While we've known who Iowa would be playing in 2025 for a little while, we haven't had the sequence of those games set. Now that information is locked in, as the Big Ten announced its 2025 football schedule on Wednesday.
Here's what Iowa is looking at next season:
As usual, Iowa opens with a trio of non-conference opponents. A trip to 2024 Big 12 runner-up Iowa State is sandwiched between a season-opening home game against Albany and another home game against UMass.
Iowa rounds out September with two Big Ten games, opening league play with a road game at Rutgers on September 20 and then hosting 2024 College Football Playoff participant Indiana on September 27.
In fact, Indiana is one of three 2024 College Football Playoff teams that Iowa will face in 2025, along with Penn State (October 18) and Oregon (November 8). One silver lining of those games? All three are at Kinnick Stadium.
Thanks to the quirks of the calendar, 2025 is another two-bye week season, with Iowa's bye weeks coming at the beginning of October (10/4) and November (11/1). Iowa's three October games involve annual rivalry games with Wisconsin (in Madison on October 11) and Minnesota (in Iowa City on October 25), as well as a home game against Penn State in-between those trophy games.
Iowa will actually play three straight Big Ten home games (interrupted by a bye week on November 1) in 2025, which is the first time that has happened since 1949, according to the Iowa athletic department.
The November portion of Iowa's 2025 schedule includes games against the two Big Ten additions that Iowa didn't play in 2024: Oregon and USC. Iowa will welcome the Ducks to Iowa City for the first time since 1989 (a 44-6 Oregon win) on November 8, before making a November road trip to Los Angeles for a second consecutive season to face USC (on November 15). That game will be Iowa's first game at USC since 1976 (a 55-0 USC win).
Iowa will wrap up the 2025 season at home against Michigan State on November 22 before heading to Lincoln, NE for the annual Black Friday game with Nebraska on November 28.
Iowa's 2024 schedule was widely-viewed as favorable, as the Hawkeyes did not play the likes of Michigan, Penn State, or Oregon. (Or Indiana, though the benefit of not playing the Hoosiers wasn't apparent until the 2024 season got underway.) The 2025 schedule looks much more challenging on paper, especially for an Iowa team set to see new faces at multiple positions on offense and defense and that will be without the services of Kaleb Johnson (off to the NFL Draft).
Kickoff times and TV information will be announced for all games in 2025.
