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Iowa football: Three standout performers against Minnesota

By Andrew Wade

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 06: Noah Fant #87 of the Iowa Hawkeyes scores a touchdown against Blake Cashman #36 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the third quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Iowa defeated Minnesota 48-31. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 06: Noah Fant #87 of the Iowa Hawkeyes scores a touchdown against Blake Cashman #36 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the third quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Iowa defeated Minnesota 48-31. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – OCTOBER 06: Chris Williamson #6 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers pulls Ihmir Smith-Marsette #6 of the Iowa Hawkeyes out of bounds during the first quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – OCTOBER 06: Chris Williamson #6 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers pulls Ihmir Smith-Marsette #6 of the Iowa Hawkeyes out of bounds during the first quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Special Teams

After a disastrous performance on special teams against Wisconsin that arguably cost the Iowa football team a key victory, the unit rebounded in a big way.

To start, kicker Miguel Recinos connected on all eight of his field goal attempts (two field goals, six extra points) to put twelve points on the board for the Hawkeyes.

On kickoffs, Ihmir Smith-Marsette showed why teams should maybe consider not kicking him the ball as he gashed the Gopher special teams unit for 83 yards on just two returns including a 49-yarder that he could have potentially taken to the house.

In the punt return game, the Iowa football team very clearly got the message on communication after the big hiccup from the Wisconsin game. When Kyle Groeneweg decided to not catch the punt, you could see Iowa defenders literally sprinting away from the ball as if it had some sort of infectious disease. Twitter certainly got a kick out of that.

It’s fair to say that the Iowa football team spent a little extra time in practice making sure the mistakes at Wisconsin would be avoided, and they deserve to be applauded for their efforts. However, the biggest reason why special teams was one of the three standout performances is because of the fake field goal attempt that resulted in a TJ Hockenson touchdown run. Yes, you read that right, the Hawks faked a field goal, our #2 tight end ran for a touchdown, and as you guessed it, the fake actually worked.

It was crazy.

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