Iowa football game thread: Game time notes and how to watch

The Iowa football program takes on the Northern Iowa Panthers today in their third game of the season. Here are the last-minute game notes you need to know.

Not only does the Iowa football program get to face an in-state team for the second week in a row, but they get to play their first of two back to back night games. For anyone who hasn’t been to a night game at Kinnick, it is truly an incredible experience. If Kirk Hebrstreit thinks Iowa’s atmosphere is something special normally, it’s completely elevated at night.

This is good news as the Hawkeyes are squaring off against the Panthers in a relatively lose-lose situation when it comes to national recognition. Beat the Panthers, and it was expected (no matter what the score), lose to the Panthers, it’s a blemish on their record. With the Hawks struggling on offense, this will be as good of chance as any to get off to a strong start and right the ship against a tough FCS opponent.

Game time for this contest is 630 PM central and if you aren’t able to attend in person you can find it broadcasted on the Big Ten Network with color commentary complimentary of an old Iowa legend, Chuck Long.

The game can also be found on FuboTV for free as any Iowa football game can be.

If you are able to attend in person, it will be a hot one for tailgating, but will cool down as the sun drops. The high today is 89 degrees and the low is 63 degrees, and there will be no rain today!

Injuries

Iowa has remained relatively clean in terms of health issues, but they are likely facing off against the Panthers without two of their starting offensive weapons in Ivory Kelly-Martin and Ihmir Smith-Marsette.

The most recent information we have from Kirk is from his press conference where he addressed both player’s injury situations.

On Kelly-Martin:

"He’s gaining ground, and we haven’t ruled him out yet for this week, but he’s gaining ground, and we’ll see day by day."

On Smith-Marsette:

"Yeah, the X-rays were fine, so things are good there, it’s just kind of day-to-day right now. He didn’t work today, either, so we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow and take it day by day."

As soon as we get the game-time announcement we will be sure to keep you posted. In their place, we can expect to see Toren Young and Mekhi Sargent continue to shoulder the load in the running game. In the passing game, expect to see more of Kyle Groeneweg and Max Cooper in addition to presumed starters Nick Easley and Brandon Smith.

Gambling odds and what to expect

This game is a tough game to determine the outcome. It truly comes down to which version of this Iowa team shows up and how motivated are the Panthers to come in and pull off an upset. In advance of this game, we have provided you with key matchups the Iowa football team must win to come out on top.

From Oddsshark.com’s perspective, Iowa is favored to win big. Currently the line is set at -18 for the Iowa football program.

As always, follow @DearOldGold for our live tweets and analysis on current game happenings and be on the lookout for our end of game recaps, standout players, and opportunities for improvement following tonight’s contest.

Go Hawks!