The Hawkeyes burst back onto the scene in week one with a dominant 40-0 win over the Illinois State Redbirds. Well, sort of. It was a tale of two halves for the new Iowa offense as the Hawkeyes managed just six first half points against the FCS Redbirds. But halftime adjustments led to scores on five of the final six drives for Tim Lester’s new-look offense.
A big part of that second half turnaround was the return of running back Kaleb Johnson, who had been suspended in the first half of the game. He was joined in the dog house by fellow running back Jaziun Patterson.