The Northern Illinois Huskies visit the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, September 5, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET from Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA. Iowa opens the season ranked No.
22 at home against Northern Illinois. The Huskies enter at 0-0 with Brady Davidson at quarterback, while Iowa has not yet named a starter. DraftKings has Iowa as a 31.5-point favorite, up from an opening line of 30.5, with the total at 44.5, down from an opening 45.5.
Below, we'll give you all the details you need to know about how to watch this game. How to Watch Northern Illinois vs. Iowa Players to Watch Falke's path to a Power Four opponent runs through NAIA, not a bigger conference, and that makes his production last year even more of an outlier.
He broke up 14 passes and intercepted five more at Marian in Indiana, numbers that would stand out at any level of college football. Interim coach Rob Harley built his reputation as a defensive coordinator, and pairing him with a cornerback who produces at that rate gives Northern Illinois a real building block on defense as the program moves to the Mountain West. Iowa is not going to be an easy measuring stick, but Falke forcing even one contested throw would be a meaningful data point for a Huskies defense trying to prove last season's offensive collapse was the exception.
Iowa's offense will go only as far as Kirk Ferentz's commitment to the run allows, and Moulton is the engine behind that approach. He has averaged 5.3 yards per carry over the past two seasons, production that has held steady regardless of who is playing quarterback in Iowa City. Northern Illinois gave up 285 yards a game on average last season while scoring just 17 points a night, numbers that suggest this Huskies defense is not built to slow down a downhill runner like Moulton.
If Ferentz leans on him early, Iowa could control this game before halftime even without much production from the passing game. Northern Illinois vs. Iowa Odds Want great stories delivered right to your inbox?
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