We haven't yet reached the true beginning of summer yet in Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes football team is already preparing for an interesting 2024-25 football season.

I doubt many Iowans want to skip right past summer and jump into the fall but it's never too early to take a peak at the upcoming Hawkeye football schedule. You might want to circle a couple of dates this season.

The Hawkeyes are playing multiple games on Friday nights this year.

Friday Night Lights

Hawkeye fans have likely grown used to the rivalry game between Iowa and Nebraska, which is normally played on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Since 2011, this game has been referred to as the "Heroes Game" and the Heroes Trophy is awarded to the winning team. The Hawkeyes will take on Nebraska in their annual rivalry game on Nov 29.

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Iowa will play an unfamiliar opponent this season and the game will be broadcast on national TV. The Hawkeyes will travel to Pasadena, California, on November 8th, and matchup against the newly added Big 10 team, the UCLA Bruins.

Pasadena 2016

It's been a few years since Iowa had made the trip to Pasadena, which is the home of the college football Rose Bowl.

According to Hawkeyes Sports Wire, "it will be the Hawkeyes' first game against the Bruins in Pasadena since 1986 and it will be the first visit to Pasadena since the 2016 Rose Bowl versus Stanford." 

Hawkeye fans hope to not see a repeat performance of that game and in case you have tried your best to erase the 2016 contest from your memory, it wasn't great. Iowa lost to Christian McCaffrey's Stanford team by a score of 45-16. In that 2016 matchup, the future 1st round NFL draft pick set a Rose Bowl record for all-purpose yards with 368 yards total. 172 were on the ground, 105 were receiving, and he had 91 yards on returns.

While a vast majority of college football games, during the regular season, on are on Saturdays, Iowa is somewhat familiar with playing on a short week.

According to Hawkeye Sports Wire, "This will be Iowa’s third Friday night contest over the last five years: 2020 (35-7 win at Minnesota) and 2022 (51-14 victory at Maryland)."

Hawkeye fans can look forward to the season opener on Saturday, August 31st, when the Hawkeyes take on the Illinois State Redbirds.