The 1971 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1971 Big Ten Conference football season. Led by first—head coach year Frank Lauterbur, the Hawkeyes compiled a record of 1–10 with a mark of 1–8 in conference play, placing last in the Big Ten.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	at No. 11 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		L 21–52	75,596
September 18	at Oregon State*	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		L 19–33	24,092
September 25	No. 12 Penn State*	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	ABC	L 14–44	44,303
October 2	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IL		L 13–45	63,485
October 9	Northwestern	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA		L 3–28	52,102
October 16	Minnesota	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)		L 14–19	51,488
October 23	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		L 3–34	60,383
October 30	Wisconsin	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA		W 20–16	43,155
November 6	at No. 3 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI		L 7–63	72,467	[1]
November 13	Indiana	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA		L 7–14	42,102
November 20	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL		L 0–31	40,703
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster