As a young Iowa sqaud continues to find its footing, the Hawkeyes continue moving up in the rankings.
It wasn't easy, but Iowa took care of business against Iowa State at Kinnick Stadium during the annual battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy. Iowa entered the Cy-Hawk matchup ranked No. 21 overall after a slight rankings boost from the week one, and after a gritty win in week two, the Hawkeyes continue their upward climb in the rankings.
Iowa jumped three spots in the most recent AP Top 25 rankings
Iowa couldn't put Iowa State away until late in the fourth quarter, when Caden Buhr's 45-yard game-winning field goal sealed the victory. It was a hard-fought win, and even though it looked dire at times, the squad stayed the course. Buhr's late field goal capped a 13-3 Iowa run to end the game, and even though it was tighter than the 14.5-point spread suggested, a win is a win. There were no guarantees Iowa would move up in the rankings after a close win against an unranked team, but movement ahead of them, coupled with the win, helped move them into the top 20 ahead of Northern Iowa in week three.
BREAKING: College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/VY7Xt0iRq1 pic.twitter.com/5WNv1rtd72
— On3 (@On3) September 13, 2026
Iowa moved from No. 21 to No. 18 overall in the AP's most recent top 25 poll, sliding them into the top 20 for the first time this season. Iowa is the fifth highest-ranked Big Ten program, and one of seven Big Ten schools in the top 25, including Indiana (No. 4), Ohio State (No. 6), USC (No. 12), Penn State (No. 14), Michigan (No. 19), and Oregon (No. 21). Ohio State and Oregon both fell in the rankings after losses to Texas and Oklahoma State, providing the Hawkeyes a chance to move up.
It will be harder for Iowa to move up this week when FCS program Northern Iowa comes to Kinnick Stadium, but they can't overlook the Panthers. Iowa had a similar schedule in 2009 when they welcomed UNI to Iowa City; the Panthers should have won that game, but the Iowa special teams came up big, blocking two field-goal attempts. UNI dropped its first game of the season in a 24-34 loss to Eastern Washington, before bouncing back in week two with a commanding 56-14 win over Drake.
The Panthers have been solid on both sides of the ball, averaging 396.5 total yards of offense (No. 35 overall) and holding opponents to 351 yards per game on defense (No. 41 overall). UNI has done very well keeping their first two opponents' rushing attacks in check, allowing an average of 74.5 rushing yards in their first two games. If Iowa wants to move to 3-0 and keep its top-25 ranking, they must find a way to get their running game going, something they could not do against Iowa State. Hopefully, for the Iowa offense, the poor running game against Iowa State was a fluke, brought on by multiple mixed coverages and pressures it had not seen before.
If Iowa can't get the running game going again against UNI, the Panthers could hang around and make this game more interesting than it should be.
Add us as a preferred source on Google