Tyler Goodson is carrying Iowa’s offense vs. Iowa State

The Iowa Hawkeyes are taking on a tough Iowa State Cyclones defense, and running back Tyler Goodson is putting the offense on his back.

The Cy-Hawk Trophy is on the line. The Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones are back in 2021 with a matchup between two top-10 programs. It doesn’t get much better than this for September college football. The Hawkeyes are led by running back Tyler Goodson offensively, and they have been leaning on him heavily in the early goings of this matchup.

Everyone knows that Tyler Goodson can turn on the burners, and he proved that in the Hawkeyes’ dominant week one win over the Indiana Hoosiers.

Goodson’s home run speed is well-documented at this point, but he’s also a tremendous all-around back who can do the dirty work between the tackles and really wear down a defense, even if he’s not gaining big chunks at a time.

In the early goings of this Iowa-Iowa State showdown, Tyler Goodson has just 28 yards rushing and nine yards receiving on two receptions, but he converted a number of tough third downs to keep Iowa drives alive and eventually scored the first touchdown of the game for the Hawkeyes after an interception near midfield by cornerback Matt Hankins.

Ultimately, Goodson’s statistics are not overly impressive, but he has such a well-rounded skill set and NFL teams will certainly love his football savvy. He’s shown throughout his career with the Hawkeyes to be a dependable player of course in the running game but also as a receiver.

For most of the first half of this contest, Iowa filtered its offense through its best player, to no one’s surprise. Both teams had been doing a lot more zigging and zagging down the field East and West offensively and Goodson was having to scrape and claw for every individual yard.

As the first half comes to a close, both teams are having some success with explosive downfield plays in the passing game and the second half should be a lot of fun.

For the time being, Iowa has a 14-10 lead.

On the other side, fellow 2022 NFL Draft prospect Breece Hall is also doing his part to carry the Iowa State offense. He scored a touchdown with only seven seconds remaining in the first half to keep Iowa State within one score.

Hall has obviously been the focal point of Iowa’s defensive game plan as the Hawkeyes are daring Brock Purdy to beat them with his arm.

Hall has still found a way to stay involved and active.