Per Gary Barta, we knew Iowa would be playing a primetime game in Kinnick this fall. Now we know which one: the Penn State game on October 20th. It will be on BTN at 7pm CT. It's the third time in the last four years that Iowa-Penn State has been an official night game (and the fourth time in the last five years that the game finished under lights, as the 2008 game so memorably did).
Personally, I'm all for night games (other than the agonizingly long wait for the game to kick off on Saturdays): they're fun, they usually look great (see above), and (INCONSEQUENTIAL STATS ALERT) Iowa has a pretty good record in them lately. Seriously: since Iowa started regularly playing games with a 6pm or later kickoff (2007), Iowa has a record of 9-3, including bowl games. (The only losses were to Wisconsin in 2007, Arizona in 2010, and Oklahoma in the 2011 Insight Bowl.) Is there any particularly good reason why Iowa plays better at night? No, not really. Unless we're secretly a bunch of vampires. But in a season where wins might be hard to come by, I'll cling to any bit of superstition that helps.
Full schedule of Big Ten primetime games after the jump, wherein we lol at Our Most Hated Rival:
8/31: Boise St @ Michigan St (ESPN)9/1: Indiana St @ Indiana (BTN)
9/8: Vanderbilt @ Northwestern (BTN)
9/15: Notre Dame @ Michigan St (ABC)
9/15: Utah St @ Wisconsin (BTN)
9/15: Ball St @ Indiana (BTN)
9/22: Syracuse @ Minnesota (BTN)
9/22: La Tech @ Illinois (BTN)
9/29: Wisconsin @ Nebraska (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
10/6: Nebraska @ Ohio St (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
10/13: Ohio St @ Indiana (BTN)
10/20: Penn St @ Iowa (BTN)
10/27: Ohio St @ Penn St (ESPN/ESPN2)
10/27: Michigan @ Nebraska (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
3 - Nebraska, Ohio St, Indiana
2 - Michigan St, Wisconsin, Penn St
1 - Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Michigan
0 - Purdue (lol)
Michigan (at Notre Dame) and Minnesota (at UNLV) are also getting road games televised in primetime (or later, in the case of Minnesota @ UNLV). Not sure of any other primetime games yet.
Indiana gets three games on national TV (or at least as national as BTN gets), while Purdue gets bupkis. Suck it, Purdue Pete.