CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

Iowa vs. Michigan

Iowa and Michigan have 65 meetings on file, the first in 1900; Michigan leads the series 45–⁠16–⁠4 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s even at 5–⁠5.

Iowa wins
16
Michigan wins
45
Ties
4
Earliest on file
1900
Longest streak
11 Michigan
Current streak
1 Iowa
Last 10 meetings
even at 5–⁠5
Most recent
2026

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1900s1–⁠2
1920s1–⁠2–⁠1
1930s0–⁠3
1940s0–⁠3
1950s1–⁠5–⁠1
1960s1–⁠3–⁠1
1970s0–⁠7
1980s3–⁠5–⁠1
1990s1–⁠6
2000s3–⁠4
2010s4–⁠2
2020s1–⁠3
Both ranked
15 meetings: Iowa 6, Michigan 8; 3 both in the top 10
Average margin
15.5 points; 26 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Iowa
8–⁠17–⁠1 Iowa’s record at home
At Michigan
26–⁠8–⁠3 Michigan’s record at home
Neutral sites
0–⁠2 Iowa first
Shutouts
9

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Iowa’s biggest win1984: Iowa 26, Michigan 0by 26 points
  2. Michigan’s biggest win1902: Michigan 107, Iowa 0by 107 points
  3. Upset1981: Iowa 9, Michigan 7Iowa had a 23% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1990: Iowa 24, Michigan 23Iowa had a 24% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset1924: Iowa 9, Michigan 2Iowa had a 31% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1985: Iowa 12, Michigan 10No. 2 Michigan at No. 1 Iowa
  7. Ranked showdown1986: Michigan 20, Iowa 17No. 8 Iowa at No. 4 Michigan
  8. Ranked showdown1957: Iowa 21, Michigan 21 (tie)No. 3 Iowa at No. 12 Michigan

Coach against coach

YearsIowaSeriesMichigan
1939–⁠1946Edward Anderson0–⁠4Fritz Crisler
1953–⁠1958Forest Evashevski1–⁠4–⁠1Bennie Oosterbaan
1961–⁠1964Jerry Burns1–⁠2–⁠1Bump Elliott
1971–⁠1973Frank Lauterbur0–⁠3Bo Schembechler
1974–⁠1978Bob Commings0–⁠3Bo Schembechler
1981–⁠1989Hayden Fry3–⁠5–⁠1Bo Schembechler
1990–⁠1994Hayden Fry1–⁠4Gary Moeller
2001–⁠2006Kirk Ferentz2–⁠4Lloyd Carr
2011–⁠2013Kirk Ferentz2–⁠1Brady Hoke
2016–⁠2023Kirk Ferentz1–⁠4Jim Harbaugh

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Iowa’s side (Anderson 0–⁠4 against Crisler). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Iowa and Michigan, 1900 on13001500170019001900192019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

Stars of the series

Named most valuable

Mike Sainristil Michigan2023
Aidan Hutchinson Michigan2021

Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

From the newspapers

  • The Evening times-Republican's story of the 1900 game: IND CANE REVIEWED Ralfh Hoagland's Comment on the Iowa.l Michigan Foot Ball Contest. Score Of 90 to 5 Represents Rsla' tive Strength Of the Opposing Teams Iowa and Minnesota Not Likely to Play For the Western Championship.

    1900 · Evening times-Republican, Marshalltown, Iowa, Nov 12, 1900

  • The The Indianapolis journal's story of the 1901 game: wisconsin's Quarter Back, Marshall, Forced to Retire with a Broken Collar Bone. WATERLOO FOR IOWA'S TEAM MICHIGAN CLOSED THE SEASON WITH a TOTAL OF sol POINTS. Illinois Defeated by Iowa in a Stub born COntest-PIayers in Several Games Severely Injured.

    1901 · The Indianapolis journal, Indianapolis [Ind.], Nov 29, 1901

  • The Omaha daily bee's story of the 1902 game: SMOTHERS THE HAWKEYES Michigan Rolls Up a Score Of One Hundred and Eleven. IOWA TEAM LAYS DOWN EARLY IN GAME one Touchdown Scored in Two Min utes, Another About as Quickly and Then the Hawkeye Heart Was All Gone.

    1902 · Omaha daily bee, Nebraska, Nov 9, 1902

  • The Evening star's story of the 1923 game: MICHIGAN DEFEATS IOWA. 9-3. in EXCITING CONTEST

    1923 · Evening star, Nov 4, 1923

  • The The Birmingham age-herald's story of the 1924 game: MICHIGAN LOSES TO IOWA, 9 TO 2 Rainy Weather Makes Passes Of Friedman Fail

    1924 · The Birmingham age-herald, Nov 23, 1924

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

On television

2026CBS4.5 million viewers

Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.

Photos

From the rivalry’s and its games’ categories on Wikimedia Commons (free licenses only, each credited).

Every game

Sep 26, 202617Iowa 20, 18Michigan 19at Michigan
Dec 2, 20232Michigan 26, 18Iowa 0Lucas Oil StadiumBig Ten Championship
Oct 1, 20224Michigan 27, Iowa 14at Iowa
Dec 4, 20212Michigan 42, 15Iowa 3Lucas Oil StadiumBig Ten Championship Game
Oct 5, 201919Michigan 10, 14Iowa 3at Michigan
Nov 12, 2016Iowa 14, 2Michigan 13at Iowa
Nov 23, 2013Iowa 24, Michigan 21at Iowa
Nov 17, 201223Michigan 42, Iowa 17at Michigan
Nov 5, 2011Iowa 24, 13Michigan 16at Iowa
Oct 16, 201015Iowa 38, Michigan 28at Michigan
Oct 10, 200912Iowa 30, Michigan 28at Iowa
Oct 21, 20062Michigan 20, Iowa 6at Michigan
Oct 22, 2005Michigan 23, Iowa 20at Iowa
Sep 25, 200418Michigan 30, Iowa 17at Michigan
Oct 4, 200323Iowa 30, 9Michigan 27at Iowa
Oct 26, 200213Iowa 34, 8Michigan 9at Michigan
Oct 27, 20018Michigan 32, Iowa 26at Iowa
Oct 3, 199825Michigan 12, Iowa 9at Iowa
Oct 18, 19975Michigan 28, 15Iowa 24at Michigan
Oct 1, 19947Michigan 29, Iowa 14at Iowa
Oct 2, 19938Michigan 24, Iowa 7at Michigan
Oct 3, 19924Michigan 52, Iowa 28at Michigan
Oct 5, 19917Michigan 43, 9Iowa 24at Iowa
Oct 20, 199022Iowa 24, 10Michigan 23at Michigan
Oct 21, 19895Michigan 26, Iowa 12at Iowa
Oct 15, 1988Iowa 17, 15Michigan 17at Iowa
Oct 17, 1987Michigan 37, Iowa 10at Michigan
Oct 18, 19864Michigan 20, 8Iowa 17at Michigan
Oct 19, 19851Iowa 12, 2Michigan 10at Iowa
Oct 20, 198418Iowa 26, Michigan 0at Iowa
Oct 22, 198310Michigan 16, 12Iowa 13at Michigan
Oct 16, 1982Michigan 29, Iowa 7at Iowa
Oct 17, 198112Iowa 9, 5Michigan 7at Michigan
Nov 4, 19788Michigan 34, Iowa 0at Iowa
Oct 29, 19776Michigan 23, Iowa 6at Michigan
Sep 14, 19746Michigan 24, Iowa 7at Michigan
Sep 15, 19735Michigan 31, Iowa 7at Iowa
Nov 11, 19724Michigan 31, Iowa 0at Iowa
Nov 6, 19713Michigan 63, Iowa 7at Michigan
Nov 14, 19705Michigan 55, Iowa 0at Michigan
Nov 15, 196914Michigan 51, Iowa 6at Iowa
Nov 14, 19646Michigan 34, Iowa 20at Iowa
Nov 16, 1963Michigan 21, Iowa 21at Michigan
Nov 17, 1962Iowa 28, Michigan 14at Iowa
Nov 18, 1961Michigan 23, Iowa 14at Michigan
Nov 1, 19582Iowa 37, Michigan 14at Michigan
Nov 2, 195712Michigan 21, 3Iowa 21at Michigan
Nov 3, 195617Michigan 17, 7Iowa 14at Iowa
Oct 29, 1955Michigan 33, Iowa 21at Michigan
Oct 9, 1954Michigan 14, 4Iowa 13at Michigan
Oct 10, 19535Michigan 14, Iowa 13at Michigan
Oct 20, 1951Michigan 21, Iowa 0at Iowa
Oct 5, 1946Michigan 14, Iowa 7at Michigan
Nov 28, 19429Michigan 28, Iowa 14at Michigan
Oct 4, 1941Michigan 6, Iowa 0at Michigan
Oct 14, 1939Michigan 27, Iowa 7at Michigan
Oct 23, 1937Michigan 7, Iowa 6at Iowa
Nov 11, 1933Michigan 10, Iowa 6at Michigan
Nov 23, 1929Michigan 0, Iowa 0at Michigan
Nov 24, 1928Michigan 10, Iowa 7at Michigan
Nov 22, 1924Iowa 9, Michigan 2at Michigan
Nov 3, 1923Michigan 9, Iowa 3at Iowa
Nov 8, 1902Michigan 107, Iowa 0at Michigan
Nov 28, 1901Michigan 50, Iowa 0at Michigan
Nov 10, 1900Iowa 28, Michigan 5at Michigan

Every game is listed as played on the field.