RECAP: Iowa 41, Western Michigan 10

A terrible first quarter left Iowa in a hole, but adjustments on offense and defense (as well as some excellent special teams plays) helped the Hawkeyes take firm control of the game in the second and third quarters and roll to a 41-10 victory over Western Michigan. The victory came a cost, though -- TE Luke Lachey left the game in the first half after suffering a bad-looking leg injury and looks set to miss a significant amount of time.

A 40-minute lightning delay in the first quarter was far from the worst thing to happen to the Hawkeyes in the opening quarter. Iowa's first drive ended in a Cade McNamara interception and its second drive ended in a punt after Iowa picked up six yards over six plays.

Even the Iowa defense wasn't immune to poor play in the opening quarter -- despite taking over with WMU backed up to their own 4-yard line, the defense allowed a 4-play, 96-yard drive, highlighted by a 64-yard touchdown pass from Treyson Bourguet to Anthony Sambucci, giving the Broncos an early 7-0 lead.

The lightning delay hit shortly after the Broncos took a 7-0 lead in the game, but that 40-minute break didn't magically fix Iowa's problems. Iowa's first drive out of the delay, which featured four consecutive runs by Leshon Williams for 37 yards, stalled out at the WMU 23 after an end around by Kaleb Brown went for negative yards. Worse, Drew Stevens pushed a 41-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Iowa's offense finally found some success on the next drive, which was jump started by a 28-yard punt return by Cooper DeJean. The big play on the drive was a 53-yard run by Leshon Williams; Iowa finished off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass from McNamara to Diante Vines.

That drive failed to completely turn the game around for Iowa, though; Western Michigan picked up 43 yards on its first play of the ensuing drive and got into the Iowa red zone before settling for a field goal and a 10-7 lead. Despite a 28-yard run by Leshon Williams, Iowa's next drive stalled out around midfield, but that set up the sequence of events that gave Iowa control of the game.

First: a 44-yard Tory Taylor punt was downed by TJ Hall at the WMU 1-yard line.

Second: the Iowa defense forced an immediate three-and-out, with the Broncos gaining zero yards

Third: DeJean returned a short WMU punt 18 yards to the WMU 25-yard line, instantly setting the offense up right outside the red zone.

Fourth: Cade McNamara to Leshon Willaims for a 25-yard screen pass touchdown and Iowa's first lead of the game:

Iowa had one more drive before halftime and again got within scoring range before an untimely turnover -- Cade McNamara threw late into double coverage, resulting in an interception in the end zone. Iowa took a 14-10 lead into halftime, but the second half was essentially all Hawkeyes, all the time.

The breakthrough came, unsurprisingly, on defense and special teams. WMU's first drive of the second half ended after a Joe Evans sack on third down forced a punt. Iowa punted the ball back to the Broncos after five plays, and Nick Jackson picked up another sack for the Iowa defense on the first play of that ensuing WMU drive.

The WMU drive went nowhere after that botched start and they lined up to punt again. But Iowa had been getting closer and closer to blocking a punt in the first half -- and Anterio Thompson finally got his hands on the ball on WMU's second punt attempt of the third quarter. The ball bounced through the end zone for a safety and a 16-10 Iowa lead .

Kaden Wetjen added a 35-yard return on the free kick after the safety, setting up Iowa's offense at midfield. Six straight running plays later, true freshman Kamari Moulton bowled into the end zone for his first career touchdown to give Iowa a 24-10 lead.

The Iowa defense continued making life miserable for WMU's offense; on the next Bronco drive, Nick Jackson and Jay Higgins combined to hit QB Treyson Bourguet in the open field and force a fumble, which was recovered by Iowa DL Jeremiah Pittman at the WMU 17.

And three plays later: Kamari Moulton touchdown, rinse and repeat.

Iowa led 31-10 at that point and the only question was whether the Hawkeyes could crack 40 points for the first time in nearly two seasons (a 51-14 win over Maryland on October 1, 2021). It took them until the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, but the answer was... yes, thanks to Max White scoring Iowa's third rushing touchdown of the game.

White's touchdown put the finishing touches on a 41-10 Iowa victory that started in disarray but ended in domination. There were still plenty of things to work on -- the passing game was out of sync much of the game -- Cade McNamara finished 11/22 for 133 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions -- but it's certainly more enjoyable to work on things after a 31-point victory.

The running game was finally able to dominate a game -- the Hawkeyes finished with 254 yards and three touchdowns on 43 carries (5.9 yards per carry), led by big days from Leshon Williams (12 carries, 145 yards) and Kamari Moulton (8 carries, 50 yards, 2 touchdowns). And after a shaky start, the Iowa defense also took charge -- the Hawkeyes held Western Michigan to just 35 yards of total offense in the second half.

Next up: a trip to Happy Valley to take on Penn State (3-0) next Saturday night (6:30 PM CT, CBS).