Coming off a huge win over the Michigan Wolverines, the Washington Huskies lost any momentum they might’ve had when they entered Kinnick Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Jedd Fisch’s team was dismantled in every sense of the word by their Big Ten opponents, walking out battered and bruised after being handed a 40-16 loss in win No. 200 for coach Kirk Ferentz, where everything went wrong for the Huskies.
Even though the Huskies outgained the Hawkeyes 393-328, quarterback Will Rogers struggled to find any sort of rhythm since he was under pressure throughout the game. He threw for just 195 yards and a touchdown and was sacked four times, fumbled twice, lost one, and threw his second interception of the season.
Defensively, star running back Kaleb Johnson looked like he could do whatever he wanted throughout the day, racking up 188 total yards and 3 touchdowns, two on the ground and one receiving. The Huskies also gave up 2 touchdowns to quarterback Cade McNamara, who hadn’t thrown a touchdown against a Power 4 opponent since the 2021 Big Ten championship game, when he was Michigan’s starter in a 42-3 win over Iowa.
Special teams continued to be a major weakness for the Huskies too, as kicker Grady Gross missed his seventh field goal of the season and coordinator Jordan Paopao’s unit struggled in coverage, giving Iowa a short field to work with on multiple occasions.