No. 20 Iowa Hosts Rutgers In The Earliest Big Ten Game Ever!

As the Hawkeyes maintain their status as the number 20 team in the country, they play host to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in their earliest Big-Ten game in history. While the match-up is predominantly in favor of the Hawkeyes, Head Coach Kirk Ferentz isn't thrilled. He shared his thoughts on an early September conference game at his weekly press conference:

To me, the month of September especially is just about really focusing on trying to improve and pull things together, tie up the loose ends.

In Kirk-speak we're pretty sure that means he's not fond of playing a conference opponent in week two. His take is understandable. An abundance of teams in the FBS play weak FBS teams or even FCS teams in the first few weeks. This allows the bigger teams to get a "warm-up game" in, and the smaller teams to sell tickets for their fans. Kirk will like the September conference game even less next year. It's a road game at Minnesota on Saturday, September 19.

Saturday's Iowa-Rutgers game kicks off just after 11 a.m. inside Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. It will be televised by FS1.