Iowa State basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger says senior guard Tamin Lipsey won’t play but everybody else is healthy as the 16th ranked Cyclones open exhibition play at Creighton Friday night. Lipsey remains sidelined with a sprained knee.

The game does not count on their record but Otzelberger says the first goal is to win the game.

Otzelberger says it is a chance for the Cyclones to establish their identity.

These teams meet in a little over a month in a regular season game in Las Vegas but Otzelberger says there is no thought to holding anything back.

Iowa receiver Reece Vander Zee is happy to be back on the field as the Hawkeyes prepare to host Penn State. The sophomore from Rock Rapids suffered a foot injury prior to the season opener and saw his first action in last week’s 37-0 win at Wisconsin.

In limited action against the Badgers, Vander Zee caught three passes.

Penn State enters Saturday night’s game on a three game losing skid but Vander Zee says the Nittany Lions have a talented defense.

After a thrilling win at San Diego, Drake returns to Pioneer Football League action at home on Saturday by hosting Davidson. HJarry Balke’s walk-off 55-yard field goal gave the Bulldogs a 19-16 win over the PFL preseason favorite Toreros and coach Joe Woodley likes the mental toughness his team is showing.

With a new coach and a new style of play Davidson enters the game with a record of 1-5.

Woodley says the Bulldogs are focused on themselves and not Davidson’s record.

Drake is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the league race.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) — A 7-year-old Adair County boy will be this week’s Kid Captain when the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. KCRG reports Micah Norby, from Greenfield, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at 5 years old, after his parents noticed him falling more often and lagging behind on the soccer field.  Micah received a new gene therapy on the day before his sixth birthday at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. The treatment was intended to slow the progression of the disease.

University of Iowa health care (photo)

The treatment needed to be administered before he turned 6. His health care team had to appeal for insurance coverage, and an illness caused a delay in treatment. Micah was the first child in Iowa outside of clinical trials to receive this treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He is now 7 years old and enjoys swimming, fishing, and using his remote-control car.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Former University of Iowa safety Marcus Paschal will serve as honorary captain when the Hawkeyes entertain Penn State on Saturday on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:08 p.m. (CT) and the game will be streamed on Peacock.

Paschal was a four-year letterman and helped the Hawkeyes advance to four bowl games (2004 Outback; 2005 Citrus; 2006 Outback; 2006 Alamo) from 2003-06. The native of Largo, Florida, amassed 199 tackles, including three for loss, intercepted three passes, recovered three fumbles, forced one fumble, blocked one kick and had 17 pass break-ups during his career.

Paschal earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2006 as a senior. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2007, also seeing time with Atlanta, Indianapolis and Baltimore.

Paschal has served as the head football coach at Largo High School, his alma mater, since 2014.

Paschal will accompany the Iowa captains to midfield for Saturday’s pregame coin toss. He will also be with the Hawkeyes in the locker room before and after the game.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Former Bulldog All-American Katie Dinnebier will join the Drake women’s basketball radio broadcast team as an analyst for select games during the 2025-26 season, Drake Athletics announced today.

One of the most decorated guards in Drake history, Dinnebier will bring her on-court experience and insight to the broadcast booth.

The primary radio team of Hunter Phillips (play-by-play) and Randy Mauro (color analyst) will continue to call the majority of Drake women’s basketball games.

“We’re very excited to add Katie to our broadcast coverage,” said Greg Ellis, General Manager of Drake Sports Properties. “She’s been one of program’s fan favorites and her enthusiasm will come through to the listeners.”

A native of Waukee, Iowa, Dinnebier finished her Bulldog career last spring as one of the program’s all-time leaders in points, assists, and three-point field goals, leading Drake to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.

The 2025-26 Drake Women’s Basketball season begins October 28 with an exhibition game against Dakota Wesleyan at the Knapp Center. Games can be heard all season long on 102.1 FM, 1350 AM, and streaming live on The Varsity Network app.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa’s offensive line was named to the midseason honor roll for the Joe Moore Award on Wednesday. The award honors offensive line units that display a high level of toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing.

The Joe Moore Award is named after Joe Moore, widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football history. It is the only major college football award to honor a unit.

Iowa’s offensive line is coached by George Barnett and includes center Logan Jones, guards Beau Stephens and Kade Pieper and tackles Gennings Dunker and Trevor Lauck. The group has started every game for the Hawkeyes this season, while Jones, Stephens and Dunker have combined for 102 career starts.

Lauck and Pieper are in their first seasons as starters on the offensive line.

The unit has helped Iowa gain more than 200 yards in three of the team’s six games and the line has surrendered just nine sacks.

The Hawkeyes have outrushed their opponents in five of the six contests, compiling 210 yards in the dominating 37-0 road win at Wisconsin on Oct. 11 and rushing for 310 yards in the season-opening win over UAlbany.

Iowa is one of 24 units recognized by the award at the midway point of the 2025 season. The Joe Moore Award voting committee will announce its semifinalists on Nov. 5.

The Hawkeyes return to action Saturday, hosting Penn State in the ANF Black & Gold Spirit Game inside Kinnick Stadium. The sold-out game will begin at 6:08 p.m. (CT) and it will be streamed on Peacock and broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network.

In what is shaping up to be one of, if not the biggest game of the year, the Harlan Cyclones will look to solidify their playoff position when they visit the Trojan Bowl Friday night. After surviving a very difficult non-district schedule, the Cyclones are 3-1 in their last four games with their only loss being to Carroll. Although a loss would not eliminate them completely, it would almost certainly keep them on the outside looking in. Head coach Todd Bladt and his team knows what is at stake.

On paper, the Cyclones appear to be having a rough year. However, looks can be deceiving. The Cyclones ran a gauntlet in their first four games. Starting the year 0-3, they suffered narrow losses to Underwood and Glenwood before falling to Lewis Central. Despite the tough start, Harlan has come around. They’ve won three of their last four with two shutouts while the offense has averaged over 40 points per game. Throughout the course of the year, Harlan has learned a lot about themselves and where they’ve needed to improve.

The Cyclones are led by their senior quarterback Gabe Arkfeld. So far, he has thrown for over 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns and isn’t afraid to get out of the pocket. Bladt said it was this fearlessness and tenacity that has helped make him so effective.

Bladt and the Cyclones are well aware of the size and talent that Atlantic brings, especially in the run game. He says that they will have to be disciplined and stick to their assignments if they are going to slow down the Trojans.

Similarly to Atlantic, this game has a lot of meaning for Harlan. In addition to the implications with the playoff picture, Harlans has not lost to Atlantic in 23 years, so there is no doubt that pride will be on the line as well. You can catch all action on KJANTV with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm.

The Riverside Football team set to hit the road against undefeated ACGC Friday night. The Bulldogs come in 6-1 with a season opening loss to Treynor, but since then the Bulldogs have been dominant including scoring 55+ points in their last three games.

Riverside is a run heavy offense led by Senior Running Back Jaxon Gordon who leads the state of Iowa across all classes with 1,827 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns. This will be the second consecutive season Gordon finishes top ten in the state in rushing yards as he compiled a 1,932-yard 2024 season. When Riverside does decide to run the ball, Senior Landyn Schoenrock has completed 60% of his passes and throwing for eight touchdowns. Schoenrock utilizes the ground game as well as he has run for 262 yards and scored once. On the receiving end, Junior Cole Jeppeson has caught 24 passes for 382 yards and scored five times.

Meanwhile on the defensive side, Riverside averages roughly 21 points allowed each game. The defense is very balanced in numbers, as Riverside has three tacklers with over 20 tackles and six with over 15. Riverside has had a knack for creating takeaways as well. The Bulldogs are currently tied for ninth in the state of Iowa with 13 defensive interceptions.

Darrell Frain’s Bulldogs enter their last regular season game with arguably their toughest test yet. The Bulldogs have locked up a postseason spot for a second consecutive season and seek a Class 1A-7 District Championship. The stakes will be high in Guthrie Center Friday night as Riverside will be able to call themselves district champions if victorious, they will also guarantee themselves a home game for the first round of the postseason.

The Bulldogs and the Chargers have met just once since 2010 as ACGC beat Riverside 27-15 in Guthrie Center in 2023. Riverside knows they will have their hands full when toe meets leather Friday night but hope the state’s leading rusher can have a big night with so much on the line.

You can catch all the action on KJAN with pregame coverage starting at 6:30 with Kickoff scheduled for 7 pm.

A new era of Iowa basketball is set to begin as Ben McCollum directs a program that finished tied for 12th in the Big Ten last season and missed the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. McCollum has built a roster that includes six players from his Drake team that won the Missouri Valley title.

McCollum’s success at Drake and Northwest Missouri State was based on defense and offensive efficiency. That won’t change at Iowa.

McCollum says the focus during preseason practice has been on how they will play more than who will play.

McCollum has been impressed with the freshman class and says six-11 former West Des Moines Valley star Trevin Jirak  has stood out.

The Hawkeyes open the season at home against Robert Morris on November fourth.