It looked like Iowa’s same old offense, the same old start to a game, the same old performance against a ranked team after only one play.

Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley overthrew wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette on a deep ball to the right side of the field, taking away what could have been six points and an early lead over No. 7 Minnesota.

Despite missing that pass, the Hawkeyes would put together some of their best offense of the season on their opening drive, end Minnesota’s perfect season by a score of 23-19, and keep Floyd of Rosedale in Iowa City.

“We did a great job of controlling the first half, pretty much in all areas,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Our offense really did a great job with three of the four possessions — good balance, good productivity, getting down and finishing drives with touchdowns.”

No drive was more important than the first.

After the incomplete pass intended for Smith-Marsette, Iowa turned to freshman running back Tyler Goodson, who started the first game of his career against the Gophers.

After a 3-yard rush, Goodson broke off a 26-yard scamper on a toss to the left following a fake handoff to fullback Brady Ross.

Goodson finished with 94 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and that first big run jump-started an offense that has struggled to pick up steam in recent weeks.

“It was a play that we have had in our arsenal from early on in camp, and they gave us the look to run it,” Stanley said. “He took that, made a great play, and that kind of set the tone for him for the whole game.”

Putting up a 94-yard performance in a player’s first start can do wonders for a freshman, and it’s no different for Goodson. That was apparent after only one drive.

“Coming in as a freshman, you don’t have confidence because you don’t know what the game is like,” Goodson said in a release. “The speed is totally different, so you have to get used to that. Once the game slows down, then you start progressing as a player, and that’s when your confidence gets going.”

After Goodson ran for one more yard on the next play, Stanley tossed another incomplete pass to Smith-Marsette, overthrowing his speedy wideout on what would have been another touchdown.

Stanley bounced back from his mistake with the perfect mentality, though.

On third down, he scrambled for eight yards to set up a fourth-and-1. From there, he fired a pass to Nate Wieting over the middle for an 11-yard gain and a fresh set of downs. One play later, he found Nico Ragaini, who made a defender miss before strolling into the end zone for a 21-yard score and a 6-0 lead.

“Even though those two to Ihmir were a little bit overthrown or weren’t caught, we were still ready to come back,” Offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs said. “We wanted more. It was nice getting that aggressive style.”

But the drive wouldn’t have culminated with the score by Ragaini — Iowa’s first touchdown on its opening drive since its win over Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 28 — if the receiver didn’t push himself.

“To be honest, usually I don’t get the ball on that play, so sometimes in practice I’m a little lazy, [and] I don’t really run it hard,” Ragaini said. “But today, something told me to run it hard. I ran it hard, and Stanley threw me the ball. So, I’m pretty happy I went hard on that play.”

The drive helped Iowa to 143 yards and a 13-0 lead after one quarter. Soon after, it would become a 20-6 lead by halftime, which turned into a 23-19 victory.

If the Hawkeyes didn’t find a way to roll on the first drive, it’s very possible the rest of the game would have taken a different direction.

But it didn’t. Instead, Iowa played some of its best football of the season, and a few hours later, a top-10 team fell, and Kinnick was stormed.

“We were just going out there and doing whatever we wanted [on the first drive],” Smith-Marsette said. “We pushed them guys around up front, and then out wide, we was doing whatever we wanted out there, too. That first drive was really successful, and that’s just how we want to come out and play every game from here on out.”