Changes made to the Big Ten schedule during the pandemic year of 2020 continue to have knock-on effects to future schedules. The Big Ten released the new 2022 schedules for all 14 teams today, so let's take a look at Iowa's new-look 2022 schedule. Here's a side-by-side comparison of Iowa's two schedules, with the old schedule on the left and the new schedule on the right.
| DATE | 2022 (orig) | 2022 (now) |
|---|---|---|
| 9/3/22 | South Dakota State | South Dakota State |
| 9/10/22 | Iowa State | Iowa State |
| 9/17/22 | Nevada | Nevada |
| 9/24/22 | at Minnesota | at Rutgers |
| 10/1/22 | Michigan | Michigan |
| 10/8/22 | at Purdue | at Illinois |
| 10/15/22 | at Ohio State | BYE |
| 10/22/22 | BYE | at Ohio State |
| 10/29/22 | Northwestern (HC) | Northwestern (HC) |
| 11/5/22 | at Rutgers | at Purdue |
| 11/12/22 | at Illinois | Wisconsin |
| 11/19/22 | Wisconsin | at Minnesota |
| 11/25/22 | Nebraska | Nebraska |
Some thoughts:
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There were no changes to Iowa's three non-conference schedules; Iowa is still opening up the year with three consecutive home games against South Dakota State, Iowa State, and Nevada.
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Iowa's still playing the same nine Big Ten teams that they were scheduled to play and none of the home/away designations have changed, but the order of games has been shuffled a fair amount.
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Only three of Iowa's nine Big Ten games are completely unchanged: a 10/1 home game against Michigan, a 10/29 home game against Northwestern (which is also the designated Homecoming game), and the 11/25 season finale against Nebraska (on Black Friday, as usual).
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Iowa was set to open league play at Minnesota on 9/24; now they won't be playing in Minneapolis until 11/19. (Slight change in weather conditions there!) Instead they'll open on the road against Rutgers on 9/24 instead of playing at Rutgers on 11/5.
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The October portion of the schedule is slightly less-changed than the November set of games. Iowa's still opening and closing the month with Michigan and Northwestern, respectively. 10/15 and 10/22 are still Ohio State and a bye; now instead of getting a bye after the Ohio State game and before the Homecoming game with Northwestern, Iowa will get a bye before the trip to Ohio State. The 10/8 game went from a road game at Purdue to a road game at Illinois.
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As noted, November is much-changed -- instead of opening with back-to-back road games at Rutgers and Illinois and then back-to-back home games with Wisconsin and Nebraska, Iowa now has a road game game with Purdue, then a home game with Wisconsin, then a road game at Minnesota, and finally a home game with Nebraska.
- Iowa's 2022 schedule already looked fairly challenging (as it usually does when the Delanybot 9000 decides to include both Michigan and Ohio State on the slate) and I don't think this changes that at all. Iowa doesn't have to deal with back-to-back road games against Purdue and Ohio State, which looked a little concerning, given Iowa's recent woes against Purdue and Ohio State's general... Ohio State-ness. But Iowa now plays six consecutive weeks against Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Not a lot of respite there.
Anyway, that's the schedule. Adjust your travel plans accordingly. Thoughts? Concerns? Hit up the comments.
