Iowa football: Five observations in win over Rutgers

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 7: Wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette #6 of the Iowa Hawkeyes makes a catch the first half in front of defensive back Avery Young #2 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on August 31, 2019 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

We’ve got a vertical passing game

Prior to the season, one of the biggest things I wanted to see from Brian Ferentz’s offense is more vertical concepts, and today I saw exactly that.

Multiple times, Nate Stanley let the ball fly and although he missed on a few, he was in tune with Ihmir Smith-Marsette today.

Smith-Marsette racked up 113 yards on 4 catches with 2 going for touchdowns. His 113 receiving yards were the third-most in a single game in the last four seasons.

More importantly than the statistical value of what Smith-Marsette did is this is yet another wrinkle to the Hawkeye’s offense that teams now need to prepare for.

It’s not like Iowa never threw the ball deep last year, but it just didn’t seem as deliberate from a play-calling standpoint and it didn’t seem like Nate Stanley was overly comfortable doing it, but with Brandon Smith and Smith-Marsette on the outsides, it’s all on the table now.

Hopefully, that opening drive touchdown throw to Smith-Marsette is not just a great highlight but a staple of the offense going forward.

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