The Iowa Hawkeyes defeated Troy this past Saturday (September 14) to earn their second victory of the season. The Hawkeye team that started the game surely didn't feel like the dominant Hawkeye team that ended the game.

The Hawkeyes ended the game with a blowout score of 38-21 and put together a strong second half to close out the game. In my opinion, the Hawkeyes didn't exactly look great in the first half, as Troy was leading 14-10 going into the 3rd quarter.

The Hawkeyes did pull away in the 4th quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns as they outrushed Troy with 284 rushing yards to 24. According to KCCI, the Hawkeyes scored 2 touchdowns in their 3 trips to the red zone and you could tell the team had come to life in the second half.

Get our free mobile app

The Hawkeyes will travel to Minnesota next week to begin their Big10 schedule as they look for revenge after last year's controversial "fair catch" call, as they hope to bring Floyd back to Iowa City.

A Hawkeye Fan's Dream Backyard

This might be one of the coolest backyards I've ever seen. Have you ever seen photos of Brandon Parrish's yard, in which he has created a mini replica of Kinnick Stadium? He lives in Burlington, Iowa, and it appears he's put a ton of time and money into this huge project. As a kid, I would've been playing on this field from sun up to sun down.

In a NY Times article from 2023, Brandon spoke about his love for the Hawkeyes and why he replicated Kinnick in his backyard. He has a garage with 3 TVs, flooring that replicates Carver-Hawkeye Arena, tons of autographed photos, jerseys, and other Hawkeye memorabilia. This garage setup led to an epiphany of sorts, as he wanted to create his own Kinnick Stadium in his yard.

"That’s literally the first time I really thought about it. I’ve always wanted to do something like this. I’m actually a bigger basketball fan than I am a football fan. Of course, now with Caitlin Clark, I’m actually becoming a big women’s fan, too, like a lot of people."

At the time, Brandon double-checked with his fiance Heather, if she was okay with his mini Kinnick Stadium project, and after getting a thumbs up, he got to work. He headed to his local lumber yard to get paint and he ordered stencils online to get the perfect look.

Dimensions

According to the NY Times, Brandon's version of Kinnick Stadium is 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. He has both endzone's painted black with  "Iowa" and "Hawkeyes" painted in gold. The paint is pet friendly, which is the paint used on high school and middle school football fields.

He's added pylons in both endzones as well as youth field goalposts. On a full-size football field, you'll see white painted lines to represent 5 yards. On Brandon's field, these white lines are every 2 and a half feet. Brandon also painted the Hawkeye in the middle of the field.

To complete this project, he worked on the field for about 4 hours every night until the stadium was finished.

This has to be one of the coolest replicas in the entire state! Brandon has thrown get-togethers for Hawkeye games and last year, he even had a friend's daughter play AC/DC's "Back in Black" on the guitar before the Hawkeyes took the field for a game, just like they do at Kinnick Stadium.

There are thousands of loyal Hawkeye fans throughout the entire state of Iowa but this is something else. This is more than loyalty, this is more than fandom, the Hawkeyes are a part of Brandon's life, and this is one of the coolest replicas you will see in the entire state of Iowa.