For the second straight week, two football teams in the state of Iowa will clash. 

The Cy-Hawk Game has come and gone, but Iowa football still has one more in-state foe to wrestle with - Northern Iowa. 

While the prestige of this matchup is dwarfed by the Cy-Hawk Game, the Hawkeyes and Panthers are no stranger to playing electric football games at Kinnick Stadium. Everyone remembers the two blocked field goals in 2009, but David Johnson nearly upset Iowa in 2014, too. 

Tons of pregame content will be posted on HawkeyeRoundtable.com in the coming days, but before we get to that, here are three and a half early thoughts about Saturday's clash in Iowa City (3 p.m., FS1). 

Though Hank Brown threw for nearly 200 yards and completed 70% of his passes against Iowa State, Kirk Ferentz may still use this game to determine a full-time starting quarterback ahead of Big Ten play. Brown is clearly the frontrunner and would probably start against Northern Iowa, but would Ferentz opt to give Jeremy Hecklinski a bulk of the snaps to see what he can do? We'll find out more tomorrow. 

The emergence of Tony Diaz hasn't helped this come to life, but Iowa not using its tight ends in the passing game more has been surprising. This group has tallied just 11 receptions so far this season, and if you go back and watch the Iowa State film, you'll see that Tim Lester missed an opportunity to attack the middle of the field with his big tight ends. The Cyclones were selling out for the run for almost the entire second half, and all it would've likely taken for the Hawkeyes to avoid winning on a last-second field goal was a simple play action rollout. 

Northern Iowa's defense is obviously nowhere near as good as Iowa State's so we'll see if DJ Vonnahme and this loaded tight end room can make more plays against the Panthers. 

Iowa is probably going to win this football game, but it wouldn't be surprising to see it struggle out of the gates. Saturday's 16-13 triumph over Iowa State was about as hard fought and emotional as the Hawkeyes could've asked for, and big-time rivalry victories like those can sometimes be hard to extinguish from the brain after a few days. 

Iowa's coaching staff will do its job and quickly pivot towards the preparation for the Northern Iowa game, but with the Big Ten opener Michigan looming next weekend, it could very well be one of those games where the Hawkeyes take a quarter to settle into this football game. 

Though it's not an annual mainstay on the schedule like the Cy-Hawk Game is, Iowa keeping Northern Iowa on the schedule is very healthy for not only the state of Iowa, but also for college football in general. Conference realignment has eliminated many of these matchups over the last few years, but give the Hawkeyes (and Iowa State, too) credit for continuing to play their in-state foes from Cedar Falls on a regular basis. 

This will be the first meeting between Iowa and Northern Iowa in eight years (COVID-19 canceled the 2020 contest) - the longest break in between matchups since the modern series began in 1995. The Hawkeyes have won all seven meetings since the '95 clash, but the Panthers will be desperate to make plays on a rare national stage. 

Don't miss out on our Roundtable community and the latest news! It's completely FREE to join.

Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members in the community section! Download the FREE Roundtable APP and stay even more connected!

Click here to join the fun and potentially win some FREE Hawkeye swag! 

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]