Iowa football: Five observations in win over Purdue

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 19: Wide receiver Ahmad Anderson #10 of the Purdue Boilermakers is tackled in the first half by defensive backs Dane Belton #4 and Geno Stone #9 of the Iowa Hawkeyes, on October 19, 2019 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Matt Hankins is benched

I didn’t see this one coming, and I think if you did, you should probably go to Las Vegas now because you’re on a roll.

For the rest of us mere mortals, however, Matt Hankins getting benched was not something we anticipated yesterday, but that’s exactly what happened as he got torched by true freshman David Bell (yes, the same David Bell who the Hawks were recruiting heavily last year).

Bell would finish the game with 197 yards receiving and 1 touchdown on 13 receptions with a good chunk of that coming against Hankins.

Finally, Hankins was replaced by true sophomore Riley Moss, which is incredibly ironic if you think back to last year when the exact opposite scenario played out.

Moss went on to have a solid game getting one pick and almost getting another, but now we are back to a bit of confusion in the secondary. Who starts opposite of Michael Ojemudia and what is going on with the cash position?

After Hankins replaced DJ Johnson in the starting lineup, I assumed Johnson would slide over into the cash role that he was originally slotted for but instead, we saw true freshman Dane Belton getting most of the responsibility in Iowa’s nickel corner role.

Honestly, at this point, I have no idea what’s going on with this secondary, and it didn’t come up much in Kirk Ferentz’s postgame press conference. Hopefully, we get some clarity during his next chat with the media on Tuesday.

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