Iowa Football Report Card: Honor Roll Hawks After Washington Romp

The Iowa Hawkeyes received their first bad marks last week against Ohio State and were sent back to the library to study some more and hit the books harder. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa's head coach, who doubles as the professor of this class, got Iowa right against Washington.

Iowa's 41-24 domination of the Washington Huskies on the road was a statement from the Hawkeyes. Iowa handled all of the adversity, from travel to a short week to a backup quarterback, and put together a strong performance, acing this week's test.

Offense

Offensive Grade: A

This was a complete performance from Iowa offensively. Led by Jeremy Hecklinski, who went 14-for-19 for 202 yards and three touchdowns, it was all working for the Hawkeyes. He spread the ball around to Reece Vander Zee, DJ Vonnahme, and Tony Diaz. It was great quarterback play.

On the ground, Kamari Moulton rumbled through the Seattle night for 208 yards and two scores, averaging eight yards per carry. The offensive line moved bodies, creating huge holes for him, but he has an edge and physicality to his game, which was a fun sight to see.

RVZ with the set up 🎯@reece_vanderzee x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/TVzscLWMeY
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) October 10, 2026

Defense

Defensive Grade: B

The defense is a quirky one to grade. Before we could blink, Iowa's offense was jumping all over the Huskies, forcing them to drop back and sling it. Against Demond Williams Jr., before he left with an injury, Iowa looked elite. Washington couldn't move the ball at all.

Elijah Brown entered the game for Washington, and he sort of had his way marching down the field. Now, yes, Iowa was up big and dropped into a shell coverage, trading completions for clock, but it got a little interesting at times.

The best part of the defense was the pressure that came all night long from the front seven. Phil Parker was feeling it, dialing up blitzes and stunts, on the way to six sacks, four of which came from Cam Buffington and Preston Ries.

Special Teams

Special Teams Grade: A

Caden Buhr was great, going 2-for-2 in the first quarter, including a 51-yard field goal to open up the scoring. Boston Everitt dropped three of his four punts inside the 20 to continue his strong year.

What stood out to me was how aggressive and fast Iowa's kickoff coverage unit played. They were out there a lot with all of Iowa's scoring, and this group was flying to the ball, making big hits. It was an attitude that emanated through the rest of Iowa's team.

My only mark on this unit was Evan James muffing a punt. Iowa did recover, and it was raining, so I do have some grace here, especially considering he had a 30-yard punt return to set up Iowa's offense.

First on the board. @CadenBuhr x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/NBY0xMEsna
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) October 10, 2026

Coaching

Coaching Grade: A+

This was Kirk Ferentz's finest work of the year. This was more impressive to me than winning at Michigan. Iowa got punched in the mouth last weekend, and had to come to Washington on short rest.

There was every excuse in the book for Iowa to have a lackadaisical performance, yet Ferentz had Iowa more than ready to go. This performance oozed excellent coaching all around.

Offensively, Tim Lester was great. He opened it up for Jeremy Hecklinski and dialed up the play-action touchdown passes at the perfect times. He had it cooking on offense.

Defensively, Phil Parker put this game to bed early with pressure and a great game plan against the Huskies, before they were forced to throw it every down.

Got it done in the PNW. pic.twitter.com/9WXBuNIsM7
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) October 10, 2026

Overall

Overall Grade: A

I really don't think it's crazy or drastic to say that this is by far Iowa's best performance of the year. It's one of the better performances in recent memory. The Hawkeyes exercised some West Coast demons, which I know had to feel good for Kirk Ferentz.

This team is really in this thing. I mean it. Iowa is 5-1 and heading into a much-needed bye week. The Hawkeyes navigated Michigan, Ohio State, and Washington by going 2-1. That was the goal all along. The Iowa Hawkeyes control their College Football Playoff destiny.

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