There's always a popular phrase Iowa fans like to use when a Cy-Hawk Game is approaching. 

It only takes a few minutes of scrolling on social media to find it. 

"They're [Iowa State] our Super Bowl."

While Hawkeye fans certainly care about the outcome of this game, this phrase is basically saying the Cyclones care about the Cy-Hawk Game more. That may be true from a historical standpoint (Iowa leads the all-time series 48-25), but Iowa fans will never truly admit how much they wanted to best their in-state rivals on Saturday evening. 

The Hawkeyes needed a field goal to escape the Cyclones as a two-touchdown home favorite, but few people care about what actually transpired in the contest - all that mattered was seeing Iowa grab the Cy-Hawk Trophy. 

It's now Sunday afternoon, which means it's time for another edition of three do's and three don'ts. We list three things the Hawkeyes should continue doing in Week 3 and beyond (the do's), and three things they don't need to see again for the rest of the year (the don'ts). 

Hank Brown completes 70% of his passes: We've already mentioned this in our game grades, but it has to be mentioned here. As good as Mark Gronowski was during the end of the 2025 season, the lack of consistency in the passing game really held back Iowa's potential. There's obviously still a long way to go in 2026, but Hank Brown's impressive line (21/30, 191 yards) is going to win the Hawkeyes a lot of football games if he can continue to do that against good defenses. 

Success on special teams: There was one special teams miscue that will fall in this week's don'ts category, but you couldn't have drawn up a better night. for Iowa's special teams on Saturday. Some fans were concerned the Hawkeyes' youth at both kicker and punter could cost them in a close game like this one, but the complete opposite happened. Caden Buhr and Boston Everitt were nails all night long, and Iowa is going to be in good shape if it can get that performance from both of them in close games.  

No turnovers: The Hawkeyes' trademark in this rivalry game for years was to avoid turnovers and take the ball away from Iowa State. The takeaways didn't happen on Saturday, but when the clock expired, Iowa finished the night without a turnover for the first time in this series since 2021. This is one of the most obvious positives in football, but if the Hawkeyes are going to play in close games the rest of the way, they're going to need to take care of the football.  

Penalties: Penalties continued to be an issue for Iowa this week, and it's certainly something Kirk Ferentz will want to remove for the rest of the year. The Hawkeyes finished with four penalties for 25 yards - not a major figure - but most of them were procedural fouls in the first half that prevented Iowa from gaining any traction on offense. 

93 rushing yards: The Hawkeyes couldn't get anything going on the ground on Saturday. While 93 could certainly be a worse number, the offensive line is going to look back at the tape and learn from it's mistakes. Michigan and Ohio State - two of the nation's best offensive lines - are looming in a few weeks. 

Whatever Evan James did: As good as Iowa's special teams were, there was a near disaster in the second half that may've been the difference in the game had it occurred. Evan James took a punt to the house last weekend, but what happened on Saturday wasn't what he wanted. Not fielding the ball cost Iowa 10-15 yards of field position as it is, but he was almost thrown into the football by Iowa State. That was a good "flush it" moment for James and the Hawkeyes. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]