The Iowa Hawkeyes did something rarely done under head coach Kirk Ferentz on Saturday: they played the backup quarterback for meaningful minutes. Lots of them. Starter Spencer Petras played just 11 snaps against the Northwestern Wildcats before backup Alex Padilla came in and took over.
Padilla looked sharp early, helping Iowa drive the field for their only two touchdowns of the night on consecutive drives. After a win over the Cats to push Iowa to 7-2 on the year, the question now is whether Padilla showed enough to earn the starting job heading into a rivalry game this week against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.