The Iowa football team is back at home for the first time in October as they get ready play Maryland. Here is the short history of this matchup.
Saturday is homecoming for the Iowa football team, and they will be taking on the 4-2 Maryland Terrapins at Kinnick Stadium at 11 AM in another Big Ten conference game. Unlike other Big Ten conference games, however, this one doesn’t have nearly as much history behind it.
Last Saturday’s contest against Indiana was Iowa’s 75th matchup versus the Hoosiers.
The previous Saturday against Minnesota was the 112th matchup against the Gophers for the Iowa football team. It’s the longest standing rivalry in the history of the university.
Two weekends before that, the Iowa football program took on the Wisconsin Badgers for the 102nd time. That rivalry is the second longest in Iowa’s storied history.
When Iowa takes the field against Maryland Saturday, there will be significantly less history on the line. In fact, there will only be two games of history between these two teams in large part because Maryland has only been a member of the Big Ten since 2014. In addition to their recent arrival into one of the best conference in college football, they have been in the opposite division of the Iowa football team meaning, they rarely get to play the Hawkeyes.
The last time these two teams faced was in 2015 when Iowa won 31-15 at home in route to a 12-0 season undefeated regular season. The only other time these two teams squared off was in 2014 when Iowa lost to Maryland by seven points. There have been only two games in this Big Ten matchup.
I like to think of the Iowa football team as one of history as do I with the Big Ten conference, but there will be none of that Saturday. Maryland doesn’t pride itself on a big football tradition, rather they pride themselves on flashy Under Armor sponsored uniforms. Saturday’s contest will be like Generation X facing off against Generation Z. Grit vs flash.
Regardless of the contrasting styles, both teams have a lot on the line Saturday. Maryland is looking to stay alive in the loaded Big Ten East and Iowa needs to win out to win the Big Ten West.
One thing is for certain, when the Iowa football team takes the field Saturday, they will be gunning to double their win total against the Maryland Terrapins.