Wind grounds Hawkeye passing game.

It’s a windy day here at Kinnick stadium and it showed in the first quarter of Saturday’s football game. The wind was at 30 mph at kick off and that showed in the Hawkeyes game plan in the first half.

Unlike the past two games where Iowa had a 50-50 run to pass ratio, this game, the Hawkeyes have emphasized the ground game.

So far in this one, they’ve gone even more old school than usual, with Nate Stanley handing it off 29 times and throwing it just 15 times.

It’s been a winning formula for Iowa up until now, as it has 136 rushing yards and have even had success running on third and long, with Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Stanley each having 10-plus yard rushes on third-and-longs.

While the running game has been successful early on, the same cannot be said of the passing game.

Whether its been the wind or some other unforeseen force, Stanley struggled in the first half of this football game, going 7-15 with 68 yards and a pick.

However, Stanley threw a touchdown in the final seconds of the half to Brandon Smith – Smith’s first of his career – which may serve as a confidence booster heading into the second half.

Overall, it was a pretty good half for the Hawkeye offense, and, even though its windy here at Kinnick, at least its not snowing.

– Jordan Zuniga

Maryland’s offense has no momentum.

Maryland is a team that loves to run the ball, averaging nearly 250 yards on the ground per game.

For the Terrapins to have a shot against the Hawkeyes, their best bet would be to control the time of possession and work the run game. Neither of those things have happened.

It helps that Iowa’s offense has dominated in T.O.P., but Iowa’s defense is doing its part to keep the Maryland offense off the field. In the first quarter, Maryland ran five plays and had the ball for 1:20. Hard to do much with that.

Ty Johnson is Maryland’s best offensive weapon, hands down. Through two quarters, he doesn’t have a single rush. He doesn’t have a reception, either. His only stat of the game is a 20-yard kickoff return, and that’s a team-high for all-purpose yards – that shows you how well Iowa’s defense has played.

Maryland’s single sustained drive of the game came in the second quarter. The Terrapins drove 28 yards and had crossed into Hawkeye territory when quarterback Kasim Hill threw a pick to Amani Hooker, killing that possession. Aside from that drive, Maryland has 17 yards of offense (46 total).

– Adam Hensley

Twitter Reacts to Brandon Smith’s grab

Another week, another excellent catch by Brandon Smith.

This time, the receiver snagged a pass with one hand while being held as Stanley threw a pass into the end zone on Iowa’s final offensive play of the half (props to Stanley as well, that pass was absolutely on the money).