Twitter accounts from Iowa fans were steaming after Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras struggled early against Illinois.

Petras was sacked on the first drive, and his passes were off target as the Hawkeyes went down 14-0 early. That didn’t help the Hawkeyes, especially with the running game not providing a boost at first.

But then Petras started to turn it up.

The first-year starter found tight end Sam LaPorta for 22-yard touchdown to cut the Illinois lead to 14-7, which started the 35-point run from Iowa that would give the team a 35-21 win. Before that, he completed an 11-yard pass to receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette on a 4th and 3.

“Definitely a slow start,” Petras said. “I think we all felt it. Obviously, I felt it, missing some easy throws and just struggling to get into a rhythm. But I felt it started with the run game. Once we started to run the ball well like that one little series we started going and offensively we were pretty good from there on.”

The redshirt sophomore finished the day 18-of-28 for 220 yards and three touchdowns as he helped lead Iowa to its fifth straight win of the season. It was his first time throwing for multiple touchdowns in a game during his career.

When it wasn’t going well at the start for the Hawkeyes, Petras talked to his wide receivers down the row on the sideline.

“I was telling them to stay with it,” Petras said. “Obviously, it can’t be fun for them when I’m struggling and just had to make sure they stayed at a high energy, kept the faith and look we got they made plays when we needed them, and we got a great rhythm going eventually. Just reminded them that it’s a four-quarter game, we’ll be alright.”

In the second half, Petras and the Hawkeyes got their grove going right away. On the Hawkeyes’ first drive of the half, Petras completed all four of his pass attempts. On the last pass attempt, he found Smith-Marsette to his right on a quick pass off of motion. Smith-Marsette then took care of the rest for a four-yard score.

Early in the fourth quarter, Petras found tight end Shaun Beyer near the corner end zone and covered by two defenders for a 16-yard score. That was Beyer’s first career touchdown.

“I’m proud of Spencer,” Tyler Linderbaum said. “He’s put a lot of work in and to finally see a few touchdown passes thrown to tight ends it was nice to see. That’s the guy in the meeting room working his butt off on the practice field working his butt off.”

With the game starting off sluggish for the Hawkeyes, head coach Kirk Ferentz said it was a learning experience for everyone on his team, including his quarterback.

“We’re playing a young quarterback right now so this will be really valuable for him,” Ferentz said.

The San Rafael, California, native has struggled at times throughout the season. He has completed 126-of-220 passes for 1,358 yards in seven games this season and had thrown for four touchdowns before the Illinois game. He has thrown for five interceptions in 2020, though three came against Northwestern.

But individual statistics aren’t the most important when the Hawkeyes are trying to win games. Instead, the Hawkeyes know to accomplish that is to work together, and Petras recognizes that with the defense allowing the offense to have good field position when it needed it against Illinois.

“I mean it’s huge,” Petras said. “Coach Ferentz talks about it all the time but at our best we are playing complimentary football, team football.”