Iowa football: Five observations in Senior Day win over Illinois

Officiating was consistently bad

Credit goes to Illinois who came out in this game ready to throw some punches at the Iowa football team. Throughout the game, they were playing aggressive and physical football and playing to the whistle (and more than a few times through the whistle).

I hate to complain about officiating, but these referees let pretty much anything go in the Iowa football team’s win over Illinois except for a bogus pass interference call on Matt Hankins on the sideline in the second half.

There was the questionable hit on Nate Stanley after he got the ball out quickly on a well-timed Illinois blitz. There was all the no-call for pass interference with Tyrone Tracy Jr getting mugged in the end zone, and there were more than a few hits on a Hawkeye after going out of bounds including when Ihmir Smith-Marsette returned a punt and got slammed to the ground well after being out of bounds.

Those lack of calls were certainly frustrating to watch on the television, but it was all worth it when somehow the officiating crew decided to not call targeting on the Iowa football team’s star safety Geno Stone when he drilled Brandon Peters in the head and knocked him out of the game. Not only would Stone have been removed from the game, but he would have been suspended from the first half of next week’s contest too.

If dealing with the crap before that was the payment necessary to not get the call on Stone, I’ll take it. He’s an instrumental and irreplaceable part of the Iowa football team’s defense.