If history can be our guide, get ready for something memorable on the night of Sept. 12, 2026, at Kinnick Stadium.
When the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game goes under the lights, big moments seem to occur.
The Hawkeyes will officially host their first night game vs. Iowa State in 10 years, with this fall’s Week 2 Cy-Hawk battle chosen to be staged at 6:30 p.m. CT on NBC.
First thought: The in-state matchup between annually successful power-conference programs continues to be a national draw. This marks the fourth straight year that Iowa vs. Iowa State was plucked by network television. Iowa’s 20-13 road win in 2023 aired on FOX; the Cyclones’ 20-19 win in Iowa City in 2024 was on CBS; and last year’s 16-13 Iowa State win was a Big Noon FOX broadcast. This cycle, NBC has selected it as its “Big Ten Saturday Night” centerpiece, it was announced on May 27.
There have been four official night games (5 p.m. kickoff or later) in Iowa-Iowa State football history — in 1999, 2002, 2013 and 2016. Unofficially, there have been five — with the 2019 game amid weather delays being played mostly at night and finishing at 9:04 p.m.
The 1999 game was Kirk Ferentz’s second as Iowa’s head coach, a 17-10 loss in Ames in which Darren Davis rambled for 235 of the Cyclones’ whopping 310 rushing yards.
The 2002 game wound up having major consequences. Iowa led Iowa State, 24-7, at Kinnick Stadium in a 5 p.m. start. But under the lights, the Hawkeyes self-destructed against Seneca Wallace and the Cyclones and swallowed a 36-31 setback. That was Iowa’s only loss of an 11-1 regular season that ended in the Orange Bowl.
The 2013 game in Jack Trice Stadium was commemorated by B.J. Lowery’s insane one-handed, fourth-quarter interception that preserved Iowa’s 27-21 win.
We’ll save 2016 for a minute and flash forward to the 2019 game, which featured ESPN’s College GameDay crew in Ames to deliver unmatched Cy-Hawk hype (only to be topped when GameDay returned for a top-10 matchup in 2021).
Yes, the 2019 game technically kicked off at 3:11 p.m. But two lightning delays totaling 2 hours, 55 minutes cleared out Jack Trice Stadium. When things finally resumed close to 7 p.m. (with 13:24 left in the second quarter), the Hawkeyes began chipping away and rallied to an 18-17 win thanks to big plays on special teams — four Keith Duncan field goals followed by a pinball fumble recovery after two Iowa State players collided trying to field a punt.
And 10 years ago, there was 2016 — the last time Kinnick hosted the Cyclones at night.
This 2026 matchup has some 2016 parallels that should be encouraging to Hawkeye backers.
In the only blowout in nine meetings against the Campbell-led Cyclones, Iowa could do no wrong in a 42-3 victory on Sept. 10, 2016.
C.J. Beathard, after leading a 12-win campaign in 2015, completed 19 of 28 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns — one each to George Kittle, Akrum Wadley and Matt VandeBerg. The Hawkeyes scored TDs on four consecutive first-half possessions. After the demolition, VandeBerg (who had seven catches for 129 yards) dropped to a knee and proposed to girlfriend Laura, who said yes. A celebratory night was complete.
The Hawkeyes would love to repeat that 2016 evening one decade later, but not the following week’s result. No. 13 Iowa lost at home to FCS North Dakota State then; it faces FCS Northern Iowa the week after Cy-Hawk in 2026.
But getting back to the opportunity of this game, the Hawkeyes — who are breaking in a new quarterback, whether it’s Hank Brown or Jeremy Hecklinski — need to seize the Cy-Hawk night. All three non-conference game times were announced on May 27, with the Sept. 5 opener vs. Northern Illinois commencing at 3:15 p.m. CT on BTN (Iowa is an early 29½-point favorite, per DraftKings) and then the Sept. 19 UNI game starting at 3 p.m. on FS1. (Also revealed was Iowa’s Nov. 27 game vs. Nebraska kicking off at 11 a.m. on CBS.)
The Cyclones lost 50-plus players to the transfer portal after Campbell departed to take over at Penn State. This is a prime opportunity for the Hawkeyes, despite having holes themselves after losing a program-record seven NFL Draft picks, to send an early message to Rogers, who offered a profane message to fans about beating Iowa upon his introduction at the Cy-Hawk men’s basketball game at Hilton Coliseum in December.
Iowa State will have plenty of motivation, too. It hasn’t lost in Iowa City since 2018 and gets a no-pressure, nationally televised shot to spoil the Hawkeyes’ season like it did under the Kinnick lights in 2002. So the Hawkeyes had better be ready.
If Iowa doesn’t start 3-0, there won’t be much realistic space for dreaming of the College Football Playoff with the much-discussed, 14-day gauntlet to open Big Ten play — Sept. 26 at Michigan, Oct. 3 vs. Ohio State, Oct. 9 at Washington.
Getting off to a healthy start will be imperative, and now the non-conference schedule has an under-the-(spot)lights game officially set: Iowa vs. Iowa State.
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: Cy-Hawk After Dark tends to produce memorable moments | Leistikow
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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