Grinnell
1-1Midwest · Rosenbloom Field · 1,500
LastL 7–42 at Concordia Chicago · Sat Sep 12
Nextat Lake Forest · Sat Sep 19 · 2 pm ET · Farwell Field · series 0-4, lost the last 4
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #623 | — | — | Mount Mercy | W 16–13 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #525 | #645 | — | @Concordia Chicago | L 7–42 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #545 | #499 | @Lake Forest | ||||
| 4 | Sep 26 | #545 | #651 | Beloit | ||||
| 5 | Oct 3 | Knox | ||||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @Illinois College | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | @Lawrence | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | Cornell (IA) | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | @Monmouth (IL) | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | Luther |
Game Week
4d 18h
until kickoff · at Lake Forest · Sat Sep 19 · 2 pm ET
The Pioneers of Grinnell, an elite Iowa liberal-arts college that played the first intercollegiate football game west of the Mississippi in 1889 — a 24-0 win over Iowa — and went perfect again in 1998.
Grinnell played the first college football game west of the Mississippi, and the sport files an elite little Iowa college away as academics-only.
The season in chapters
What it is like to watch them2025 · 2-8 · last season
✓ measured from 10 games · ranks are among Midwest teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Grinnell has won two of its last five.
Cooling. 2-8 over the last 10, and lost the last one.
Next Sep 19
vs Lake Forest · away
Outcome band · Grinnell · 2026
Outcome band · Grinnell · 2026Grinnell's most likely season is 1-11 — mid-table finish. The floor is 0-12; the ceiling is 4-8.
No season-path projection for this program yet, so this is last season's record with a two-win swing down and a three-win swing up, over a 12-game frame.
More in this tab
Game day
The Pioneers of Grinnell, an elite Iowa liberal-arts college that played the first intercollegiate football game west of the Mississippi in 1889 — a 24-0 win over Iowa — and went perfect again in 1998.
Playoff path
Grinnell sits 8th in the Midwest Conference and 176th of 229 in the CFB Zeitgeist — outside the at-large picture — the path runs through the conference title.
| Team | Conf | Overall | Index | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Forest | 1-0 | 2-0 | 65.6 |
| 2 | Cornell (IA) | 1-0 | 1-1 | 46.0 |
| 3 | Luther | 1-0 | 1-1 | 42.0 |
| 4 | Illinois College | 0-0 | 1-1 | 49.9 |
| 5 | Knox | 0-1 | 1-1 | 49.8 |
| 6 | Beloit | 0-1 | 1-1 | 40.0 |
| 7 | Ripon | 0-0 | 0-2 | 37.7 |
| 8 | Grinnell | 0-0 | 1-1 | 37.5 |
Win the Midwest Conference for the automatic berth into the 40-team NCAA Division III bracket. Miss it and the path is an at-large bid, selected by NPI — the metric the CFB Index mirrors. Six wins survive the bracket to the Stagg Bowl.
Recruiting buzz
Community pulse
No high-engagement r/cfb discussions tracked for this program in the last year.