Iowa and Washington met in a key early-season Big Ten showdown on Saturday, with the Hawkeyes coming away with an emphatic win, 40-16. The win was the 200th at Iowa for Kirk Ferentz. Four Downs looks at how the Hawkeyes righted the ship against the Huskies.

Kaleb Johnson, the Big Ten's leading rusher, was held to 86 yards by #2 Ohio State last week in Columbus. The holes weren't there and the Buckeye defense swarmed over Johnson when he got the ball. The path to success for Iowa on Saturday looked like it would be through the running game -- and Kaleb Johnson and the Iowa offensive line proved that to be true in a big way.

Johnson bounced back from his quieter performance against Ohio State with another tremendous effort, ripping off 166 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries (7.9 ypc) and adding a team-high three receptions for 22 yards and another score as a receiver. 24 touches for 188 yards and three touchdowns is a pretty good day of work.

The touchdown reception was particularly impressive, showcasing a great play design, some flawless execution, and great patience and footwork by Kaleb Johnson. That TD pass was Cade McNamara's first this year since the season opener against Illinois State -- and his first touchdown pass against a Power 4 team since he arrived at Iowa ahead of the 2023 season.

But plenty of Johnson's standout play today was the result of his own brilliance. That was most evident on his long, 53-yard run on Iowa's drive shortly before halftime. That run showed Johnson's speed, shifty footwork, and outstanding change-of-direction ability.

That run came at a pivotal point as well, with Iowa up just 17-10 late in the second quarter. That lead felt especially tenuous with Washington slated to get the ball out of halftime as well. Iowa took over with 24 seconds left until halftime and likely planning to just run the clock out until the break; Johnson's big run changed those plans and ended up leading to a Drew Stevens field goal that restored Iowa's lead to two scores at 20-10.

Saturday's game ended up being Iowa's finest performance of the season and on offense it all started with the play of Kaleb Johnson, who confirmed his status as not just the Big Ten's best running back -- but one of the best in the country.

Saturday's game didn't start well for the Iowa defense -- that unit gave up back-to-back drives that went for 14 plays and 70+ yards; only a blocked field goal by Yahya Black on the opening drive kept the Huskies from having consecutive scoring drives to start the game. The Huskies were methodically moving the ball down the field behind precise passing by QB Will Rogers (9-of-11 for 64 yards in the first quarter) and effective running (five carries for 29 yards in the opening quarter).

After that tough start, though, the Iowa defense settled down. The pass rush finally got home on Washington's third drive, with an Aaron Graves strip-sack forcing the fumble that Max Llewellyn recovered. Iowa turned that into a field goal and a 10-7 lead.

The defense forced the only Washington punt of the day on the next drive, holding the Huskies to four yards on three plays behind some strong coverage and an effective QB pressure from Llewellyn on third down. Johnson scored his second touchdown of the game on Iowa's ensuing drive which gave the Hawkeyes a 17-7 lead they never looked back from.

The final straw in the game came on Washington's opening drive of the third quarter. After driving the ball 52 yards on eight plays and taking it down to the Iowa 23 yard-line, Rogers (who had been intercepted just once since September 2023) was picked off by Jermari Harris, who took the return back to midfield.

Iowa only got a field goal on the drive after that interception (pushing the lead to 23-10), but that play seemed to have a significant impact on the confidence levels for Washington's offense and Iowa's defense. The next three Washington possessions ended on turnovers on downs as the Iowa lead swelled from 23-10 to 40-10.

There was a lot of bending from the Iowa defense in this game -- the Huskies racked up 393 yards of offense -- but not a lot of breaking when it really mattered. The Huskies went 2-of-3 in the red zone (with only one touchdown) while the game was competitive and finished just 5-of-15 on third down conversions and 3-of-6 on fourth down tries. When the Iowa defense needed to get stops on Saturday, it found ways to do so.

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Special teams have been a key factor in several Iowa wins in recent year and the "third" unit came up big against the Huskies as well. Before the Iowa offense got into a rhythm -- the Hawkeyes scored on seven straight possessions in on run between the second and fourth quarters -- there was some jankiness in the early going. The Hawkeyes went three-and-out on their opening series and ended up punting on two of their first three drives.

Enter: Rhys Dakin. Iowa's latest Aussie punting phenom has predictably had some ups and downs in his freshman campaign, but today was nothing but ups. Dakin boomed his first punt of the game 55 yards and then one-upped himself with a 61-yard bomb on his second kick of the game.

The Iowa defense wasn't able to use field position to its advantage after Dakin's first punt; the Huskies drove 73 plays on 14 plays before the drive ended with a blocked field goal attempt. (Iowa special teams, coming up big again.) After Dakin's second punt, though, Iowa's defense forced a fumble three plays later, which Iowa turned into a Drew Stevens field goal.

Stevens was a difference-maker for Iowa in this game as well. Compare the kickers today: Washington's Grady Gross had his first field goal try blocked and controversially and barely converted his second field goal attempt. On the other side, Iowa's Drew Stevens went 4-of-4 on field goal tries (though, in full disclosure, one of his conversions was just as tight as Gross' made field goal), including long makes of 46 and 51 yards.

This was a strong rebound effort from Stevens, who missed a long field goal attempt against Ohio State last week. That miss aside, Stevens has looked mostly automatic in hi kicking efforts this season which gives Iowa a trusted weapon once the ball gets inside the opponent 35-yard line.

Finally, Kaden Wetjen's 37-yard punt return was another big play from the special teams unit.

That second quarter return set Iowa up at the Washington 35-yard line; five plays later, McNamara connected with Johnson for an 18-yard touchdown pass that gave Iowa a 17-7 lead.

Starting field position was a quietly big factor in Iowa's win. The Huskies average starting field position was their own 24-yard line. Iowa's average starting field position was its own 45-yard line. That kind of undersells how good Iowa's starting field position was in this game, though; the Hawkeyes started four of their 11 drives on the Washington side of the field -- and scored on all four of those drives, a total of 20 points. Putting the Iowa offense in easier positions to succeed paid off in a big way today.

Finally, it's worth highlighting the fact that Kirk Ferentz recorded his 200th win at Iowa with Saturday's victory. Only one coach has recorded more victories than Ferentz as the head coach of a Big Ten team -- Ohio State icon Woody Hayes, who had 205 wins with the Buckeyes.

Saturday's win made Iowa 4-2 on the season, with six games remaining in the regular season. If Iowa keeps winning, Ferentz will have an opportunity to tie Hayes' mark against Maryland on November 23 and a chance to move past Hayes with a win over Nebraska on November 29. There's a long way to go still to reach that point, but those marks are at least in sight at this point of the season.

Win #200 came against an unfamiliar Big Ten opponent (the 14th different Big Ten team that Iowa has defeated during Ferentz's tenure at Iowa) but it was a quintessentially Ferentz Era Iowa performance. This game was a shining example of the complimentary football that Ferentz likes to talk about, with the Hawkeyes making big plays on offense, defense, and special teams to control the game and get the win.

That it came after a dispiriting loss in Columbus also felt weirdly appropriate. Another Ferentz Era hallmark has been the ability of Iowa teams to dust themselves off from ugly losses and turn things around with a victory. There's no better example of this than Iowa's 14-13 win over #2 Michigan in 2016, just a week after being on the wrong end of a 41-14 trouncing by Penn State. This Washington team isn't going to go down as one of the Big Ten's best, but once again the Hawkeyes came up with one of their best efforts of the season the week after a humbling loss.