Iowa football: Two Hawks named to PFF Week 1 All-Big Ten team
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa football team put on a dominating performance, especially in the second half, in the win over Miami. Two Hawks performances earned them PFF honors.
Every week of the college football season, Pro Football Focus will be putting out their weekly All-Conference teams showing which players graded out the best at each position in each conference. Typically, we will see anywhere from 2 to 5 Iowa football players on this list, but that number is typically lower during non-conference play as many teams put on a clinic against lower-level teams.
After the Iowa football team’s convincing win over Miami 38-14, two Hawks graded out highest for their position. One makes a ton of sense, and the other may surprise you.
Offensively, Tristan Wirfs, despite playing both right and left tackle after Alaric Jackson went down with a knee injury, was one of the top two tackles in the Big Ten. He was a big reason, Stanley stayed clean throughout the evening and delivered one of his best performances in a Hawkeye uniform. Moreover, he was instrumental in paving the way for the rushing attack as the Hawks accumulated over 200 yards on the ground.
On the defensive side of the ball, defensive tackle Cedric Lattimore made Pro Football Focus’ All-Big Ten team in his first start for the Iowa football team.
Lattimore had 5 tackles on the day, and his presence inside disrupted the Miami of Ohio rushing attack. The RedHawks were only able to get 59 yards on the ground in 25 carries for just 2.4 yards per carry, which is beyond poor.
Although the Iowa football team is playing a weak Rutgers squad in their first Big Ten game of the season, I don’t expect us to see more than two more representatives on this list. Most of the Big Ten has a relatively easy contest this upcoming weekend, which means there are going to be quite a few high-performers.