Iowa football: Offensive resurgance leads Hawks to victory over Northern Iowa
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa football team started off strong and didn’t let off the gas as they cruised to a 38 to 14 victory over FCS program Northern Iowa Saturday night.
In a game that historically has been difficult for the Hawkeyes, Saturday night was anything from it. The Iowa football team started off strong scoring on three of their first four possessions in route to an easy win over Northern Iowa. In doing so, the Hawkeyes improved to 3-0 before they begin their Big Ten conference schedule.
Although it wasn’t perfect, the game was a great non-conference game for Iowa to end on. For the first time this season, the Iowa offense showed signs of life outside of the run game, and reminded Hawkeye fans everywhere what this offense truly is capable of when firing on all cylinders.
Now, I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Northern Iowa is good, but they are a FCS team. They are certainly not the Wisconsin Badgers either, but tonight was a good step in the right direction as the Hawks begin preparation for next Saturday’s Big Ten matchup.
You could tell from the first drive that the Hawkeye’s offense was ready. Although the drive would end prematurely due to a momentum killing injury timeout and a false start penalty, it would only be a few minutes before the Iowa football team could put it together. The second drive of the game Nate Stanley led Iowa on a 10-play, 92-yard drive that would end with a Noah Fant touchdown.
Drives three and four would also end in touchdowns, but this time by former Iowa Western Reiver Mekhi Sargent who punched the ball in the end zone from 2-yards and 10-yards out. These touchdowns capped methodical, Iowa-like drives of 12 plays for 68 yards and 14 plays for 67 yards.
Sargent wasn’t the only Reiver to make an impact. Former JUCO All-American Nick Easley has been quiet the first two games of the season after leading Iowa in receiving last season. Tonight he broke out with ten catches for 103 yards and one touchdown.
Following the three touchdowns, the Hawks and Panthers would trade interceptions before Iowa attempted a field goal to end the half, which the Panthers ironically blocked.
The Hawks continue their dominance in the second half
The Iowa football team continued their strong play as the opened the second half with three consecutive scoring drives to build a 38-0 lead with 1:21 remaining in the third quarter. Kicker Miguel Recinos would put a field goal through the uprights, Easley would haul in his touchdown catch, and Toren Young would rumble into the end zone for the final score of the night for Iowa.
Being down 38-0, the Northern Iowa offense showed signs of life under Eli Dunne. Dunne drove the Panther offense down the field in a 14-play, 75-yard drive that would end with hitting standout tight end Briley Moore for a touchdown. Until that point, Moore had been mostly held in check, which was key to stopping the Panther’s passing attack.
With the Iowa football team up 38-7, Kirk went full force with reserves to get some playing time to close out the game. The Panthers would go on to score one more touchdown after they were given short field position from an interception thrown by backup Peyton Mansell to give us our final score of 38-14.
Defensively, the Hawkeyes played outstanding throughout the contest. A.J. Epenesa notched his fourth sack and Michael Ojemudia got the first interception of his Iowa football career. In total, the Hawks would accumulate three sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble (that was recovered).
They were so dominant that at half time, the defense had only allowed 20 yards. The Panthers would ultimately finish with 228 yards of total offense, but 148 of those yards were acquired after the Hawks began resting their starters late in the third.
Be on the lookout today and this upcoming week for more in-depth analysis of this game along with our standout performers of the week, opportunities for improvement, and a look into next week’s Big Ten matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers.