(Chicago, IL) – Iowa will face off against Northwestern at historic Wrigley Field this afternoon as the Hawkeyes are coming off a 12-10 loss to Minnesota two weekends ago. The last time that the Hawkeyes played a Big Ten opponent inside a baseball stadium was on November 24, 1904, when they took on Minnesota at Athletic Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The most recent time that they played in a baseball stadium was the 2017 Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in 2017 when they won over Boston College.
The Hawkeyes are coming off a bye week as they enter this afternoon’s game. Cooper DeJean, Tory Taylor, Jay Higgins, and Sebastian Castro all were selected as midseason All-Americans from various media outlets. Tory Taylor was named the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week on October 24th and has been named to the award five times in his career. The punter has also been named as the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week twice this season.
Iowa holds a 53-28-3 advantage over Northwestern in a series that began in 1897. Iowa has won the last three of the four meetings in the series and five of the last seven meetings have been decided by one touchdown or less. Iowa’s defense has also been more than consistent this season.
The Hawkeyes have not allowed a touchdown in their last eight quarters and have allowed just one rushing touchdown in eight games. The defense also is ranked 11th in the nation in red zone defense this season and is sixth nationally in scoring defense with 14.5 points per game. Their effort has helped the Hawkeyes become Bowl-Elgible, for the 22nd time under head coach Kirk Ferentz.
Iowa will kickoff today at Wrigley Field at 2:30 p.m.
