Iowa’s win over UMass is now history. They’ve mentally moved on and are getting ready for conference play.

This week is different, though. The Hawkeyes have one less day of rest. Iowa takes on Rutgers this Friday, not Saturday.

The mentality for the Hawkeyes, however, does not change. Players and coaches are watching tape on the undefeated Scarlet Knights closely. The players are eager for the challenge.

“I love it. It almost takes you back to the high school days, but, ya know, (Kirk Ferentz) always said no matter what day we play, Friday, Saturday, shoot, Tuesday, you got to be ready to come to play,” said TJ Hall, an Iowa defensive back. “So I’m excited and we will come out ready to go.”

“It’s an opportunity for us to show our maturity level and be able to recover, ya know, get on top of recovery, get on top of our preparation, and then come out and be ready on Friday,” said Seth Anderson, an Iowa wide receiver. “It’s cool to play (on Saturdays) but Friday it’s cool to get out there and play when no one else is.”

“It feels just like high school. You get to go back and play under the lights on Friday night,” said Zach Lutmer, an Iowa defensive back. “Nothing like it. When you go back to high school, you had all your buddies and everything. Now it’s in front of 50,000 or whatever they got there. So it should be a great atmosphere.”