A week prior Brett McMurphy "unofficially" announced Iowa v. Iowa State as a primetime game but the Big Ten Network confirmed today that the Battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy will be televised at 6:30 PM CT at Kinnick Stadium on September 10th, 2016. The official Tweet from Iowa:
BTN will telecast Cy-Hawk Trophy game in prime time. 3 night games for Hawkeyes. https://t.co/QT0qh8LGW3 #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/G4qfSSoXwX
— The Iowa Hawkeyes (@TheIowaHawkeyes) May 9, 2016
As you can see, it will also be Iowa's Black and Gold Spirit Game (aka the striped stadium game). Iowa and Iowa State have only played one evening/night game at Kinnick Stadium, back in 2002. There's absolutely no need to talk about that game.
But really though, can you imagine how bad it's going to be after a bunch of Iowans have been drinking for 12+ hours? Yikes.
In addition, Iowa's November 5th visit to Penn State will be televised at 6:30 PM CT on the Big Ten Network. Iowa and Penn State have a storied history of playing night games. Highlights include:
And this:
And this:
And this:
Oh and:
Seems difficult to believe but Iowa and Penn State haven't actually met since 2012, when the Nittany Lions stomped out one of Kirk Ferentz's worst teams at Kinnick Stadium. Then head coach Bill O'Brien eventually left for the Houston Texans job and Penn State hired James Franklin, who has beaten one Big Ten team with a winning record in two seasons (Rutgers, 2014).
Counting the Michigan game, Iowa will play a total of three night games in 2016. It's almost as if there is a correlation between having a successful season and getting to play primetime games.