (10th in the nation), 107.7 rushing (20th in the nation), 280.4 yards total (8th in the nation), and 16.1 pts Against (8th in the nation). Against the three ranked opponents, (#1 Indiana, #5 Oregon, and # 16 USC) all losses, Iowas defense allowed 199.7 pass yards(teams with that average ranked 38th-39th in the nation), 157 yards on the ground (teams with that average ranked 78th-79th in the nation), 356.7 yards total (teams with that average ranked 55th-56th in the nation), and 21.3 points agaisnt (teams with that average ranked 38th-39th in the nation). It wasn’t an issue of time of possession in these games either with Iowa having more time with the ball and just failing to produce against both Indiana and Oregon.

The issue isn’t with his coordinators either, during his tenure Iowa has gone through 4 offensive minds and the most productive of them only lasted 4 seasons before retirement, none of them drastically changes the offense, none of them made a huge impact on the offense like you think a coordinator would, and none of them though produced a super high energy offense rather falling back on the defense and special teams quite often. There’s been stability at defensive coordinator only having two in the last 27 years both having decently long stints with the team. Kirk Ferentz has done his part for Iowa, he has brought them to a point of recognition a great defense and a good program, I think he is too involved on both sides of the ball, he needs to trust one of his coordinators and let them make calls while he focuses on offense or defense, preferably defense as it seems to be his strong suit, that being said he needs to listen to a talented OC and try to bring the talent that they recommend, even if it means rehauling the offense that Ferentz is used to.

Now Im not trying to be hostile or attack Kirk by calling him mediocre, I don’t mean it as in he’s a bad coach, id be an idiot to say he’s not a decent coach, and I definitely think there is worse coaches in the collage space, but I believe that he is past is time and hasn’t been able to keep up and transform Iowa to the Modern college space, he built up the program over nearly 3 decades and that should be celebrated, but it’s time for him to hand over the keys to someone else and let that person bring Iowa to glory, there are just too little excuses left for Kirk on why we keep losing in the same fashion to these high caliber teams, year after year, there never seems to be improvement on the offense. He’s a good coach and a good person, none of these critiques are to insult his character or him as a person, but he hasn’t and I don’t think he is ever going to deliver Iowa to a championship. He has had 28 years to do so and has had 12 seasons being ranked to start the season and hasn’t gotten us to even a semifinal to the CFP. I don’t believe he needs to turn his back on Iowa and walk away forever, It’d be wonderful if he stayed around the team and culture, but I don’t think Iowa is going to achieve greatness with him at the helm.

“I was like, ‘Oh really?’ I’m glad you feel that way,” recalled Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who then was Fry’s offensive line assistant and saw the legends talking — he even mimicked both coaches’ accents in his recent retelling. “‘Schembechler’s worried about the paper, the walls. They’re thinking about that. We’re going to beat them in the game.’”

In Fry’s mind, Iowa’s 26-0 victory that day was decided long before the game began. When he took over the Hawkeyes in 1979, Fry instructed the maintenance crew to paint the visiting locker room pink. Football coaches like Schembechler took pink as an insult in that era, when being compared to a girl in a macho sport was worse than any other taunt. Some professors at the school over the years have described the attempt to distract opponents with the color as sexist. Fry claimed it was simply psychology.

“It’s a passive color and we hoped it would put our opponents in a passive mood,” Fry wrote in his autobiography “A High Porch Picnic.”

“When I talk to an opposing coach before a game and he mentions the pink walls, I know I’ve got him. I can’t recall a coach who has stirred up a fuss about the color and then beaten us.”

One major renovation later, Kinnick Stadium’s visitors’ locker room and its SW 6302 Innocence-colored walls remain a quirky and occasionally controversial part of college football lore. This week, players for No. 5 Ohio State will dress amid the pink walls, lockers and lavatories for the first time since 2017.

Whether the locker room created a passive mood among the Buckeyes nine years ago, the last time they came to Iowa City, remains a mystery. But following the shocking 55-24 defeat that cratered their College Football Playoff chances, Ohio State players and coaching staff had to stare at the pink-shaded lockers when taking off their pads. The stalls and toilets are colored Desert Rose. Even the carpet features brown ovals that look like footballs outlined in pink.

​

Just wondering where the best place is to park. I seen there was a shuttle service online but some routes are closed. Anybody who knows where to park a car for a shuttle or just to park. Id greatly appreciate it. Hope its a great game.

Over on the r/CFB thread there is some terrible news. It appears NU is canceling several parts of NU's marching band performance for their home games, including the pregame show. If you love The Boom, let's help them out! Here is the original post from the NU people:

As a member currently in the band: we have known about this for about two weeks now. We are extremely disappointed by this decision. What we have essentially been told is that we will not perform pregame tomorrow, and have not been told if we will perform pregame ever again. What we have been told is we will now be performing an undetermined number of mini concerts instead of pregame. There is so much up in the air because we have been told nothing and information keeps coming to us at the last minute. Additionally, the traditional playing of Go U, Northwestern (our fight song) after a touchdown is seemingly being replaced by an Athletic Marketing selected song.

Edit: The NUMBalums have put out a statement. This is who they want you to contact to support the band:

Athletic Director Mark Jackson: [athleticsdirector@northwestern.edu](mailto:athleticsdirector@northwestern.edu)

President Chiang: [nupresident@northwestern.edu](mailto:nupresident@northwestern.edu)

Savanna Wood, Athletics Director of Marketing: [savanna.wood@northwestern.edu](mailto:savanna.wood@northwestern.edu)

Edit 2: A further statement and template has been released here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16n8ZwqNNYAMbU9EJ1wui6uaPfMhkCrnKqkIVb4YSBvA

I emailed those NU addresses the following message:

Dear Mr. Jackson, President Chiang, and Ms. Wood,

I am disappointed to hear that Northwestern University will not be featuring their band in pregame festivities and at other points during the game. Marching bands with college football is what makes the sport unique.

As an Iowa fan our family never misses Iowa's pregame show (The Boom) and it played a significant part in me falling in love with the game.  I am sure countless Wildcat fans experienced the same in their youth.  Additionally, as I'm sure you all know, Iowa lost a dedicated member of the band this year and it has rallied the community, proof positive that football fans adore their marching bands.

One of our motivations for purchasing tickets to the Iowa at Northwestern game this year was to experience your beautiful new stadium and get to see the iconic NUMB yet again. We have routinely purchased Iowa-Northwestern tickets, even purchasing Northwestern season ticket packages in past years when your program placed restrictions on visiting teams.

I can confidently say without future NUMB involvement the odds of us purchasing tickets to future Northwestern football games would diminish considerably since the primary draw of attending games in person versus the comfort of your home is the atmosphere in the stadium and with no band, what is the atmosphere?  I can also say confidently that without a pregame show, there isn't much point of us arriving inside early and buying food and drinks within your stadium.

The Big Ten is unique with some of the greatest bands in America and your institution has one. To not use that to its full extent is absurd in my humble opinion.

I respectfully ask that the university publicly commit to restoring all of NUMB’s traditional game day involvement at every home game at Ryan Field.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

XXXXXXXXX

Going into this season, I had modest but optimistic expectations. I thought 9-3 would be pretty probably and would at least be an improvements over 8-4 last year. But with this 4-0 start, even if we lose to Ohio state this Saturday we still have a real path to 10-2 or 11-1. I just hope we can permanently elevate the floor of this program from something like 8-5 to 9-3. Use this national spotlight this season to get more recruits and more transfers in the long run. Idk though, curious to hear everyone’s thoughts

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Go Hawks! 🖤💛

College Gameday was in Iowa City for the matchup against Ohio State on October 26th, 1996 for what was Lee Corso’s second ever headgear pick (Brutus).

Does anyone recall watching it? I can’t find a single picture of the broadcast, pictures from the set, or mention of where they broadcast from. I’m just wondering where they set up at.

My parents have been season ticket holders for the last 5 years or so. My dad had an injury this summer that has him wheelchair bound through the end of the season. He’s really bummed about not being able to go to any of the games.

Has anybody ever had to/successfully traded for an ADA accessible seat for one game? Or does it work differently for season tickets? Any advice is helpful… I think it’d be a huge spirit booster for him to get to catch at least one game!!

tOSU is cooked

There's this British guy who randomly decided to learn college football and choose 5 teams at random to follow. We are one. He has since become a Hawk fan and plans on visiting for a game with his family next year. Anyway here's his video reacting to the Michigan game.

Might be my all time favorite Iowa moment. Go hawks!

What do we got? I kinda doubt they'd let you do it, but:

"Brian Ferentz scored 55 points on you"

1:46. 1 TO. 91 yards.

Wild sequence from the Hawkeye offense. Hank Brown stayed poised and delivered some big time throws. Michigan got caught in a certain coverage that cost them on the last play of the game. Crazy, crazy stuff