The college football world has changed dramatically over the past calendar year. The shockwaves from those changes will be felt for years for all 134 FBS programs, and any that rise to that level in the near future. With conference realignment and playoff expansion, the college football regular season will bring new matchups and brand new excitement - for better or worse.
Of course, the 2024 Iowa Hawkeyes have yet to write their story. With the Big Ten expanding to 18 teams by welcoming Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington from the practically defunct PAC-12, the Hawkeyes will see new opponents and avoid familiar ones. With USC and Washington on the 2024 schedule, Iowa will avoid Michigan and Illinois.
Despite those changes, Iowa retains the most protected rivalries in the conference with three: Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. So we know the Hawkeyes will meet these rivals each season for the foreseeable future.
As the conference does away with divisions, allowing the top two teams to meet in the Big Ten Championship, Iowa will rotate the rest of the teams to ensure they play each conference program at least twice but no more than three times within a five-year period. This means from year to year, the schedules will look vastly different rather than mostly flipping home and away static opponents.
So who will Iowa play in 2025? The Hawkeyes' opponents are all already confirmed for the 2025 season.
Home | Away |
|---|---|
Florida Atlantic | Iowa State |
U-Mass | Nebraska |
Indiana | Rutgers |
Michigan State | USC |
Minnesota | Wisconsin |
Oregon | |
Penn State |
The only games that have confirmed dates are the three non-conference games. Iowa will host Florida Atlantic on August 30, Iowa State on September 6 and U-Mass on November 15.
If the Hawkeyes have a successful 2024 season, they could segway that into a strong season in 2025. Hosting Oregon and Penn State will surely be tough games, but playing at Kinnick Stadium will provide a solid advantage. Heading to Los Angeles to play the USC Trojans as a conference opponent for the first time figures to be an exciting matchup as well. While the other nine games certainly aren't all 'gimmies', Iowa's trajectory is such that an initial expectation to be favored in those games is warranted. Of course, that is a fairly optimistic outlook.