There are good days. Then there are great days. For the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Week 3 performance against Northern Iowa in a 55-0 victory would count as a great day.
Nearly everything worked. Everything Iowa could have tried succeeded, and things looked sharp. Today was all about being crisp, and Kirk Ferentz had Iowa looking as crisp as possible, which is what you want to see entering Big Ten play.
Right: Hank Brown
Hank Brown, my friend, you were perfect. Literally.
Before being pulled with a healthy lead, Hank Brown went 12-for-12 for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He spread the ball around, found an ample amount of wide receivers, and never let the ball hit the ground with his accuracy and decision-making.
Right: Health
Iowa chose to sit running back Kamari Moulton and tight end DJ Vonnahme today in what felt like an abundance of caution, yet it didn’t seem to matter. Iowa won this game handily and didn’t see any other key players exit with injuries.
With Michigan looming, health had to be a priority ahead of this game, and Iowa managed to navigate that aspect perfectly.
Right: Running the ball
Looking at the entirety of this game can be a bit misleading, so let’s look at the numbers for Iowa halfway through the third quarter.
Iowa rumbled for 288 yards and five touchdowns on just 24 carries before getting out to a 49-0 lead. Iowa managed seven touchdowns on nine drives to this point, while averaging 12 yards per carry.
Right: Passing game variety
Iowa’s passing attack is, and will remain, built around Tony Diaz this year. He is the main guy, and no one expects anything different. What was nice today was to see Iowa work the ball to other targets to gain comfortability in the passing attack.
At 49-0, before Iowa truly emptied the bench and got everyone involved, the Hawkeyes had 10 players with receptions, which is an unheard-of number for Iowa. Nathan McNeil and Evan James had three receptions, while Jarriet Biue, Tony Diaz, and Xavier Williams each had two catches, and Braedan Jackson, Addison Ostrenga, Reece Vander Zee, Dayton Howard, and Mason Woods all got a touch.
Wrong: Not Much?
Am I supposed to get super nitpicky about backups against Northern Iowa? Iowa did essentially everything it was supposed to do in this game.
The Hawkeyes showed up, looked sharp, and handled a team they were expected to dominate. That’s as simple as it gets. This team did what good teams do.
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