Still getting used to the idea of Iowa playing a football game against Minnesota during the month of September? Well, brace yourself for this bit of sacrilegious news:
Schedule Update. #Gophers to host Iowa on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at TCF Bank Stadium. https://t.co/iBz9Iskd1F pic.twitter.com/7Wc9JZI0Af
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) December 20, 2019
Friday night conference games are a recent addition to Big Ten schedules, and it seems odd for a matchup between two teams likely to be ranked in the Top 25 to be relegated to a time usually reserved for high school football. The Big Ten normally only schedules games on Fridays during the opening week, when fans are so football-starved after months of hibernation that they’d watch Big Ten football games even if they were aired at 2:00 AM on a Tuesday morning. So Iowa fans can be forgiven if the prospect of watching their team play their conference opener on a Friday in September doesn’t exactly fill them with joy.
There are two prevailing theories for why Minnesota might have scheduled the battle for the Floyd of Rosedale on the 18th instead of the 19th:
1. The Gophers believe they’re in danger of losing their sixth straight game to the Hawkeyes and want to make sure the game is played on a night where the majority of college football fans aren’t likely to witness their shameful defeat, or
2. Minnesota, tired of Hawkeye fans turning TCF Bank Stadium into Kinnick North, want to schedule the game on a school/work day in hopes that fewer Iowa students and fans can easily travel to Minneapolis to support their team and possibly tear down another goalpost.
Either way, mark your calendars now and get ready for a wild Friday night of Iowa football next September!