By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – What was one of Tim Lester’s best games as the Iowa football team’s offensive coordinator and play caller actually got off to sort of a dubious start against Wisconsin on Saturday.

Iowa marched all the way down to the Badger six-yard line on its opening possession of the game, but then settled for a 24-yard field goal by Caden Buhr.

Iowa had a 2nd-and-2 on the Wisconsin six after tight end DJ Vonnahme had rushed for eight yards.

Lester then called two straight running plays into the interior of Wisconsin’s defense, but each run by L.J. Phillips Jr. and Braeden Jackson gained zero yards.

And then when Buhr trotted on to the field, he was greeted by a chorus of boos, but they weren’t for him.

It seems more likely that the boos were for the decision to settle for a field goal after having run two straight running plays up the middle that gained nothing.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz made the decision to kick the field goal, but Lester calls the plays on offense, so the two running plays into the thick of Wisconsin’s defense were on Lester.

Fans, of course, had hindsight on their side when they voiced their displeasure.

But their frustration would soon turn to jubilation as Iowa would go on to cruise to a 30-0 victory at Kinnick Stadium, thanks partly to Lester’s creative play calling.

Iowa was coming off a 13-10 loss at Minnesota last Saturday, a game in which the Hawkeyes committed three turnovers and rushed for fewer than 100 yards.

So the early boos could have been partly a hangover from the Minnesota loss.

Whether it was or not, the mood would change quickly as Lester suddenly started pushing all the right buttons, while quarterback Hank Brown would go on to have a terrific first half, completing 16-of-18 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns.

And in fairness to Lester, Iowa drove 67 yards on its opening possession.

Lester used running plays with Vonnahme and with wide receiver Tony Diaz to create some misdirection and separation, and the Badgers seemed unprepared for it.

From the beginning, it was obvious that getting the ball to the 5-foot-11, 184-pound Diaz was a priority against the Badgers, and it should be a priority in every game.

Diaz has shown multiple times that he can make plays when given the ball in space, while Vonnahme has been a reliable playmaker since his breakout season a year ago.

Third-year receiver Reece Vander Zee also played a key role in Saturday’s win, matching Vonnahme with a team high five catches for 51 yards, while Vonnahme finished with 54 yards.

Diaz led Iowa with 75 receiving yards on four catches, but he played very little in the second half, partly because he wasn’t needed since the Badgers never threatened.

Iowa played Saturday without leading rusher Kamari Moulton, who is out for the rest of the season with an arm/shoulder injury, so getting touches for Diaz, Vonnahme and Vander Zee became even more of an emphasis.

“If you watch us at all, those three guys are guys that can do something with it,” Kirk Ferentz said. “We don’t have Kamari in there right now, so it’s a committee.

“You want to try to find ways to get the ball in those guys’ hands and have them help you do something, hopefully, give you a spark play out there. I think another big factor today—and it all kind of goes hand in hand—is we stayed in pretty good shape. Our third-down stuff was good, but we had more manageable third downs, and staying ahead of the chains and being able to play the way you want to play helps an awful lot.”

Iowa stayed ahead of the chains by rushing for 140 yards, which isn’t a huge amount, but enough to stay ahead of the chains and to have some much-needed balance on offense.

It was in contrast to the Minnesota game a week ago when Iowa was held to just 90 rushing yards, had the three turnovers and committed six penalties.

“We had a good week of practice, good focus, and today most importantly, good execution, and played a lot cleaner than a week ago,” Kirk Ferentz said. “What we said last week, we’re not going to win doing what we did. So, big improvement there, and I’m happy about that, certainly.”

Ferentz appeared to get emotional in his post-game press conference as he talked about his team bouncing back from adversity, or as a member of the media described the Minnesota loss as a clunker.

“It gets down to the players,” Ferentz said. “It really does.

“Let me be more specific about the clunkers: there’s different kinds of clunkers, and the ones that really bother me – I mean, really bother me – is when we maybe don’t show up with the proper respect for what it takes to be successful. Those are harder to really live with. Last week wasn’t that. I think our effort was great. We have a great group of young guys. They’ve handled themselves really well day-to-day.”

Ferentz is certainly right to praise his players because they are the ones who carry out the game plan, the ones who make the tackles, blocks, throws and runs.

But the players also have to be put in the right position to make plays and that’s where Lester excelled against the Badgers, who entered Saturday’s game allowing just 11.8 points per game in conference play.

Iowa led 20-0 at halftime, and as good as the offense was on Saturday, the Iowa defense was even better while pitching its third shutout of the season.

But that’s what fans expect from the Iowa defense because it has set such a high bar with its consistency, while the Iowa offense has been a source of ridicule, and was a national laughingstock as recently as three years ago.

The offense has made significant strides under Lester, who is in his third season as the offensive coordinator, but still has a ways to go.

The running game has been wildly inconsistent, as has the quarterback play.

But against what is considered a very good Wisconsin defense, the Iowa offense looked like a well-oiled machine.

Iowa will now face Northwestern next Saturday’s in Evanston, Illinois, and in a newly renovated Ryan Field.

The Wildcats fell at Oregon 34-26 on Saturday, so the momentum will be on Iowa’s side heading into next Saturday’s game.

Hank Brown also has his confidence restored after passing for 222 yards and two touchdowns against Wisconsin, while Tim Lester has maybe tapped into what makes the offense click.

The challenge now is to keep doing it over and over.