Iowa football took the weekend off, but the Hawkeye news cycle kept moving. Between individual honors for Kade Pieper and Zach Lutmer, another international gold for Kylie Welker, and some promising buzz from a women’s basketball scrimmage, there was no shortage of Iowa headlines.
Pieper’s name keeps showing up for a reason. After stepping in as a full-time starter last season and immediately making his presence felt, the right guard has stayed right in the middle of everything for Iowa.
He’s started the last 19 games and has given an inexperienced offensive line some real backbone. That group has helped open things up on the ground, including three games of 250-plus rushing yards.
The biggest explosion came against Northern Iowa in week three, when Iowa piled up 422 rushing yards.
That same run game produced a stat line that jumps off the page: for the first time since 1983, three Iowa running backs topped 100 yards in the same game. Xavier Williams ran for 151, Braeden Jackson added 125, and Nathan McNeil finished with 111.
All of that helped Pieper land on the AP Midseason All-American First Team after Iowa got off to a 5-1 start. He was already an All-American last season, and he’s picked up the thread without missing a beat. The offense is putting up 31.0 points and 403.2 total yards per game, with 194.0 yards coming on the ground.
On the other side of the ball, Lutmer is stacking up recognition of his own. The safety, who emerged as a breakout name in 2025, was named a Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist. The award’s acronym stands for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity, and Lutmer checks plenty of those boxes.
He has started all six games at free safety and already logged 34 total tackles, four pass breakups, and one tackle for loss. His busiest night came in Iowa’s 20-19 win over Michigan in week four, when he posted a career-high 12 tackles.
He followed that with 11 more against Ohio State. He also carries Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Welker, meanwhile, kept her international tear going in Las Vegas. The fifth-year star went 4-0 at the Under-23 World Championships and closed the event with a tech fall over Serbia’s Evelin Ujhelji in just 48 seconds. That 10-0 win gave her a third straight gold medal, making her the first American and freestyle women’s wrestler to hit that mark.
There was also encouraging news coming out of women’s basketball. Iowa’s closed-door scrimmage against Oklahoma State reportedly went the Hawkeyes’ way, 93-86, and later details added even more fuel to the early optimism.
Dani Carnegie was the headliner, putting up a 30-point double-double with six assists and three steals. McKenna Woliczko chipped in 19 points and four rebounds, while Ava Heiden scored 12 and grabbed 7 rebounds against Audi Crooks.
The defense may not have been the story in that one, but the offense looked sharp enough to turn heads. Carnegie’s performance stood out the most, and if that showing is a sign of what’s coming, Iowa may have found something real with its transfer addition.
In Other News...
Kirk Ferentz Is Suddenly In A Conversation Iowa Fans Didn't Expect
Iowas strong start has turned the second half of the 2026 season into something Hawkeyes fans may not have seen coming for a while: a legitimate path into the College Football Playoff discussion. At 5-1, with a favorable schedule ahead, the Hawks have positioned themselves in a place where the usual expectations around the program suddenly feel a little too low, especially with the team showing real balance on offense, defense and special teams.
Kirk Ferentz is starting to come up in a conversation that once seemed unlikely, too, with analyst Brandon Walker already floating him as an early Coach of the Year candidate if Iowa keeps this pace. There is still plenty for the Hawkeyes to clean up before any bigger talk becomes meaningful, but the combination of results, schedule and overall team play has given the season a different kind of edge, one that keeps Iowa fans watching every week a little closer than usual. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Faces A Different Kind Of Pressure At Minnesota
Saturdays trip to Minneapolis brings a different kind of pressure for Iowa, even with the Hawkeyes listed as 6.5-point favorites. A road game at Huntington Bank Stadium against Minnesota has a way of turning routine Big Ten weekends into something more tense, especially with kickoff set for Saturday and Iowa trying to keep its momentum intact while dealing with the usual noise that comes with playing away from home.
Hank Brown is expected to be available after missing the previous game with an injury, which gives Iowa another layer of stability heading into the matchup. The game will be on FS1 and streamed on Fubo, and while the betting line points in Iowas direction, the Hawkeyes will still need to handle a Minnesota team that tends to make opponents earn everything. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Keeps Minnesota Guessing With One Huge Week 8 Mystery
Iowa is leaving Minnesota with a little extra homework this week, and the biggest question sits right at the top of the offense. Kirk Ferentz still has not named a starting quarterback for the upcoming game, with Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown both in the mix as the Hawkeyes sort through their options heading into a key Big Ten matchup.
Brown is working his way back from a sprained AC joint, while Hecklinski has given Iowa a reason to keep the competition open after a strong recent showing. The depth chart also points to some movement elsewhere, with Xavier Styles and Xavier Williams set for bigger roles in the back end and at running back, while L.J. Phillips remains uncertain after a recent injury, leaving a few more pieces of Iowa's game plan unresolved. [Read more 🡒]