In a game against North Texas that surely made Hawkeye fans uneasy, Iowa was able to pull away in the second half. After being down four going into halftime, the Hawks won 31-14 to finish the non-conference schedule.
An unavoidable fact, the game can only be summarized as sloppy, and the constant barrage of flags made the North Texas/Iowa game a difficult watch.
North Texas got some early ‘breaks’ to stay in the game. Nick Easley’s touchdown pass was taken off the board when fumbled before getting in the endzone resulting in a touchback. Later Akrum Wadley took a pass the distance, and got his TD taken back after high stepping inside the North Texas 10 to the endzone.
This Iowa touchdown was taken off the board because Akrum Wadley high-stepped into the end zone. The horror! https://t.co/aEPU3vRiVt pic.twitter.com/7TPCOvw7Eh
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) September 16, 2017
The latter still draws anger from many Hawkeye fans. The play resulted in Wadley entering Kirk Ferentz’ ‘Doghouse’ of sorts before he suffered an ankle injury. His fellow ball carrier James Butler also suffered an injury that knocked him out of the game to his elbow.
A big part of the upcoming week before the tilt with top five team Penn State will be the health of these talented tailbacks. However, the third and fourth running backs Toren Young and Ivory Kelly-Martin got it done against the Conference USA foe. The sophomore bruiser Young got 19 carries for 78 yards, while the true freshmen Kelly-Martin got his first taste of college ball getting 74 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Quarterback Nate Stanley continued throwing touchdown passes in his first year under center for the Hawkeyes. With two on the day it brought his season total to 10, which has him tied for fifth in the country in TD passes.
Stanley has found a potential target for the next couple of seasons with fellow sophomore tight end Noah Fant. Fant appears to be the next great Hawkeye tight end with his early season performance.
Defensively, the Hawkeyes haven’t been the same team the last two weeks since shutting down Josh Allen and Wyoming. Defensive end Parker Hesse stood out with a sack, 4 tackles, and disrupting what the Mean Green were trying to do on offense. Josh Jackson got his second interception of the season at the end of the game against the school from his native Texas.
The Hawkeyes overall did not look like a team that can hang with the defending champion Nittany Lions next weekend. But, they didn’t either last year getting blown out at Penn State, then beating undefeated Michigan under the lights of Kinnick Stadium.