DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake women’s basketball has finalized its non-conference schedule ahead of the upcoming 2025-26 season. The Bulldogs are set for an opening exhibition game prior to nine contests outside of Missouri Valley Conference play.

Drake’s initial exhibition match will take place on Oct. 28 in the Knapp Center as the Bulldogs host Dakota Wesleyan.

The Dogs’ regular season slate will then start on Nov. 3 with a road trip to Eastern Illinois. The month will continue with a trio of regional rivalries as Creighton (Nov. 9) and Iowa State (Nov. 20) visit Des Moines and Drake will travel to Iowa City for a date with the Hawkeyes (Nov. 13).

The week of Thanksgiving, Drake will hit Broadway for a pair of neutral site matchups as part of the Music City Classic. The Bulldogs will tip it up on Nov. 25 and 26 against opponents to be determined in Nashville, Tenn.

December will feature a foursome of non-league tilts with three coming at home. The Dogs are set to host Lindenwood on Dec. 3 for their annual Character Counts! Day with Drake Women’s Basketball and former MVC foe Western Illinois on Dec. 7.

For its final two non-conference meetings, Drake will take on two teams that neighbor to the north. The Bulldogs are slated to travel to St. Thomas on Dec. 13 and will welcome the Golden Gophers of Minnesota to the Knapp Center for the non-MVC finale on Dec. 21.

Drake women’s basketball season tickets are now available for purchase here.

Albany coach Jared Ambrose wants his team to focus on playing hard in Saturday’s season opener at Iowa. The Great Danes are massive underdogs as they get set to visit Kinnick Stadium.

Ambrose says Iowa has become a model of consistency under coach Kirk Ferentz.

Ambrose says his team needs to avoid being overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

Non-Conference 

• Kuemper Catholic 2 Van Meter 0
• Kuemper Catholic – 2 vs Underwood – 0
• Van Meter – 2 vs Underwood – 1
• Glidden-Ralston – 3 vs Collins-Maxwell – 1

Corner Conference 

• Essex – 3 vs Hamburg – 0

Today, we continue our 18-team Big Ten Preview with a scouting report on Iowa. Mike Grimm takes a look the 2025 Hawkeyes:

Tomorrow, we wrap up our preview series with a look at Minnesota.

The Riverside Girls Cross Country team is preparing for the 2025 season after what Head Coach Alex Oliver called a hardworking summer.

Oliver is excited for this season working with an older group.

The Bulldogs were sixth place finishers in the Western Iowa Conference meet last season and now striving to crack the top half in 2025.

Riverside will begin their season Saturday, September 6th at the Lynx Cross Country Invitational at Iowa Western Community College.

Northern Iowa football coach Todd Stepsis likes the depth on his team and he plans to use it on Saturday. Stepsis will debut as UNI coach when the Panthers host Butler.

Stepsis says there are a lot of question marks with every season opener.

Stepsis says consistency is what earned Matthew Schecklman the start at quarterback. The redshirt junior appeared in nine games last season and won a three-way competition that included senior Aiden Dunne and junior Jaxon Dailey.

Stepsis says every game is a big opportunity.

AMES, Iowa – Several Cyclones received weekly awards from the Big 12 Conference office on Monday following No. 22 Iowa State’s season-opening 24-21 victory over No. 17 K-State on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland. Marcus Neal Jr. (Defensive Player of the Week), Aiden Flora (Special Teams Player of the Week), Dominic Overby (Freshman of the Week) and the Cyclone defensive line (Defensive Line of the Week) were all recognized by the league’s panel of voters.

Marcus Neal Jr. – Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week
Neal, making his first career start, led the Cyclone defensive effort with eight tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. His 1.5 TFL were a career high while his eight tackles tied a career best. The sophomore defensive back made several key stops in the game, including on Wildcat a 4^th-and-1 in the second quarter.

Aiden Flora – Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week
Flora’s name was called often on special teams. The redshirt freshman handled punt return and kick return duties and was also a gunner on the punting unit. Flora recovered a fumble following a K-State muffed punt and averaged 28 yards per kick return.

Dominic Overby – Big 12 Freshman of the Week
Overby made his first career start against the Wildcats and caught his first career touchdown pass, a 23-yard strike to open the scoring on Iowa State’s 2025 season. The redshirt freshman finished with two catches for 29 yards.

Cyclone Defensive Line – Big 12 Defensive Line of the Week
The ISU defensive line unit plugged up the line of scrimmage against the Wildcats. As a unit, they held K-State to 110 rushing yards and did not allow any Wildcat rusher to gain more than 51 yards individually. They limited K-State dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson to 21 yards rushing and combined for 1.5 tackles for loss in the game. Ikenna Ezeogu batted down two passes, one of which was caught by an o-lineman and did not officially count as a PBU.

Iowa State returns home Saturday, August 30 at 2:30 p.m. against South Dakota. Season tickets are on sale, here. Single-game tickets and mini-packs are also available now.

Drake defensive lineman Jacob Aunen says blending the newcomers with the veterans will be a key as the Bulldogs prepare for Thursday night’s opener at home against Upper Iowa. New coach Joe Woodley brought in several transfers to get ready for his first season as head coach.

Aunen says the newcomers will play key roles this season.

An experienced Upper Iowa football team takes a new level of confidence into the upcoming season. The Peacocks finished 7-4 a year ago, the most wins in a season for the program since 1997.

That’s Upper Iowa coach Jason Hoskins. The expectations are higher for this season. The Peacocks were picked to finish third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll.

Senior quarterback Darryl Overstreet Jr. begins his second full season as the starter after passing for 23 hundred yards and 18 touchdowns a year ago.

The Peacocks open the season Thursday night at Drake.