W   40 - 0 

After a long QB competition over the spring and fall practices, Hank Brown got the nod to start the first 3 series for Iowa's offense. He was methodical in taking the Hawks down the field for 3 TD drives with a combination of passing and running. Brown connected with transfer Tony Diaz throughout the series, and capped the drive with a 6-yard TD pass to Diaz (1st TD pass for Brown and TD reception for Diaz as a Hawkeye). Diaz ended with 84 yards on 7 receptions. Caden Buhr missed his first PAT attempt. Kamari Moulton ran 50 yards on the next drive to put Iowa ahead 13-0. Moulton added another long TD run of 37 yards. Jeremy Hecklinski started at QB for the 4th series. He had one TD drive, connecting with Xavier Williams on a 8-yard TD pass, putting Iowa up 27-0. Buhr added two more FGs (45 and 34 yards) to cap the scoring for the Hawks at halftime. Evan James returned a punt 77 yards for a TD to end the scoring. Iowa ended with 507 yards of total offense (first time over 500 since 2019).

Kamari Moulton ran for a career-high 183 yards and two touchdowns. Brown finished 12 of 20 for 129 yards and one TD pass. Hecklinski was 7 of 16 for 76 yards with an interception and one TD pass.

On defense, the Hawks were impressive, holding NIU to no first downs in the first half and only 14 yards of offense. They ended with only 120 total yards. Iowa had six sacks and seven tackles for loss. Cam Buffington led the team with 6 tackles (4 solo) and Joseph Anderson added 1.5 sacks. It was the 19th shutout under Kirk Ferentz.

At halftime, the 2026 Hall of Fame class was celebrated, which included Sedrick Shaw.

	1	2	3	4	F
Iowa	20	13	7	0	40
Northern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0