Hawkeye Football: The Morning After Iowa State vs Iowa

The Cyclones came to Kinnick hoping to spoil Iowa 's massive recruiting weekend, but in a traditional Cy-Hawk fashion, Iowa survived on a game winning field goal and got to hoist the trophy to take it back home to its rightful resting place.

I was fuming at the end of this game and didn't feel a whole lot better when I woke up this morning. It's only Week 2, and yet somehow ISU has cobbled together a group of portal transfers to take this one down to the wire. Are they really that good, or is Iowa possibly bad? With that thought in mind, I am going to go with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Only in reverse order.

Iowa looked unimaginative on offense and first down in particular. On week 1 we saw multiple passes on first down and creativity in the offense like there hasn't been in years. It felt like Iowa regressed in this game.

On punt returns, Reece Vander Zee either called fair catches or let the ball roll. Indeed, it wasn't until the fourth quarter that Reece actually returned a punt (and there were a lot of punts!). We didn't see Evan James field a punt return until late in the game. This is better than punting is winning, because not attempting to return punts is even better!

Iowa attempted multiple quarterback sneaks. They did not work. Someone needs to tell the coaching staff that Mark Gronwski graduated last year.

Iowa had a number of issues in the red zone for week 1. Week 2, we don't know if it has been solved, because they hardly ever got there.

Iowa rushing averaged 3.2 yards per carry and had 93 yards total rushing. It sure didn't feel good. Perhaps ISU's group of portal transfers is really that good in Week 2, but I have serious doubts.

ISU quarterback Jaylen Raynor wasn't pressured that much and was never sacked, against an ISU offensive line that wasn't know for being a strength of their team.

Cam Buffington had 10 tackles at halftime, and 15 total tackles to end the game, and this was just his second start ever (in Week 2). Jayden Montgomery and Jaylen Watson performed quite well, as did the linebackers in general. During fall camp the coaching staff said they felt this group was deep with seven or eight guys who they expected would contribute.

Other than quarterback sneaks, Brown did a decent job of rushing the football and scored a touchdown in the second quarter on an end around to the left. He also stayed calm when under pressure and delivered multiple strikes as the pocket began to collapse.

Okay, this isn't Iowa football , but after OSU was leading #4 Texas 23 – 3 in the third quarter, they ended up losing 23 – 24. I hate OSU, and while I was fuming after the Iowa game, this news made me sleep better last night.

Unlike Iowa's offense, I decided to change it up and add an element of surprise, so let's talk about the real hero of this game! Caden Buhr, a walk-on who got his first ever start in Week 1, nailed all three field goals perfectly through the middle, scored 10 of Iowa's 16 points, and kicked the game winning field goal with 19 seconds remaining. Give that man a scholarship!