Analysis: Iowa fans got taste of what Alex Padilla could be against Northwestern. Bigger test will be Minnesota.

IOWA CITY — Alex Padilla is in line for his first career start.

Iowa’s depth chart released Monday listed the sophomore as the starting quarterback. Redshirt freshman Deuce Hogan was listed as the backup.

The regular starter, Spencer Petras, was nowhere to be found, suggesting he still is recovering from his shoulder injury.

Here are the first impressions of Padilla’s performance against Northwestern — his first game with significant playing time.

What went well

Iowa’s offense obviously had an extra jolt of energy during the first few drives with Padilla under center.

The first two Pedilla-led drives resulted in touchdowns, giving the Hawkeyes as many points in the first half against Northwestern as in the Purdue and Wisconsin losses combined.

Padilla showed what he could do on his feet. He rolled out to his right after play action, giving him more time to throw before darting a perfect pass to wide receiver Keagan Johnson in the second quarter.

He rolled out on three plays in the third quarter as well, completing two of three passes after extending the play.

Padilla also had good footwork in the pocket, either climbing up or backing out of the pocket as necessary to buy a few extra seconds.

At the same time, he didn’t need his feet to make plays.

All but one of his first-half completions came from the pocket.

What didn’t go as well

The spark Padilla gave the offense in the first half seemed to be extinguished in the second half. The offense did not find the end zone again and had just two drives that went 20-plus yards.

That wasn’t necessarily Padilla’s fault, though.

Iowa’s play-calling was much more conservative and what someone might expect for a team holding a massive lead. The Hawkeyes had 19 rushing attempts and 10 passing attempts after intermission.

Padilla completed six of those 10 attempts. A Northwestern defender tugged on wide receiver Charlie Jones’ jersey on one of the incompletions. On another miss to Jones, Padilla had to handle a high snap and then hit his target, but Jones dropped it.

He targeted Johnson on the other two misses, one of which came with heavy pressure from Northwestern’s defensive line.

What it means

Northwestern isn’t exactly the most challenging defense Iowa has seen this season. Opposing quarterbacks have completed 65.8 percent of passes against Northwestern’s defense, the highest rate in the Big Ten.

Padilla’s stats were much better than Petras’, but it’s hard to know exactly how healthy Petras was.

It was clear Petras desperately wanted to play. He told reporters on Tuesday he was “feeling good.” Even after Ferentz noticed Petras didn’t have the necessary “zip” on his passes, the junior still trotted out for three drives.

It begs the question of how healthy was Petras during the Wisconsin game where he took several hits or the Purdue game that ended a physically-taxing seven-game stretch. It also makes any direct Petras-to-Padilla comparisons that much harder.

Making any definitive conclusions about the quarterback position after Padilla’s performance against Northwestern would be like someone deciding they have a new favorite meal after trying a free sample at Costco.

Just like turning the corner with one’s shopping cart at Costco and seeing a friendly employee with a free sample, Padilla’s performance was a pleasant surprise for many Hawkeyes fans.

Barring a change in Petras’ status ahead of the Minnesota game, Hawkeye fans will likely get a taste of the full entree of what Padilla can bring to this offense against the Golden Gophers.

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