Nate Stanley didn’t look like he did in Iowa’s previous four games.

Before Saturday, he hadn’t made any major mistakes, and he hadn’t thrown a single interception. That changed fast.

Facing a raucous crowd on a crisp fall day in Ann Arbor, Stanley threw 3 interceptions and was sacked eight times, as Iowa’s offense couldn’t get on the board, losing to the Wolverines 10-3.

“We just need to play more consistent,” Stanley said. “We knew that they were a good defense, that they are extremely well-coached, and are great athletes at all 11 positions. We knew it was going to be tough. We knew we weren’t going to put up 644 yards like we did last week. That’s just part of the game.”

Stanley’s performance against the Wolverines proved to be his worst of the season, and a lot of it had to do him constantly getting knocked to the turf.

Along with completing 23 of his 42 passes for 260 yards, and the 3 picks, he lost 65 yards from sacks. Every time Stanley got taken down behind the line, the Hawkeyes lost an average of 8.1 yards. Because of the sacks, Iowa finished the game with 1 rushing yard.

Stanley unwillingly made a home on the Michigan Stadium turf after four different Wolverines got to him.

“We looked back, and he’d be on the ground after the play way too much,” Iowa offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs said. “I take a lot of pride in not letting people hit him, and I know I failed that today. The rest of the O-line will probably say they feel pretty crappy about that.”

Michigan found a way to overpower Iowa’s offensive line and get to Stanley with its movement and blitz packages.

When the Wolverines went after Stanley, they went after him with reckless abandon.

The Hawkeyes had trouble picking up those players blitzing and passing off others. When Michigan found momentum after getting to Stanley a couple of times, they fed off it, which was bad news for Iowa all game.

The 8 sacks Michigan posted are the most it has racked up since finishing with the same number against Ohio State in 2016.

“[Being a] career line coach, in those games, it’s not fun once it starts rolling the other way,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Sometimes it does. It’s a son of a gun to get the ball and tilt the field a little bit. They started getting some momentum, and it seems like they come hard when that happens.”

There were a few times, however, when the Hawkeyes found ways to move the ball. But every time they did, they couldn’t get points out of it.

Two of Stanley’s three picks came in Michigan’s side of the 50-yard line, and six Hawkeye drives ended in plus territory.

The loss was a rude awakening for a team coming off its best offensive performance of the season.

“I think we had drives where we were able to get it rolling,” Stanley said. “And then we made one mistake and shot ourselves in the foot.”