Iowa football: Offensive explosion builds Hawks 21-0 lead in first half.

The Iowa football program wasted no time building a lead on the Northern Iowa panthers. At the end of the first half, the Hawks are up 21-0.

Playing a team like the Northern Iowa Panthers can be difficult, especially if Iowa played the way it has the past two games. Fortunately, the Hawks seem to have gained some of their swagger back on offense and jumped out to a quick lead. At the end of the half, the Iowa football team is up 21-0 against the Panthers.

After stalling out on the first drive of the game due to an injury timeout and a false start penalty, the Hawks began to show some creativity and gusto in their play calling. Furthermore, Nate Stanley appears to be a little more calm (despite a few mistakes) in the pocket as he moves through his reads. Read progression is something Stanley has struggled with so far in the short season.

The Iowa football team proceeded to go down the field on three straight drives for three touchdowns. Noah Fant scored the first touchdown on a 5-yard catch after the Hawks drove 92 yards down the field. This touchdown set the new tight end touchdown record at Iowa.

That touchdown catch was not the only production from Fant. Throughout the first half he was basically unstoppable. He already has five catches for 99 yards.

Mekhi Sargent shouldered the loud the next two drives carrying the ball into the end zone for two touchdowns on the night. He is currently sitting at 56 yards on 13 carries.

The second to last drive of the half (after the three touchdowns), Stanley had the Hawks marching down the field before making a terrible decision effectively throwing the ball directly at a Panther.

The Panthers wouldn’t have the ball long, however, as Michael Ojemudia would intercept the first pass of their drive. After a few quick plays, Iowa was in field goal position. Iowa was unable to connect on the attempt as Rickey Neal Jr got a hand on the Miguel Recinos kick.

This game has truly been all Iowa. The Iowa football team is outgaining the Northern Iowa Panthers 316-20 at this point. If it continues down this path, we could be seeing quite a few backups enter the game early in the fourth quarter, which is usually a good sign.

As always make sure to follow @DearOldGold for live in-game analysis and be sure to check out the site tomorrow for a full game analysis of this Saturday evening contest.