With the UNI Panthers and the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference not playing their football season until next spring, there are two remaining Division 1 collegiate football teams in the state of Iowa. Iowa State, as members of the Big 12 Conference, have been playing their entire season as scheduled, which began back in early September. Iowa, who plays in the Big Ten Conference, had their season delayed but ultimately began last week after the conference reversed their original decision to play fall sports in the spring. The two teams were in action on Saturday, Oct. 31, with Iowa State traveling to Lawrence, Kan. to play against Kansas University and Iowa playing their home opener against Northwestern University.

Iowa State came into their game with a 3-2 record and ranked 17th in the country. After dropping their first game of the season to unranked Louisiana, they bounced back and have regained a position in the top 25 rankings. Kansas, on the other hand, came into the game with an 0-5 record. Despite the home-field advantage for Kansas, Iowa State came out strong and never looked back, winning the game by the score of 52-22.

Consistent scoring throughout the first half put the Cyclones up 20-7 at the break. The Kansas defense could never seem to get a rhythm going against the ISU offense, as quarterback Brock Purdy threw for 239 yards and a touchdown, along with running back Breece Hall rushing for 188 yards and two touchdowns while averaging nearly nine yards per carry.

The only bright spot for Kansas was a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kenny Logan in the second half. Aside from the lone special teams play, the Jayhawk offense struggled mightily. Quarterback Jalon Daniels was 16-29 in passing for 165 yards. He also threw one touchdown and one interception. As a team, Kansas ran for 74 total rushing yards for the whole game, with ISU running back Breece Hall surpassing 100 rushing yards total in the first half alone. The win moves Iowa State to 4-2 on the year and 4-1 in the Big 12. Kansas fell to 0-6 and 0-5 in conference play.

Iowa matched up against Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium for the home opener of the Hawkeyes. Iowa came into the game following a loss the previous week against Purdue, while Northwestern came into the contest having beaten Maryland by 40 points in week one. Fan attendance was limited only to family members of coaches and players on both sides.

Iowa started out the game strong, jumping out to a 17-0 lead after the first quarter. Both of the touchdowns scored by the Hawkeyes came off of Wildcat turnovers, putting Iowa in good position to score both times. However, the Iowa offense could not execute throughout the remainder of the game and Northwestern was able to claw back into it. The Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the second quarter countered by an Iowa field goal, leaving the halftime score with Iowa on top 20-14. Sloppy execution on offense saw Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras throw three interceptions in the second half of the game, two of them coming off deflections from Iowa receivers. Northwestern would take advantage of the Iowa miscues, moving down the field in the third quarter and scoring on a one-yard touchdown run by running back Jesse Brown to put the Wildcats up 21-20. This would remain the final score of the game, dropping Iowa to 0-2 for the first time since 2000. Northwestern now moves to 2-0 for the season.