The Hawkeyes burst back onto the scene in week one with a dominant 40-0 win over the Illinois State Redbirds. Well, sort of. It was a tale of two halves for the new Iowa offense as the Hawkeyes managed just six first half points against the FCS Redbirds. But halftime adjustments led to scores on five of the final six drives for Tim Lester’s new-look offense.

A big part of that second half turnaround was the return of running back Kaleb Johnson, who had been suspended in the first half of the game. He was joined in the dog house by fellow running back Jaziun Patterson. We learned in Kirk Ferentz’s media availability on Tuesday that Patterson was suspended for the first half but ultimately held out for the entire game on a coaches decision. Lester’s O was also without WR Kaleb Brown who was serving his one game suspension for an offseason transgression.

Now we head to week two with the Iowa State Cyclones coming to town and the Hawkeye offense appears to be nearing full strength. Iowa released their official depth chart for this week’s matchup and some familiar names have found their way back into the mix.

Noted Notables

• Kaleb Johnson is back at the top. Sort of. KJ2 had an incredible debut, rushing for 119 yards and 2 TDs on 11 carries. All in the second half as he was suspended for the first. He now has an OR next to Kamari Moulton as the RB1 for week 2. Moulton finished with 19 carries and 65 yards. Look for those carry loads to even out with the two available for the full game. And perhaps Patterson and Leshon Williams factor in a bit more as Williams continues to get healthy and Patterson exits the dog house.
• More Kalebs. As with Kaleb Johnson, Kaleb Brown is off of his suspension and now back on the depth chart. Interestingly, he is listed as the #2 behind Kaden Wetjen. It will be interesting to see if that means Brown is splitting time on some of the jet motions and how he will mix in the passing game. Wetjen finished catchless in week one while Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill found paydirt on one of his three catches for 46 yards. Seth Anderson remains sidelined but is reportedly expected back for the week three matchup with Troy.
• No changes up front, which is probably a good thing. While center Logan Jones departed for part of a series in week one (notably, it was Tyler Elsbury who took his place, not the listed Kade Pieper), nobody is expected to miss week two. Time to build chemistry and cohesion is paramount for the OL so consistency in the lineup is likely a good sign at this point.
• On the other side of the ball, no changes to point out this week. Like the OL, that’s probably a good thing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Phil Parker’s group gave up no points on fewer than 200 yards of total offense in the opener. Stick with what’s working.

The Hawkeyes and Cyclones are set to kick off at 2:30m on Saturday, September 7th. The game will be broadcast on CBS.