It’s been a tale of two seasons for Iowa’s offense to start the 2026 slate. When the season kicked off, there was some trepidation about what exactly we would get with Hank Brown running the show. He was splitting time with Jeremy Hecklinski as the starting job was still up for grabs, but it seemed from what little the public had seen that Hecklinski had more upside than Brown.
Then the Hawkeyes hung 40 on Northern Illinois and things seemed to be humming. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses against Iowa State, but El Assico rarely is and when Iowa bounced back to drop 55 on UNI it seemed we had turned the page on questions around the Hawkeye O doing their part.
But the last two weeks, Iowa has really struggled offensively, managing just 35 points total against Michigan and Ohio State. That hasn’t all been on the QB as the run game has struggled mightily. But it brings into focus the dichotomy of this season’s production.
Through five games, Iowa sits 72nd nationally in total offense at 390.8 yards per game, tied for 74th in scoring at 29.0 points, 48th in rushing, 89th in passing and 78th on third down. Middle of the pack across the board, which is totally survivable and when compared to the Brian Ferentz era, quite good.
Those season numbers are doing a lot of smoothing, though. Iowa averaged 573.5 yards and 47.5 points in the two tune-up games against NIU and UNI. Then there are the three games against P4 opponents Iowa State, Michigan and Ohio State. 269 yards per game. 16.7 points per game. And perhaps worst of all: 63.3 rushing yards per game.
The Hank Brown File
None of that lands entirely on the quarterback and Brown’s season line is respectable: 78-of-124 (62.9%) for 832 yards, 5 touchdowns, one interception and 6.71 yards per attempt.
However, run the same competition split on Brown and the pattern holds. Against NIU and UNI he went 24-of-32 (75%) at 8.81 yards a throw with 3 touchdowns. Against the P4 schedule he’s 54-of-92 (58.7%) at 5.98 per attempt with 2 touchdowns and the pick, bottoming out at 12-of-27 for 132 with no TDs and two turnovers against the Buckeyes.
By recent Iowa standards, Brown has been fine on the season as a whole. Mark Gronowski completed 63.4% at 6.6 yards per attempt with 10 touchdowns against 7 picks last season. Cade McNamara was at 60.5% and 5.9 in 2024. Both solid seasons with Iowa winning 9 and 8 games respectively.
Even in some of the better seasons recently, Iowa has survived downright bad QB play. Deacon Hill was at 48.6% and 4.6 in 2023 when Iowa won 10 games. Spencer Petras went 57.3% and 6.5 in 2021, leading Iowa to 10 wins, then 55.9% and 6.1 in 2022 with the Hawkeyes going 8-5.
Brown’s 62.9% and 6.71 sit at or near the top of that entire group. But the last month says those season long numbers aren’t enough against real competition – and now his shoulder has opened the door to finding out what the alternative looks like.
The Case for the Backup
When Brown went down against Ohio State, Hecklinski came on and went a perfect 5-of-5 for 67 yards on a touchdown drive. His season numbers are modest – 18-of-32 (56.3%) for 208 yards with a touchdown and a pick, most of it in relief against NIU and UNI – but a perfect drive against Ohio State travels a lot further than mop-up throws in September blowouts.
The 5’11”, 201-pound junior came over from Wake Forest ahead of last season and lost this year’s camp battle to Brown after the two split reps all August and into the non-conference slate. He was the talk of Kids Day practice, where he looked as sharp as any Iowa quarterback has at an open practice in years. The flashes have been there. The opportunity hasn’t.
Hawkeye fans think he has earned it, injury to Brown or not, with 83% of this week’s poll respondents saying Hecklinski has earned a shot at re-opening the QB competition.
That is not a mandate for a quarterback change. That’s a fanbase that watched 16.7 points a game against P4 opponents and wants to see the other guy.
The Change
Tonight, they’ll see if they were correct in their inclination as Jeremy Hecklinski is getting the keys.
On3’s Pete Nakos broke the news this morning that Iowa will start the junior at quarterback in Seattle, with Hank Brown still working his way back from the AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder that knocked him out of the Ohio State game.
It will be the first start of Hecklinski’s college career, and it comes a long way from home – #20 Iowa (4-1, 1-1) visits Washington (3-2, 0-2) at 8:00 pm CT on FOX, the Hawkeyes’ first trip to Husky Stadium since 1963.
Kirk Ferentz spent the week telegraphing this one without quite saying it. Brown was “really limited in what he can do right now” at Tuesday’s presser, and Ferentz framed the decision simply: “we’re the adults in the room, so we have to be thinking about making sure that we’re not putting him at risk.” Brown is reportedly available in an emergency tonight, with Jimmy Sullivan next in line. Traedon Bessinger did not make the trip west.
FanDuel Sportsbook opened this game at Washington -1.5 and the line drifted to Washington -3.5 earlier this week. As of Friday morning, it had settled at Washington -2.5 with the over/under at 41.5. Those lines haven’t moved on the news of Hecklinski starting so either Vegas had the scoop early or they don’t think there’s a real impact on the outcome by Iowa making a change.
My read: Hecklinski brings more volatility to the table but this is an opponent where he can be effective. The Huskies have some talent on the defensive line, but they tend to play a pretty light box and Iowa should be able to exploit some things on the ground that haven’t been there the last two weeks. I think we could see some seam work for DJ Vonhamme and more bubble screens to Tony Diaz. This is also a defense that could be picked on in the RPO game if Lester trusts Heck to make the reads.
It will be really interesting to see how Ferentz and Lester approach the offense tonight. It will be even more interesting to see how they approach the QB situation over the bye week if Hecklinski is effective on the road.
Here’s hoping the answer to the headline is yes.
