Kamari Moulton’s breakout against Washington came with a little extra shine attached. After the best outing of his Iowa career, the Hawkeyes running back was named Zak Herbstreit’s best offensive player for Week 6 in On3 Sports’ superlatives.
It was the kind of recognition that fit the day. Moulton helped power Iowa to a 41-point performance, the program’s first road game with at least 40 points in Big Ten play since last season at Nebraska, when the Hawkeyes scored 40. The win also gave Iowa a 5-1 record heading into its bye week, a strong early mark as the team tries to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
Moulton’s rise has been building for a while. He spent his first two seasons behind Kaleb Johnson before taking over the starting role last year.
Injuries kept him from topping the 1,000-yard mark, but he still finished the 2025-2026 season with 878 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 11 games, including eight starts. This season, he’s already pushing to move past that total.
That’s what made the Washington game stand out even more. Iowa’s ground game has been a problem point through the first half of the season, especially in the losses to Michigan and Ohio State, where the Hawkeyes were held to 58 rushing yards and 39 rushing yards, respectively. Against Michigan, Hank Brown’s game-winning touchdown drive kept Iowa from a much worse start.
For all the issues, Moulton’s showing was a reminder of what the offense can look like when the run game is clicking. He’s a back who has improved every year in the program, and Iowa needs that trend to keep going. If the offensive line continues to take shape, the Hawkeyes’ rushing attack has a chance to become a real strength again.
That matters because Iowa’s margin for error is thin after the early loss to Ohio State. The Hawkeyes cannot afford to keep fighting uphill on the ground, especially if Hank Brown is back at quarterback in Week 8. Brown is more of a pocket passer who works best when play-action is setting the table, and when the run game disappears, so does a big part of what makes the offense go.
Backup quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski played well against Washington and helped open up the playbook, but that doesn’t mean he’ll take over the job going forward. Kirk Ferentz has generally been reluctant to move away from injured starters, which makes the ground game even more important if Brown returns.
The line will have a lot to do with whether this becomes a turning point or just a one-game spike. Iowa is breaking in three new starters up front, and that’s never simple. Still, the program has long been known for developing offensive linemen, and if that unit keeps improving, Moulton and the rest of the backfield have the kind of depth that can change the look of this offense.
Moulton’s big day didn’t solve everything. But it did show what Iowa looks like when the pieces start to work together.
In Other News...
Iowas Playoff Push Comes Down To A Brutal Second Half
Iowas 5-1 start has put the Hawkeyes in a promising spot, but the road to a serious playoff push now runs straight through a six-game Big Ten West stretch that looks anything but forgiving. The back half of the schedule brings a mix of rivalry pressure, road trips and matchups against teams that have shown enough quality to make every week feel like a test, even for a team that has handled the first part of the season well.
The slate includes road games at Minnesota, Northwestern and Illinois, along with home dates against Wisconsin, Purdue and Nebraska, and the order alone tells the story of how much can change in a hurry. Some of those opponents have been steadier than expected, some have flashed enough recent form to demand attention, and all of them give Iowa little room for error if the Hawkeyes want the second half to keep the playoff conversation alive. [Read more 🡒]
Iowas Playoff Push Is Starting To Reveal What This Team Really Has
Iowas 5-1 start has put the Hawkeyes squarely in the top 20 and kept them in the College Football Playoff conversation, but the bigger story is what that record is beginning to reveal. Through six games, this team has not leaned on the same type of star power every week so much as a different set of contributors rising to the moment, whether it has been Tony Diaz as a leading receiver, Cam Buffington making his presence felt on defense or Braeden Jackson helping drive the run game.
The picture gets even more interesting when the opponent and the stage change. Tim Lesters play-calling helped shape the road win at Michigan, while specialists Caden Buhr and Boston Everitt still found ways to matter even in the loss to Ohio State, which is the kind of detail that speaks to a team with more layers than a simple ranking suggests. With Iowa still in the hunt, the real question is not just where the Hawkeyes are headed, but which version of this team will show up when the path gets even tighter. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Finally Looked Like The Team Hawkeyes Fans Have Wanted
For one afternoon, Iowa looked like the balanced team Hawkeyes fans have been waiting to see. The 41-24 win over Washington had everything working in sync, with the defense bringing constant heat, the offense moving with efficiency and the special teams quietly doing their part to keep control of the game.
Washington never found an answer for Iowas front, which piled up six sacks and held the Huskies to negative rushing yards. Kamari Moulton powered the ground game with a career-high 208 rushing yards, and Jeremy Hecklinski kept the passing attack efficient, giving the Hawkeyes a performance that felt less like a one-off and more like the kind of formula they have been trying to build around. [Read more 🡒]