Iowa’s three-game entry in the 2026 Big Ten Conference football schedule was already tough.
The degree of difficulty just went up another notch.
The Hawkeyes will now face three marquee opponents in a span of 14 days, as the Iowa-Washington matchup has been plucked for a Friday night TV showcase on Oct. 9 in Seattle. The news was first reported by The Athletic and confirmed to the Register by a university source. The game will kick off at 8 p.m. CT.
Iowa’s first trip to Husky Stadium since 1963 will occur just six days after it hosts 2024 national champion Ohio State on Oct. 3 and 13 days after it travels to 2023 national champion Michigan on Sept. 26.
Talk about a taxing triple-header: Not only will the Hawkeyes be facing three physically and emotionally daunting battles, they’ll be traveling nearly 5,000 air miles and spanning four time zones over that stretch, with the finale being staged after a shortened preparation.
On the flip side, Washington will not leave the Pacific time zone once before facing the Hawkeyes. The Huskies, led by fantastic quarterback Demond Williams Jr., open the season with three home games against non-Power Conference opponents, then travel to Southern California on the Saturday before facing Iowa.
But don’t cry for the Hawkeyes. This is all part of why Iowa’s athletics department collected between $76 million and $79 million from TV revenue in 2024-25, according to numbers released by the conference May 1.
Going into the 2026 season, longtime Big Ten TV partner FOX sought more attractive Friday games after a lackluster inventory in 2025. September’s Iowa-Rutgers game in Piscataway was FOX’s highest-rated Friday game in 2025, at 3.01 million viewers. It was not immediately announced if the Iowa-Washington game will be on FOX or Fox Sports 1, as the World Series could take top billing. Either way, the Iowa-Washington game pits two of the most consistently successful programs in the conference against each other.
Washington, the 2023 national runner-up and coming off a 9-4 season, is typically one of the best home teams in college football. The Huskies carried a 22-game home winning streak until last season’s 24-6 loss to Ohio State in late September.
And now add this to the weight facing Iowa on Oct. 9: The only previous time the Hawkeyes traveled to the Pacific time zone for a Friday night conference game resulted in a 20-17 loss at UCLA on Nov. 8, 2024, at the Rose Bowl. That was a game the Hawkeyes should’ve won but fell flat defensively, almost inexplicably against the league’s worst rushing offense, and were forced to use walk-on quarterback Jackson Stratton after an injury to starter Brendan Sullivan.
The Hawkeyes didn’t play for another 15 days after that UCLA loss, and they won’t play for another 15 days after facing Washington this time, either.
Iowa’s lone in-season off weekend comes between the Washington trip and an Oct. 24 road game at Minnesota. That Floyd of Rosedale rivalry game kicks off a six-game, 35-day finishing stretch against the former Big Ten West Division: at Minnesota, vs. Wisconsin (Oct. 31), at Northwestern (Nov. 7), vs. Purdue (Nov. 14), at Illinois (Nov. 21) and vs. Nebraska (Nov. 27).
The Hawkeyes will be limited to two Friday games this season, Washington and their annual Black Friday matchup vs. the Cornhuskers.
The three daunting games in 14 days figures to be the defining stretch in Iowa’s 2026 season. The surrounding nine games on the schedule look pretty manageable, with three non-conference home dates vs. Northern Illinois (3-9 last season), Iowa State (under a new coach with almost an entirely new roster) and FCS Northern Iowa. A 3-0 start will be expected.
A 6-0 finish is definitely feasible, considering the Hawkeyes demolished Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska by a combined 118-19 last season and won their previous meetings against Northwestern (40-14 in 2024), Purdue (20-14 in 2023) and Illinois (15-13 in 2023).
No, we don’t know how good the Hawkeyes will be behind a new quarterback and an entirely new defensive line. The sportsbooks peg Iowa’s over/under win total at 7.5, aka “the usual” for the Hawkeyes — who have gone over that number in six of the last seven 12-game regular seasons (eight wins in 2018, nine in 2019, 10 in 2021, 10 in 2023, eight in 2024, eight in 2025).
If Iowa can eke out one of three against Michigan, Ohio State and Washington (or better yet, two of three) … Kirk Ferentz’s team likely will have a chance to run the table to merit consideration for the 12-team College Football Playoff. But if a three-game losing streak is sealed on the night of Oct. 9 in Seattle, the Hawkeyes at 3-3 (or worse) will likely already be locked out of the CFP with half their season to play.
That’s why this Friday night move is pretty sizable. A short-week road trip 2,000 miles away is less than ideal. But at least the players and coaches can start preparing for it now. The scenario and schedule ought to reinforce the urgency of summer training: Be ready from the jump of the 2026 season or get left behind in a hurry.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa football gets daunting Friday assignment at Washington | Leistikow
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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