If the game against Michigan State left you feeling even worse about Iowa's offense, it's understandable. Iowa is down a tight end, two running backs, and now a quarterback. The second half was not pretty. Three drives that started on Michigan State's side of the field netted 29 yards and three field goals. And those were probably Iowa's best drives of the second half.

But overall it was less bad than it looked at first. Not great... but less bad.

Iowa still has a massive 3rd-and-long problem, but the game plan was aggressive, intermittently effective (especially considering the dropped passes by the wideouts) and, most importantly, Iowa didn't get overly conservative on offense when Deacon Hill went into the game. There were opportunities in the passing game, which is more than can be said for the past few games.