Iowa football: Five observations from win over Northwestern

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)
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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EVANSTON, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 26: Tyrone Tracy Jr. #3 of the Iowa Hawkeyes catches a pass in the game against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first quarter at Ryan Field on October 26, 2019 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 26: Tyrone Tracy Jr. #3 of the Iowa Hawkeyes catches a pass in the game against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first quarter at Ryan Field on October 26, 2019 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

Offensive play calling looked good

Offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz has received quite a bit of flack as of late for his play-calling, but I thought he did an excellent job this afternoon against Northwestern. No, the offense didn’t put up record-breaking numbers as they did against Middle Tennessee State, but overall, I thought the offense executed well within their means.

For the most part, Nate Stanley stayed clean, the rushing attack was picking up momentum later in the game, and I thought the third-down play-calling was much better than we have seen in the past three weeks especially with the running back draws.

Even that fourth-down play to Shaun Beyer was nicely drawn up.

There were a few drops, some bad calls against Iowa (you’ll have those), and crappy weather but those aren’t exactly things Brian Ferentz can control.

Northwestern’s team might be terrible, but their defense is a top-30 defense in the nation, and the Iowa football team hung 20 on them and could have hung more if it wasn’t for Brian’s father’s conservative nature and playing the field position game.