The Iowa offense made progress against Rutgers. Now Vegas is calling for more.

The Iowa Hawkeyes did something remarkable on Saturday. After weeks and weeks of abysmal offensive performance, the Hawkeyes looked serviceable on the offensive side of the ball in a 22-0 win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. For the first time in 32 games, Iowa topped 400 yards in total offense and avoided a three-and-out for the entirety of the game.

It was… fun!

Obviously, 22 points and 400 yards are not setting the world on fire and there are dozens and dozens of schools across the country that do that regularly. But it was a massive improvement from the nation’s worst offense and in a season like this, it truly felt like a dominant performance.

Starting QB Deacon Hill finished the day 20 of 31 passing (65% completion percentage!) for a career-high 223 yards. Of course, he had a brutal goalline interception at the end of the first half to keep at least three points of the board, but we saw progress. Over the last two weeks, Hill has completed 65% of his passes and is averaging 6.3 yards per attempt. That’s up from an abysmal 38% and 4.4 yards per attempt through the first seven games of the season. His 54-yard completion to tight end Zach Ortwerth was the longest passing play by the Hawkeyes since Spencer Petras his Sam LaPorta for 58 yards in the first quarter against Minnesota a season ago.

Beyond Hill, we finally saw offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz find ways to get OSU transfer wide receiver Kaleb Brown involved in the offense. Brown, fresh off his huge catch to close out the win over Northwestern, hauled in three catches while totaling 57 yards from scrimmage and his first career touchdown. He brings speed and athleticism sorely missing from the position group and Brian made an effort to get him the ball in space.

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