Iowa football: Hawks set to face Rutgers for just the second time ever

Despite being in the Big Ten conference, the Iowa football team has squared off just once against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

When the Rutgers Scarlet Knights travel to Iowa City play the Iowa football team at historic Kinnick Stadium, it will be just the second time these two teams have ever faced off, and they really couldn’t be more different.

Basically, the only thing these two teams have in common is that they play in the Big Ten, and if you asked any fans of any of the teams in the Big Ten, they would likely wish that wasn’t even a commonality because Rutgers is typically just the butt of everyone’s jokes.

But, if we’re being honest, it’s the perfect Big Ten opening matchup for the Iowa football team because it presents a great opportunity to get the first Big Ten win out of the way and build positive momentum heading into the Cy-Hawk Trophy game against Iowa State.

Unfortunately, unlike most games, we can’t really look back on history to give us an idea of what to expect. Heck, even Miami of Ohio has played Iowa four more times than Rutgers.

But let’s look at it anyway.

The only time these two teams faced off was back in 2016 when the Iowa football team had to travel to New Jersey to play Rutgers. They edged out a 14-7 win against a terrible Rutgers squad. This is after the Hawks were just coming off an undefeated regular season and a trip to the Rose Bowl and Rutgers were on their way to going 2-10.

This is actually important too.

It’s a lesson to not overlook Rutgers, even if they would likely be better off playing in the defunct Big East football conference than the powerhouse Big Ten.

Chris Ash is an Iowa boy who despite his shortcomings as a head coach will have Rutgers ready to compete.

Hopefully, the Iowa football team is ready (as they should be) and makes quick work of the Scarlet Knights to build their series win-loss record to 2-0.