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The 2020 college football season kicks off this weekend. You read that right: there is college football this weekend. In person. On TV. Not kidding. While three FBS matchups have been cancelled for the week, Austin Peay and Central Arkansas of the FCS will be kicking the season off at 8pm CT on Saturday night for the world to see on ESPN.
As exhilarating as the thought of a return to college football is, it is no doubt saddening to recall that the Iowa Hawkeyes and Big Ten conference will not be playing games this fall. Despite the 2020 season being delayed (for now) until the spring semester, Hawkeye fans don’t need to be without Iowa football all fall.
A week ago, BHGP commenter BizarroMax took to Twitter to announce his family’s solution to the upcoming Hawkeye football drought: a rewatch season.
1. No team can appear more than once on the schedule.
— Bizarro Max ☁️ (@Arch_Hawk) August 19, 2020
2. Iowa State must appear.
3. At least 8 Big 10 opponents (any division, just no repeats).
4. At least 5 total road games.
5. Each game in the dream schedule must be in the same order it was played during its season. (2/?)
That is, the 6th game to watch can either be Iowa’s 6th opponent that year or Iowa’s week 6 opponent. Just to give some flexibility.
— Bizarro Max ☁️ (@Arch_Hawk) August 19, 2020
Ok, go!
It’s an idea. More than that, it’s not a bad idea. And so here we are, on the final Friday before what would have been Iowa’s first game week of the season and we’re rolling out our very own revised schedule for the 2020 season.
Now, we will of course be consuming as much college football as we can get our hands on, but it’s not quite the same as watching the Hawkeyes. So each week, we’ll be re-watching a game from the Kirk Ferentz era, following BizarroMax’s criteria, and covering it as if it’s live. We’ll have our regularly scheduled programming as far as preparations with watch guides (including the YouTube links, kickoff times, etc), game threads and recaps. It won’t stop us from doing some real live Iowa sports news and other shenanigans, but it’s something to give us some sense of normalcy during this totally not normal time.
So, without further adieu, here is Iowa’s revised 2020 Kirk Ferentz Era Re-Watch Schedule:
Week 1: UNI @ #22 Iowa - September 5, 2009
Week 2: Iowa @ Iowa State - September 9, 2017
Week 3: Pitt @ Iowa - September 19, 2015
Week 4: #16 Arizona State @ #18 Iowa - September 20, 2003
Week 5: Iowa @ #12 Penn State - September 28, 2002
Week 6: #24 Iowa @ Purdue - October 5, 2002
Week 7: #17 Iowa @ #20 Northwestern - October 17, 2015
Week 8: Iowa @ Michigan State - October 24, 2009
Week 9: #3 Ohio State @ Iowa - November 4, 2017
Week 10: #2 Michigan @ Iowa - November 12, 2016
Week 11: #9 Wisconsin @ #17 Iowa November 20, 2004
Week 12: Iowa @ Minnesota November 22, 2008
Bowl Game: #10 Iowa vs. #9 Georgia Tech, Orange Bowl - January 5, 2010
Without giving up too much to those who don’t recall all the details, it’s a pretty favorable schedule for Iowa fans. We’ll dive in to each matchup and the results over the next twelve weeks. And if your a glutton for punishment, we’ll also be releasing the All-Pain Schedule next week. Re-watch at your own risk.
And, while the above is clearly the best schedule you could come up with given the parameters (again, games must be in the same week they were played during the actual season, no opponents more than once, at least 8 Big Ten games, ISU on the list and at least 5 road games), we will also be taking a look each week at the best games from that particular week in Iowa history.
Think you could do better? Drop your proposed schedule in the comments! Let’s get back to some actual football in 2020!