Coming off an intense 44-41 win against Iowa State, the Hawkeye football team will be back in Kinnick for a 2:30 Saturday kickoff for grudge match with the Mean Green of North Texas.

North Texas, being in the Conference USA, has been known to only play one or two Power-5 games a season. These games can range from Florida last season to Iowa two seasons ago. The few such games they schedule each season are more often than not complete embarrassments.

For example, last season, North Texas was shut out 32-0 in Gainesville, Florida. The team accumulated only 53 yards during the game. That is almost as many yards as Akrum Wadley picked up against Iowa State on one play on Sept. 9.

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Another example of North Texas’ embarrassments came in 2015 during Iowa’s 12-0 season, when North Texas rode into Kinnick and lost, 62-16. Many fans left the stadium at halftime.

However, North Texas has a budding quarterback in sophomore Mason Fine, and that could make the game a little stickier than it was two years ago.

In Fine’s first two outings of 2017, he has thrown 3 touchdowns in each. Fine is also completing 69 percent of his passes, which gives him a clean 172.4 passer rating. These are not slouch numbers. However, given the lack of competition North Texas sees, this stat line might need to be taken with a grain of salt.

“They have an air-raid type of attack,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Really impressed with their quarterback and the way he moves their offensive football team.”

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The success of Fine might also have something to do with his plethora of pass catchers as well, such as sophomore Jalen Guyton, who averages 24.6 yards per reception.

“They have some really fast guys on the receiving corps,” defensive back Josh Jackson said. “They have an uptempo offense.”

Some may see this game as buffer before the real test against Penn State, but those in the Hawkeye organization are still worried about taking the punches as they come.

“Defensively, they play a 3-4, which we haven’t worked against this year,” Ferentz said. “That sets up new sets of challenges, and I think overall, they have good team speed.”

Many seem to be skipping ahead in their minds to Sept. 23 against Penn State on prime-time television. When Akrum Wadley was asked if he heard about Penn State being upgraded to a night game, he smiled with a full set of teeth and spoke a team-appropriate answer.