Leistikow's 4 thoughts after Iowa football steamrolls NIU, 40-0

IOWA CITY — The ongoing quarterback discussion took a back seat, for a change, to other catalysts on offense in Iowa football’s season opener at Kinnick Stadium.

Hello, Tony Diaz.

And hello again, Kamari Moulton.

No. 14 (Diaz) and No. 28 (Moulton) headlined the Hawkeyes’ early offensive fireworks in what evolved into a 40-0 rout of the helpless Huskies before 69,250 sweat-soaked fans on a sweltering afternoon.

Iowa finished the game with 507 yards of offense, a new high for the three-year era of offensive coordinator Tim Lester and the most in a game for the Hawkeyes since gaining 644 in 2019 vs. Middle Tennessee State. Yes, it was Iowa's biggest offensive day in almost seven years.

“We had a huge fall camp," Moulton said of the offense. "We were working very hard, and we wanted to prove that we could be a good team.”

After one game, it’s too early to declare that Iowa has its best wide receiver since at least 2020. But the Hawkeyes featured Diaz from the get-go Sept. 5, like they know that they have something special in the Texas-Rio Grande Valley transfer.

On Iowa’s first drive of the season, Diaz caught three passes for 32 yards — an early statement from Lester. Diaz also drew a pass-interference flag in the end zone to extend the drive, which he ended with a nifty 6-yard grab from Hank Brown in the back of the south end zone to score the Hawkeyes’ first touchdown of 2026. Diaz celebrated with thousands of new friends wearing gold in the stands.

“It was electric, man. I needed it," Diaz said. "... For me, the first drive, I need a couple touches just to get out of my little shell. I mean, I was nervous all week.”

Iowa passers targeted Diaz 13 times, a sign of how heavily he'll be involved in the game plan. By halftime, Diaz already had the most yards in a game by any Iowa wide receiver since Jacob Gill (138) on Nov. 8, 2024. Iowa’s highest single-game total by a wide receiver over the last 16 games was Sam Phillips’ 75 yards vs. UMass last season.

Diaz finished with seven receptions for 84 yards, and he made a catch of the day that didn’t count — hauling in a deflected pass in the end zone while lying on his back. Unfortunately, part of his body was out of bounds so it didn't count. Diaz also rushed once for 10 yards.

Bottom line: Diaz looked like a difference-maker, backing up the hype he had been building since arriving in January. And his stats could’ve been better had Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski been more accurate. Hecklinski, in particular, had Diaz running behind the defense for what could’ve been a 38-yard touchdown in the third quarter but overthrew him on fourth-and-6.

“There's always room for improvement," Diaz said. "We'll just get that down, watch film, and come back out here next week (Sept. 12 vs. Iowa State, 6:30 p.m., NBC) and put on another show.”

After Diaz got things started, Moulton heated up behind a mauling performance from the interior of Iowa’s offensive line — Leighton Jones, Cael Winter and Kade Pieper. Moulton blasted into the end zone from 50 and 37 yards on back-to-back drives, and Iowa had a 20-0 lead with less than 11 minutes elapsed for the season.

By halftime, Moulton had shattered his career high in rushing with 155 yards. It had been almost a cruel reality that he reached 90 yards five times last season but never got past 99. This was his second career 100-yard game, with a final total of 11 carries for 183 yards.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz took time in his opening statement in his postgame news conference to praise the best game Moulton's had as a Hawkeye.

"He just looked faster, quicker, more confident than I've seen him," Ferentz said. "He's an experienced football player, one of the guys we're definitely counting on. But I thought he really looked the best we've seen him."

Moulton had been optimistic that he was set to take the next step as a running back this season, and he said finding confidence in his own ability was an offseason key. He's helped discover that with new running backs coach Jay Novell, and he sure looks better.

And that’s a good thing because his presumed co-leader in the backfield, South Dakota transfer LJ Phillips, left the game in the first quarter with what appeared to be a left-ankle injury and didn’t return. Phillips finished with four carries for five yards.

Iowa's running game mostly stalled without Moulton in there and Phillips sidelined, though Braden Jackson showed some flashes late off the bench. It's too early to say that's a concern, because offensive line coach George Barnett was shuttling in backups by the end of the first half, and second- and third-teamers played the second half (which saw no offensive touchdowns as Iowa took its foot off the gas).

Hank Brown starts; how did the quarterbacks fare?

Given what we saw on Kids Day at Kinnick three weeks earlier, a Brown start in the opener would have seemed very unlikely. Brown struggled in that open practice, and Hecklinski shined with a five-touchdown day.

But credit to Brown, the Auburn transfer, for fighting back in the competition and ultimately earning the “first at-bat,” as Lester said, for the first game. And further credit to Brown, the offense functioned at a high level on those first three drives when he was at the helm.

“I was able to have fun today and just grow in chemistry with my teammates," Brown said.

Iowa scored touchdowns on drives of 75, 66 and 70 yards on a total of 16 Brown-led snaps before Hecklinski took the reins on drive No. 4.

Brown cooled off after that, misfiring on some throws, including what could’ve been a layup touchdown to DJ Vonnahme. Hecklinski, overall, was decent but inconsistent. For the day, I'd give Brown a B and Hecklinski a C-minus.

“I was happy with the start," Brown said. "When I came back out there the second time, it was just (not) making the makeables. (I need) to make it easier on my guys, tight ends and receivers, just giving them a better opportunity, not making it a hard catch for them when they're open.”

Their final numbers: Brown went 12-of-20 for 129 yards and one touchdown. Hecklisnki was 7-for-16 for 76 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Iowa scored 26 points on drives led by Brown and seven led by Hecklinski. They each had one nice run to gain a first down, and neither was sacked.

Neither played in the fourth quarter as third-stringer Jimmy Sullivan took over for his first career snaps.

Hecklinksi deserves some grace. He had played 12 total game snaps since the fall of 2023 as a high school senior in Marietta, Georgia. He played 31 on Saturday.

“There was some nervousness going in at first. Obviously, haven't played in three years. Like this is Iowa, it’s a big program with 70,000 people here," Hecklinski said. "I just need to slow down on my reads. I was too quick on some things, and I gotta put some balls in better places.”

Ferentz did not say how the quarterback situation would be handled going forward, but it's likely that they'll continue to rotate. That'd be good, because we didn't see either guy deliver an overwhelming performance.

Iowa’s red-zone offense sorely missed Mark Gronowski, a touchdown machine inside the 5-yard line a year ago at quarterback.

Iowa had a first-and-goal from NIU’s 1 in the third quarter and failed to score. Xavier Williams got stuffed. Hecklinski threw incomplete across his body on an ill-advised throw. Williams got stuffed again. Then Hecklinski was intercepted on an end-zone attempt, Iowa’s first turnover of 2026. Hecklinski said the only reason he threw that ball was because it was fourth down, which was the right idea ... better to give it a chance than take a fourth-down sack.

"Every week you have things to work on, but probably short-yardage and goal line would be at the top right now," Ferentz said. "You have to address that right away."

A really encouraging day for Iowa’s defense

Deshaun Lee officially got credit for Iowa’s first turnover on defense this season, but give the assist to the swarming mentality of Phil Parker’s defense.

Northern Illinois opened its fourth possession at its own 34 early in the second quarter after Caden Buhr missed a 53-yard field goal. Quarterback Jalen Macon fled to his right, taking consistent hits and spinning until some combination of Zach Lutmer, Jayden Montgomery, Jacob Wallace and Drew Campbell got him (and his helmet) to the ground.

Because the helmet came off, Macon had to leave for one play. That brought in Taron Dickens, the Western Carolina transfer, into the game. Dickens’ first pass at NIU was intercepted by Lee over the middle, and he returned the theft 17 yards into Huskies territory.

A quick word about Lee after his fourth career interception: He was terrific, backing up Ferentz’s assertion that he was on a TJ Hall trajectory in his final year. Lee is off to a good start as Iowa’s No. 1 cornerback.

“Anytime as a defensive back, you get your hands on the ball, that’s a great moment," Lee said.

Iowa’s defense was as good as you could hope, holding Northern Illinois without a first down and only 23 yards on its first nine possessions. The Huskies' first first down of the game came with 4:10 left in the third quarter on an iffy pass-interference flag against Rashad Godfrey Jr.

Northern Illinois didn't cross 100 yards for the game until the final 75 seconds. The Huskies were sacked six times and gained seven first downs. Of Iowa’s credited sacks, 1½ went to Joseph Anderson, one apiece to Chima Chineke and Julian Manson and a half-sack each to Bryce Hawthorne, Drew Campbell, Landyn Van Kekerix, Preston Ries and Khamari Brown. They helped record the 19th shutout of the 28-year Ferentz era.

“Honestly it was the highlight of my day seeing those young guys get in there and making plays," Hawthorne said. "Like, how could it not put a smile on your face? ... That is the standard. That's what we want, and that's what we need to uphold, and that's what we did uphold.”

A slow start, then a bang on special teams

Walk-on Caden Buhr's first-ever extra-point attempt of college sailed wide right. It wasn't even close. It was an unfortunate start in his debut after winning the Hawkeyes' placekicker job over Eli Ozick.

Buhr also missed his first field-goal attempt as a Hawkeye, though it was from 53 yards ... and he did have the distance but was wide right again.

Buhr rallied to knock home field goals of 45 and 34 yards and the remainder of his PATs.

Kick-coverage wise, Iowa was tremendous as always. True freshman Darion Jones delivered a wallop of a hit to get the day started on that front. Boston Everitt looked pretty good at punter (three boots for a 43.7-yard average) and was praised by Ferentz.

And then at punt return? More of the same.

We surprisingly didn't see Zach Lutmer as the return man, as the nod instead went to Reece Vander Zee in the first half then Evan James in the second half. And with former special-teams coordinator LeVar Woods on hand (watching his son, Mason, after Woods and Michigan State knocked off Toledo, 30-20, on Friday night), James did Iowa special teams proud with an electric 77-yard punt-return touchdown to push Iowa's lead to 40-0 late in the third quarter.

Overall, it was a solid start for new special-teams coordinator Chris Polizzi. The blocking on James' speedy punt return looked like what we have come to expect from Hawkeye special teams.

Between offense, defense and special teams, it was a day Ferentz felt good about.

"Pleased about the outcome and then certainly proud of the team," Ferentz said. "I think they really did a good job today. Certainly showed up and played hard and they competed.

"The bigger picture: I thought they did a good job with the preparation all week, and that showed up today."

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