Iowa Football Announces Four Kickoff Times, Including Primetime Cy-Hawk Showdown

It may only be May still, but Hawkeyes fans, go ahead and start planning your tailgates and trips to Iowa City for Iowa football. Kickoff times are coming, and so are television networks.

A quartet of games on Iowa's 2026 schedule has had kickoff times and networks announced, including the first three games of the season, along with the regular-season finale.

Iowa opens the 2026 campaign with three consecutive home games before entering Big Ten play, which gives the Hawkeyes some time to tune up a new-look roster that has some positions with something to prove.

🚨 GAME TIMES 🚨 pic.twitter.com/2tjMTFLLoI
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) May 27, 2026

To open up the year, on September 5, Iowa will host Northern Illinois from Kinnick Stadium at 3:15 p.m. CT, with the game airing on the Big Ten Network. Iowa holds a 9-1 record against the Huskies.

Week 2, which falls on September 12, the annual Cy-Hawk rivalry game against Iowa State, sees the Hawkeyes back inside Kinnick Stadium once again, with kickoff getting NBC's center stage at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Iowa leads the Cy-Hawk rivalry by a commanding 46-25 record, but has stumbled as of late. After going undefeated from 2015 to 2021, the Hawkeyes have dropped three of the last four against the Cyclones.

Cy-Hawk Under the Lights Headlines Iowa’s Early 2026 Kickoff Slate

Iowa finishes its non-conference slate in Week 3 with another home game, as they host the Northern Iowa Panthers on September 19. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. CT and set to air on FS1. Iowa is 7-0 against the Panthers.

Things remain undecided for the rest of Iowa's kickoff times and television networks until the final week of the regular season, which, like clockwork, sees the Hawkeyes play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the annual Heroes Game.

The game, which is always played on Black Friday following Thanksgiving, will kick off at 11 a.m. CT on November 27 and receive national coverage on CBS.

While Nebraska owns a 30-23-3 all-time lead in the series, things have been drastically different over the last decade. Iowa has won 11 of the last 13 games, which usually are decided late.

In typical Iowa fashion, seven of those 11 victories have been decided by one score. The 2025 matchup sang a different tune, though, as Iowa rattled off a 40-16 bludgeoning in Lincoln to cap off the regular season.

Iowa Football 2026 Schedule

Saturday, September 5: Northern Illinois (3:15 p.m., Big Ten Network)

Saturday, September 12: Iowa State (6:30 p.m., NBC)

Saturday, September 19: Northern Iowa (3:00 p.m., FS1)

Saturday, September 26: at Michigan

Saturday, October 3: Ohio State

Friday, October 9: at Washington

Saturday, October 17: Bye

Saturday, October 24: at Minnesota

Saturday, October 31: Wisconsin

Saturday, November 7: at Northwestern

Saturday, November 14: Purdue

Saturday, November 21: at Illinois

Friday, November 27: Nebraska (11:00 a.m., CBS)

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