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Iowa football: Three standout performers against Minnesota

ByAndrew 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: Anthony Nelson #98 of the Iowa Hawkeyes sacks Zack Annexstad #5 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers 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: Anthony Nelson #98 of the Iowa Hawkeyes sacks Zack Annexstad #5 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first quarter of the game on October 6, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Anthony Nelson

How could Anthony Nelson not be included on this list? All the guy did was repeatedly harass Zach Annexstad throughout the day as he took down the young walk-on quarterback three times in the first half.

For context, only nine players in the entire Big Ten have more sacks on the season than Nelson had in one half. Pretty impressive stuff right?

The dominant performance didn’t stop there though. He added another four quarterback hurries and one quarterback hit in addition to his three sacks which led to a Pro Football Focus grade of 79.9 on the day.

Nelson is now tied for the Big Ten lead in sacks with five.

There were quite a few other performances that could easily make this list such as Parker Hesse or Amani Hooker, but that’s the beauty of a win: many people stepping up to make big plays and bring home the win.

We will continue our analysis of Iowa’s performance against Minnesota with our three opportunities for improvement article coming out later today.

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