By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – This game played out exactly as it should have with the team from the power conference dismantling its vastly inferior FCS opponent from just up the road.

No. 18 Iowa demolished Northern Iowa 55-0 on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa led 42-0 at halftime, had a whopping 418 yards in the first half – 217 rushing and 201 passing – and finished the game with 640 yards, including 422 on the ground.

Iowa also had three players rush for at least 100 yards in a game for the first time since 1983 against Minnesota, led by third-team Xavier Williams with 156 yards and three touchdowns on just six carries.

Fifth-team running back Braeden Jackson, a former walk-on, rushed for 125 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries, while fourth-team running back Nathan McNeil finished with 111 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Iowa played without starting running back Kamari Moulton and No. 2 running back LJ Phillips due to injuries, but it didn’t matter as the Iowa offensive line dominated in the trenches.

“We’re deep, we’re very, very deep,” Xavier Williams said of the running back position. “I think we have the best (running back) room in the Big Ten, and we just have that next-man-in mentality.”

Iowa starting quarterback Hank Brown completed all 12 of his passes in the first half for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He did not play in the second half, marking the second time in the first three games this season that Brown sat for the entire second half.

The first time came in the 40-0 victory over Northern Illinois in the season opener.

Brown has been in a hotly contested battle for the starting position with Jeremy Hecklinski, but Brown now appears to have created some separation.

“Hank had a really nice game out there,” said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. “Tough to do much better than he did.”

Hecklinski replaced Brown late in the second quarter and would go on to complete 6-of-11 passes for 65 yards.

The 42 points scored by Iowa in the first half marked the first time since the Nebraska game in 2017 that Iowa scored 42 points in a half. The Hawkeyes scored 42 points in the second half against Nebraska.

“There wasn’t a whole lot that we did,” said Northern Iowa head coach Todd Stepsis. “We were embarrassed today. But at the same time, we knew we had a tall task in front of us.”

The Iowa defense, which has eight new starters, also recorded its second shutout in three games while holding Northern Iowa to jsut 155 yards.

This mismatch started in the trenches as Iowa averaged 10.0 yards per play, while the Panthers averaged 2.7 yards.

Stepsis knew what his team faced on Saturday after watching Iowa on film.

“That was one of the best teams I’ve seen on film,” Stepsis said of Iowa. “I thought, fundamentally, in all three phases, there’s a reason why they’re a top team in the country in the top conference right now.

“We needed to come out more aggressive and we didn’t.”

Iowa marched 75 yards on eight plays for a touchdown on its opening possession of the game, and then drove 78 yards for a touchdown on its second possession of the game.

Iowa scored its third touchdown of the game just a few minutes later and led 21-0 after the first quarter.

By that point, the game was all but decided as it became abundantly clear that Northern Iowa had no answers for Iowa on either side of the ball.

Iowa has now won 18 straight games against the Panthers, and with most of the games not even competitive.

Northern Iowa’s only victory in the series came in the very first meeting between the two teams in 1898 as the Panthers won, 11-5, in Iowa City.

Kirk Ferentz emptied his bench in the second half, while Kinnick Stadium also started to empty out in the second half.

The Hawkeyes improved to 3-0, while Northern Iowa fell to 1-2.

In addition to their two lopsided wins over Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes also survived a scare against Iowa State in game two, winning 16-13 on a late field goal by Caden Buhr a week ago.

Iowa has finished the nonconference portion of its schedule and now comes Big Ten play, starting with a game against Michigan next Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“We definitely have stuff to clean up,” Xavier Williams said. “But we’re definitely going to enjoy the win. It felt really good.”

As for Northern Iowa, it will host Illinois State next Saturday in a game that should be far more winnable than Saturday’s beat-down.

Iowa and Northern Iowa will play again in 2029, and no disrespect to the Panthers, but maybe that should be the final meeting between the two teams because what transpired on Saturday was a total mismatch.

Northern Iowa being an instate school seems to be the biggest reason this series has withstood the test of time.

It was hard not to feel sorry for the Northern Iowa players as Iowa poured it on in the first half.

But in fairness to the Northern Iowa players, they faced an impossible task on Saturday from a talent and depth standpoint as they just didn’t have enough firepower to compete against a nationally ranked opponent from a power conference.

Northern Iowa did receive $700,000 for playing the Hawkeyes, so that will help to soften the blow from being humiliated.

But in the spirit of fair play, both schools should maybe consider stopping this series.

Northern Iowa 0 0 0 0 – 

Iowa 21 21 7 6 – 55

I – Nathan McNeil 2 run (Caden Buhr kick)

I – Braeden Jackson 24 pass from Hank Brown (Buhr kick)

I – Xavier Williams 48 run (Buhr kick)

I – Addison Ostrenga 14 pass from Brown (Buhr kick)

I – Xavier Williams 16 run (Buhr kick)

I – McNeil 12 run (Buhr kick)

I – Xavier Williams 37 run (Buhr kick)

I – Braeden Jackson 62 run (kick blocked)