Jack Campbell and the Hawkeyes came away with a win in Week 1. However, Iowa’s offense failed to reach the end zone with the defense providing 2 safeties in the 7-3 win over South Dakota State.

The performance of the offense and the play of starting quarterback Spencer Petras was less than stellar, and fans in Kinnick Stadium were not appreciative. At multiple points in the game, fans could be heard booing the offense throughout the struggles.

After the game, Iowa’s star linebacker addressed those boos and went to bat for his offense:

“I hate to break it to you guys, but they’re more than football players,” said Campbell. “They’re brothers, sons, grandsons and I feel a lot of people lose sight of that. I just view them as a person, as a relationship, as a friend…

“No matter what, I’m always going to have their backs. I’m never going to point fingers and I’m never going to complain because I have the greatest opportunity in the world because I love football… As a 3-phase team, we went out there and gave it our all today.”