Halloween was frightening this year for Hawkeye fans, especially between about 4:30 and 6 p.m.

A stagnant second-half performance from Iowa’s offense that included multiple turnovers from starting quarterback Spencer Petras was a big reason why the Hawkeyes dropped their second straight game to open the season, losing 21-20 to the visiting Northwestern Wildcats.

Petras’ inconsistent play against Purdue in Week 1 was something he said he needed to improve upon. After a solid first 30 minutes for Petras in his second start for the Hawkeyes— completing 75 percent of his first-quarter passes and connecting on 14-of-25 passes in the first half for 147 yards and a touchdown— the second half was anything but solid for Petras and the Iowa offense.

“Credit to Northwestern today,” Petras said ”They played really well. It’s Big Ten football, they’re a really good team and defensively, they got us.”

They certainly ‘got’ Petras during the final two quarters of his first home start. The redshirt sophomore signal-caller threw his first three interceptions as a Hawkeye in the second half, one in the third quarter, and two in the final 6:49 of the contest.

“Those two minute drives [late in the game] they played a lot of eight-man coverages where basically they’re forcing you to earn it all the way down the field,” Petras said. “We were successful here and there but obviously not enough to get the win.”

Petras completed 12-of-25 passes in the second half for 69 yards.

Hawkeye wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who didn’t catch a pass in the team’s week one loss to Purdue, reeled in seven catches for 84 yards on the day. The senior pass catcher has faith in Petras and trusts that the young QB will learn from his second-half performance against Northwestern.

“Just keep pushing forward,” Smith Marsette said. “Everybody got those down-and-out games but he’s been the starter for two games now so it’s gonna come. He gonna get way more comfortable. He gonna have top-of-the-line games, he gonna have games like this one where the ball just don’t go his way. It’s tough right now but as he gets more comfortable, within the offense, just going out there and executing, he’s gonna get way more comfortable and the game gonna come to him.”

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The ball surely didn’t bounce Petras’ way in the fourth quarter as both of his final two interceptions bounced off the hands of sophomore tight end Sam LaPorta.

While head coach Kirk Ferentz wants Petras to improve upon his performance against the Wildcats, he doesn’t want a rough first two games to discourage his quarterback.

“[Pressing and doing too much] is something I worry about with a lot of players,” Ferentz said. “The bottom line is Spencer’s a two-game quarterback right now, so he’s a very young guy. This was not a fun experience certainly, not a great experience for him in that second half, but he’ll grow from this because he’s so conscientious and works well.

“He’ll get back up on his feet, we’ll get back to work, and I’m confident he’ll be a better player moving forward.”