By Hawk Fanatic

Remember that so-called brutal three-game stretch to start Big Ten play on the Iowa’s football team’s 2026 schedule?

The three games against Michigan on the road, at home against Ohio State and at Washington that many assumed would knock Iowa out of playoff contention midway through the regular season.

Well, Iowa just finished 2-1 in those three games with Friday’s 41-24 victory over Washington in Seattle and now enters its bye week with records of 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, and with growing momentum.

It is widely believed that it’ll take at least a 10-2 record to make the 12-team playoff field, so Iowa still is firmly in the playoff hunt with six games left on the schedule that are all winnable.

“We’re a pretty young team still experience wise,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said on the FOX post-game interview. “So this is six games now. Every week of gained experience is so valuable.”

Jeremy Hecklinski made his first career start as a college quarterback for Iowa in Friday’s game, and though the Wake Forest transfer benefitted from having a running game that gained 263 yards, and from having a Washington defense that looked lost and confused in pass coverage, Hecklinski also did his part, completing 14-of-19 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns while also protecting the football.

Hecklinski did not throw an incomplete pass after the first quarter.

He also completed all five of his passes in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s 31-14 loss to Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium after replacing the injured Hank Brown.

“Jeremy has been practicing really well, and then last week he had a series and did a good job there, too,” Kirk Ferentz said. “So we’re not surprised. He just played well.

“I thought our team played well, a little sloppy in the second half, but I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Iowa running back Kamari Moulton rushed for a career-high 208 yards and scored two touchdowns, helping to give Kirk Ferentz a rare win on the West Coast.

The Iowa defense also held Washington to a minus-3 rushing yards.

This marks the first time this season that Iowa has rushed for over 100 yards against a power-conference opponent.

Iowa pounced on the Huskies right out of the gate, leading 13-0 after the first quarter and 27-3 at halftime.

It was Washington’s largest halftime deficit at home since 2010.

The same running games that was held to fewer than 100 rushing yards against Iowa State (93), Michigan (58) and Ohio State (39) ran wild against the Huskies in the first half, gaining 163 yards in the first two quarters, including 141 yards by Moulton.

Washington entered Friday’s game in Seattle without its top three running backs due to injury, and then to make matters worse, quarterback Demond Williams was injured late in the second quarter.

Williams is the heart, soul, legs and arms of the Washington offense, so it was easy to assume that the Husky offense would struggle even more without him.

But that wasn’t the case early on as backup quarterback Elijah Brown helped to ignite Washington’s passing attack in the third quarter, throwing two touchdown passes.

The Huskies took the opening kick of the third quarter and marched 75 yards on eight plays for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to 27-10 with 11 minutes, 10 seconds left in the third quarter.

But then Iowa answered right back with a touchdown on its first possession of the third quarter as Hecklinski connected with wide receiver Reece Vander Zee on an eight-yard scoring strike with 7:05 remaining in the quarter.

At that point, Iowa had 202 rushing yards and it was clear that Washington had no answer for Iowa’s ground game, while the Huskey pass defense was repeatedly out of position.

Hecklinski also threw touchdown passes to tight end DJ Vonnahme in the second quarter from 20 and 24 yards.

Vonnahme was wide open on both scoring strikes as was Vander Zee on his touchdown catch.

Washington scored a touchdown on the final play of the game, cutting the deficit to 17 points, but the game wasn’t as close as the final score would suggest.

Hank Brown, who started the first five games before injuring his shoulder against Ohio State last Saturday, was available for Friday’s game in an emergency.

But it became apparent right away that Brown wouldn’t be needed as Washington never posed much of a threat.

Brown now has two weeks to recover from his shoulder injury, but he also might have to fight for his job after what Hecklinski and the offense accomplished on Friday.

Brown and Hecklinski were listed as the co-starters throughout preseason practice and through the first two games, though Brown started the first five games and played the entire game against both Iowa State and Michigan.

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Iowa 13 14 7 7 – 41

Washington 0 3 15 6 – 24

I – Caden Buhr 51 FG

I – Buhr 27 FG

I – Kamari Moulton 56 run (Buhr kick)

I – DJ Vonnahme 21 pass from Jeremy Hecklinski (Buhr kick)

I – Vonnahme 24 pass from Hecklinski (Buhr kick)

W – Tyler Robles  30 FG

W – Chris Lawson 10 pass from Elijah Brown (Robles kick)

I – Reece Vander Zee 8 pass from Hecklinski (Buhr kick)

W – Dezman Roebuck 2 pass from Brown (Lason pass from Brown)

I – Moulton 3 run (Buhr kick)

W – Mason James 3 pass from Brown