The final result is far from being in ink, but with twelve regular season games, we are already at the quarter turn in the season for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The final results of all three games have been what was expected, though the path to get there has included all three degrees of victory for the Hawks.
In the opener that many predictions had being a close affair, and it wasn’t uncommon to see Wyoming being the popular pick with super-hyped quarterback Josh Allen, Iowa did what they needed to do. Iowa shut down the ‘mock draft darling’ in a 24-3 victory that included an ultra-dominating performance by senior LB Josey Jewell.
In what was the best Cy-Hawk game in recent memory, Iowa edged the Cyclones on the road 44-41. Sophomore QB Nathan Stanley emerged in the win when the Hawkeyes needed him most. And, two New Jersey-natives from the same high school in Akrum Wadley and Ihmir Smith-Marsette were the offensive difference makers in the win.
In the most unbalanced game of the season so far, Iowa pulled away late last week from Conference USA’s North Texas. Poor officiating and costly touchdowns called back against the black & gold made nerves uneasy in Iowa City, until Iowa won it in the fourth quarter.
The Hawkeyes need players like Bo Bower, Matt VandeBerg among others to step up in October if they want to elevate what could potentially be a 7 or 8 win team to something special.
The Hawkeyes made other news by the touching post first quarter tradition of waving to the onlooking patients at the UI Stead Children’s Hospital.
Overall, the Hawkeyes are where they want to be after the non-conference schedule with the daunting Penn State Nittany Lions coming to town. Injuries to T Ike Boettger and RB James Butler damper things some, but it also invokes the Iowa program mantra ‘next man in’. The second quarter of the season begins in a major way coming up.