Iowa football rewind: Deacon Hill’s, ‘shaky’ start, silver lining

IOWA CITY — Iowa football’s 20-14 win over Purdue was not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing.

“It was hard-fought,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Obviously Big Ten play, it's going to be that way each and every week, and we certainly anticipated that.”

But at the end of the day, Iowa found a way to win and improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play.

It marks the second time in the last five seasons where Iowa won at least five of its first six games. (The other time was Iowa’s 6-0 start in 2021.)

Here are some observations after re-watching the game:

Deacon Hill’s 'shaky’ performance (and silver lining)

Deacon Hill’s 6-for-21 day against Purdue, which equates to a 28.6 percent completion rate, will hardly excite the fan base.

For perspective, quarterbacks from the other six teams in the offensively-limited Big Ten West have completed 60.6 percent of passes this season.

Hill described his performance as “shaky,” partly because of feeling “a little jittery” in the first half of his first career start. (After going 3-for-14 in the first half, he was 3-for-7 in the second half.)

Roughly nine of Hill’s 21 throws — 42.9 percent — were in spots where Iowa’s receivers could realistically make a play.

He seemed to find a rhythm at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half when he went 4-of-6, with one incompletion coming on an Erick All drop and the other happening as he was hit while throwing.

But then the sophomore was significantly off target with four of his last five passes.

That included a first-and-goal pass in the third quarter where the Peacock commentators speculated it was a screen pass to left tackle Mason Richman because Hill’s throw was nowhere near any of the five eligible receivers on the field.

Two play later, Hill tried forcing a pass to wide receiver Diante Vines on a slant route — a pass that hit a Purdue defender in the hands — rather than throwing to wide-open Leshon Williams on a wheel route.

There was a silver lining for Hill, though, on his final throw of the game.

It was a third-and-2 on the Purdue 22-yard line. Iowa was in 14 personnel, meaning one running back and four tight ends were on the field.

All, who already caught four of Hill’s five completions at that point, was in the fullback spot. The offense’s goal was to sell an inside-zone run play in the short-yardage situation.

“A play that we’ve ran before that we put on film,” All said.

Instead, All went on a wheel route on the play-action pass. Purdue linebacker Yanni Karlaftis could not keep up with All in man coverage, and defensive back Markevious Brown did not have enough time to catch up once he realized what was happening. Most importantly, Hill’s pass was on target to All near the goal line for a 22-yard touchdown.

“It was a great, huge momentum boost for our team,” Hill said.

Logan Lee’s momentum-shifting sack

Momentum seemed to be shifting back to Purdue later in the fourth quarter.

The Boilermakers cut their deficit to six points on a six-play, 74-yard drive with about three minutes remaining. Fifty-four seconds later, they had the ball again after a quick Iowa three-and-out with the chance to potentially take the lead.

Then defensive tackle Logan Lee’s second sack of the day shifted the momentum right back to the Hawkeyes.

It was the first play of the drive, which started at the Purdue 25-yard line. Iowa had a four-man rush. Lee and defensive end Joe Evans called a stunt move. Lee attacked the “B” gap while Evans went behind Lee to attack inside.

The stunt worked splendidly. With Purdue left tackle Mahamane Moussa struggling to pick up Lee, it essentially created a two-on-one situation for left guard Preston Nichols. Purdue quarterback Hudson Card did not see Lee coming on his blind side, leading to the quick sack.

More news on Noah Shannon situation on the way?

The NCAA will reconsider its gambling reinstatement rules later this month, the collegiate sports governing body announced last week. Iowa had been waiting to hear back from the NCAA on whether defensive lineman Noah Shannon can practice in the meantime.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say we have encouraging news, but I think we have encouraging news,” Ferentz said. “I’ll verify that Tuesday.”

The NCAA said a final decision will “occur at the end of October.” If Shannon can practice during the re-examination process, that would theoretically give him four weeks to get up to speed before the Nov. 4 game against Northwestern.

“I wish everything had happened sooner in this whole scenario,” Ferentz said. “If the world were perfect, it would have. But any encouraging news is a good thing. … We’re optimistic.”

If/when Shannon returns, the two-time all-Big Ten honorable mention would provide an obvious boost to the defensive line.

“Any time you get a guy back with his experience and the quality of person he is, his leadership, that’s always a plus,” Ferentz said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com