A lot of questions relating to Iowa’s offense may not have been answered on Saturday inside the walls of Kinnick Stadium, but there’s no question Tyler Goodson is still the explosive player we expected to see.

Through the first two games, Goodson struggled to generate much momentum. Aside from a 56-yard touchdown run early in the season opener against Indiana, the Hawkeye running back has been kept in check by solid defensive efforts.

Goodson didn’t have that same difficulty this weekend.

Goodson finished the day rushing for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns on 22 carries in Iowa’s 30-7 victory over Kent State. He also caught 2 passes for 9 yards, and helped Iowa establish some sort of offensively identity this weekend.

At times, it was ugly for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa led just 9-7 most of the way through the first half before piecing together a 20-pay, 95-yard drive to take a 16-7 advantage into the locker room. That drive was capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Petras to Sam LaPorta.

The Hawkeyes then were able to essentially put the game on ice with an 11-play, 80-yard drive to make the score 23-7 in the third quarter. Goodson ran 35 yards on the way to the end zone to give the Hawkeyes the 16-point advantage.

Though they didn’t need much from him, Petras also had his best outing of the year. The quarterback completed 25-of-36 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown in the victory. After struggling to get into a rhythm in games against Indiana and Iowa State, seeing a little more consistency was a good sign.

As has been the case through the first two games, Iowa’s defense was suffocating. Kent State converted just 3-of-13 opportunities on third down and managed just 82 rushing yards on 41 carries. The Golden Flashes did have some success through the air, with quarterback Dustin Crum completing 16-of-23 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown.

There really wasn’t much to take away from Saturday’s game in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes put a heavy emphasis on establishing a solid run game and getting Petras more comfortable under center. Mission accomplished.

At the end of the day, The Hawkeyes are 3-0 heading into their nonconference finale against Colorado State.