Iowa football: Nate Stanley firing on all cylinders as Iowa defeats Indiana

The Iowa football team wasted little team making quick work of the Indiana Hoosiers Saturday. Here is the recap of Iowa’s dominating Big Ten performance.

Many people heading into this game thought it could be a trap for game for the Iowa football program, and it seemed that way for all of five minutes as Indiana marched down the field with easy on their first drive. As the defense has done numerous times this season, they managed to not break as Indiana inched closer to the goal line. Indiana would go on to kick a field goal from the 11-yard line on 4th and 2. This would be the only lead Indiana would have on Iowa all day.

From that point on, it was all Iowa. The Hawkeye offense would make quick work of Indiana’s defense as Nate Stanley let a 5-play, 74-yard drive that ended with a 9 yard touchdown pass to tight end TJ Hockenson.

On the next Indiana drive, sophomore defensive end would sack fellow sophomore quarterback Peyton Ramsey on third down and six to force a punt.

The Iowa football team would proceed to march down the field again and Nate Stanley finished the drive with another touchdown pass to a tight end. This time it was Noah Fant in the mix.

Iowa’s defense would hold up strong forcing another punt, but on the ensuing drive, Stanley made the only mistake of his otherwise flawless performance and threw an interception to Thomas Allen. Indiana would score two plays later to make the game 14-10 Iowa.

From that point on, the game was all Iowa. The Iowa football team would score three more touchdowns before Indiana was able to add points to the board. During that unanswered 21-point run, Stanley decided to channel his inner Ben Roethlisberger as he refused to go down on multiple plays including a beautiful scramble early in the second that led to a 12-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Nick Easley.

The second touchdown in this scoring binge would be on the first drive of the third quarter with Stanley dumping the ball off to Toren Young for a 11-yard touchdown pass that required Young to show incredible balance and footwork as he maneuvered his way into the end zone.

The final touchdown before Indiana’s offense would show signs of life was a 54-yard touchdown pass to TJ Hockenson who would break an arm tackle and then quickly rumble down the sideline with impressive burst and gusto. At the 9:19 mark in the third quarter, it was Iowa 35 and Indiana 10.

Indiana would score on the next drive with an 8-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a Peyton Ramsey touchdown run, and after an Iowa punt, would proceed to drive down the field hoping to make the game a two-score game. However, on 2nd and 2 from Iowa’s 6, Ramsey threw what equated to the game-sealing interception.

The Iowa football team would take over possession and roll down the field for their final touchdown on the day. This touchdown would be yet again, another touchdown pass from Nate Stanley to put him at six on the day.

As we noted earlier in the week, the keys to this game was Iowa moving the ball well through the air and bottling up Peyton Ramsey through the passing and rushing attack. Although he was able to make Iowa pay a few times, the defense, overall, did an outstanding job containing the talented young quarterback for the Hoosiers.

This win gives Iowa a 5-1 record overall and a 2-1 conference record as they prepare for their homecoming game against Maryland next week.