While some of you may not have many burning questions to ask after watching Iowa demolish Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon, every game still brings important questions that could loom large for the following game. 

Here are three questions we still have after the Hawkeyes' 55-0 victory: 

"I guess I'd say he's our starter. He's helped himself with every opportunity."

Those were the words Kirk Ferentz used when asked if Hank Brown would be his full-time starting quarterback moving forward. It certainly reads like a promising quote, but I was in the room when he said this, and there's still a touch of hesitancy in Ferentz's voice when talking about naming a starter. While Iowa's longtime head coach was pleased with Brown's performance on Saturday, he was still quick to add that he's happy with Jeremy Hecklinski's progress, too. 

I can completely understand Ferentz not wanting to explicitly reveal Brown as the full-time starter until the depth chart release on Monday afternoon or at his Tuesday press conference, but why the uncertainty at this point? Brown has done more than enough to earn the job for good, and he's completed 72.6% of his passes so far - including a perfect outing against Northern Iowa. 

This isn't meant to take a shot at Hecklinski, but there's just not enough on tape to even consider having an OR on the depth chart anymore. Having a full-time starter named ahead of the Michigan game is simply good continuity for the entire offense, and there's no reason to potentially damage that ahead of a season defining stretch. 

Iowa is known for bringing under-the-radar prospects to prominence, and it may have found another one on Saturday, folks. Braeden Jackson didn't receive a single offer out of high school, but the Hawkeyes obviously showed enough interest in him to let him walk on. Jackson has only played in two games thus far, but he's been quite impressive in both. 

The second-year running back tallied 125 yards on 11 carries, and though it's only against Northern Iowa, he certainly didn't look like a walk-on back out there. How in the world did he not receive a single Division I offer from even the FCS? The pedigree is there, as he's the son of former NFL running back Fred Jackson, but schools must've been turned away because of his short stature (5-foot-11). 

There's still a long way to go, but Iowa appears to have hit the jackpot with Jackson. 

We'll get full clarity on this from Ferentz at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, but it's still an important question to ask. Tight end D.J. Vonnahme and running backs L.J. Phillips and Kamari Moulton missed this game due to injuries, so will Iowa get them back in time for the Big Ten opener? Ferentz's prognosis on all three seemed positive last week, so it's likely the trio are in line to return against Michigan. 

But that's not the only injury concern at the moment. All eyes are on defensive lineman Bryce Hawthorne, who went down with a leg injury after being illegally blocked by a UNI offensive lineman in the first half. Hawthorne was later spotted working out on the bike later in the game and was revealed by Ferentz to be "fine," but it's still something to monitor. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]