Iowa football: Five observations from win over Northwestern

By Andrew Wade | Oct 26, 2019

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 26: Ihmir Smith-Marsette #6 of the Iowa Hawkeyes runs the ball after a catch in the game against the Northwestern Wildcats during the third quarter at Ryan Field on October 26, 2019 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 19: Wide receiver Nico Ragaini #89 of the Iowa Hawkeyes breaks a tackle during the second half by cornerback Simeon Smiley #29 of the Purdue Boilermakers on October 19, 2019 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Oliver Martin still doesn’t get on the field

The big storyline heading into this season was the arrival of the hometown kid, former four-star recruit Oliver Martin. The storyline for him through eight games, however, has been how he can’t get on the field.

For the first seven games though, I felt like it was a matter of the guys ahead of him just doing really well. Tyrone Tracy Jr and Nico Ragaini have both shown some really nice things and against Northwestern, Tracy had a fantastic showing.

But Brandon Smith was out, which meant fewer folks taking up the same number of snaps. As Kirk said, it’s a numbers game and that meant Oliver Martin could get a bump today.

I don’t know if it was the weather or what, but we didn’t hear from Martin all day, and that’s even as Nico Ragaini struggled throughout the day. On seven targets, Ragaini hauled in just one and one could argue he had two, if not three, drops on the day.

Yet, still no Martin.

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