Iowa Hawkeyes 2026 Football Preview, Schedule, Transfers, Coaches

[ASFN Admin]

You must be registered for see images attach

Patrons fill up their gas tanks at the Casey's convenience store located on 2990 Ridgecrest Rd in Jackson, Tenn., on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. | Jamar Coach / The Jackson Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

9-3. Rinse, repeat.

A long, long time ago, I promised that, in lieu of starting B1G 2026—The Last One Ever?(!)—until, give or take, the Fourth of July, we would be doing drop-in updates on the various teams of the Big Ten: any big transfers, important news, or anything else.

But to sweeten—or savory—the pot, I also promised A Horseshoe in Every Pot!

So step on up to the counter, because I’m serving up some state, school, or city-specific horseshoes guaranteed** to make you vomit cringe salivate.

It’s a Gas: The Iowa Horseshoe​

Look—if you want a good, old-fashioned, standard Illinois horseshoe? I’m not gonna stop you. In fact, I’m gonna invite myself along for one of my own. But, in the meantime, we’re going to go for a little bit of a theme here, maybe try and make it one of these days, see how it feels.

When I think about culinary gifts Iowa has given the nation, I think about two places: Casey’s, and ***-and-Go. If you want to name another, go ahead—but I won’t accept “corn” as an answer here. We have Nebraska in the Big Ten now, thank you. Find a new schtick, Hawkeyes.

• Bread: Pizza crust
• Meat: Maid-Rite beef
• Starch: Lettuce
• Sauce: Cheese sauce and taco sauce (alternating)

Correct. This is just a Maid-Rite taco pizza hybrid from a gas station. I refuse to pretend there’s anything unique about Iowa save for its weird obsession with eating food from gas stations and/or the 1950s. So Indiana gets pork tenderloin, Iowa, and you get this. You deserve it.

Would you eat this? Almost certainly not, but savor it for just a moment as you catch up with the Hawkeyes’ offseason:

What’s new? Iowa Edition​

Spring Game?​

A nice, light spring practice.

Coaching changes?​

We’re out of failsons for the time being—but there are new coaches in Iowa City!

Since Pat Fitzgerald poached special teams coach LeVar Woods to East Lansing, Kirk Ferentz made the decision to elevate defensive analyst, former grad assistant, and former Tulsa DC Chris Polizzi to the special teams gig. That…could actually matter, for reasons we’ll talk about in a sec.

More excitingly, if you like Iowa football—which, since I like myself, I do not—is the addition of formerly distinguished Nevada and disgraced Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell as running backs coach. The Hawkeye alumnus had originally joined the staff as an offensive analyst, then moved over when running backs coach Omar Young left for the NFL.

Big transfers to know?​

BAD news out of Iowa City: in addition to the graduations of K Drew Stevens and KR/PR Kaden Wetjen, P Rhys Dakin left for Michigan State alongside Woods. In Dakin’s place, Iowa will turn to Aussie frosh Boston Everitt or Division III Simpson College transfer Tanner Philpott. If Iowa has another All-B1G punter and this one’s a transfer from freaking Simpson, you might as well just shut it down. Their kicker, Eli Ozick, is from North Dakota State and supposedly has a big-but-inaccurate leg, so I look forward to him walking Nebraska off from approximately 72 yards.

Less importantly, QB Hank Brown is here from Auburn, but frosh Jeremy Heclinski is neck-and-neck for the job. Both were inconsistent at the spring practice and Ferentz is comparing the race to the Hawkeyes’ 1987 quarterback controversy—one that resulted in, you guessed it, a 9-3 regular season—so crap’s as dumb as ever in Cornlardsville.

Otherwise I insist that you go to this Daily Iowan article and note how nearly every freaking transfer Iowa has appears to come from some FCS school any other program would be embarrassed to tout—Holy Cross, Elon, UT Rio Grande freaking Valley, Auburn—and looks to factor into their 2026 season.

Have they done anything dumb and/or embarrassing?​

It’s Iowa. They lack the ability to feel shame, so even if they did something embarrassing, these pieces of crap would just vote for Kim Reynolds even harder, just to prove a ******* point.

The 2026 Schedule, Graphically​

View Link

Man, this one pissed me off. I hope half the Iowans who stumble upon this nod knowingly at the horseshoe, which they are probably already eating, washed down with a Busch Light.

Continue reading...