Football is back. It is officially game week for the first time this season for the Iowa Hawkeyes. All of the offseason talk and gossip, all of the debates and speculation, that all comes to an end now. It’s finally time for the Hawkeyes to take the field!
In the last season before the college football landscape rapidly changes, the Hawkeyes start it all off at home against Utah State. The Mountain West Conference competitor is coming off a down season where they went 6-7. It is what should be a tune-up game for a Hawkeyes team with Big Ten championship game aspirations.
As we saw last year, though, no game should be taken for granted. The Hawkeyes were taken to the wire in the season opener by South Dakota State and lost a tight battle against rival Iowa State. This year, Iowa hopes their season debut goes a lot smoother than a 7-3 win in which they fail to score a touchdown. Here are five things we need to see from the Hawkeyes against Utah State.