One could say Iowa football's bye week comes at a very good and very bad time. 

The Hawkeyes definitely need to use the idle week to get some players healthy, but having two weeks off after arguably playing their best game of the season - a 41-24 rout over Washington in Seattle on Friday - may not be the best thing for Kirk Ferentz and Co. 

Pros and cons aside, Iowa likely couldn't have asked to be in a much better position right now. Escaping the once-daunting three-game stretch of Michigan, Ohio State, and Washington to open Big Ten play 5-1 with a top-20 ranking next to their name is exactly what the Hawkeyes wanted and more. 

But though the optimism is flowing through the roof of the Hansen Football Performance Center, the dawn of a bye week always brings plenty of questions from the coaching staff and the media.  

Here are three questions I have about this Iowa team heading into the bye week. 

Just when we thought the quarterback controversy could be put to bed once and for all, Jeremy Hecklinski proved us all wrong. I wrote about it in my postgame column on Sunday, but it's worth mentioning again. While some can argue that the wheels on Washington's season have completely fell off and this Huskies team wasn't very motivated on Friday, Hecklinski still had to make plays, and he did that and some. 

Will Iowa ride with the hot hand that is Hecklinski right now, or will Ferentz go back to Hank Brown against rival Minnesota in two weeks? Brown's AC joint sprain - which can be a nagging injury - is going to play a big part of this. 

There's no need to hide any of the facts now. Iowa's run game came to Seattle averaging just 63.3 yards per game against Power Four competition, but the Hawkeyes made sure to right the ship on Friday. Iowa finished with 263 yards on the ground - including 208 from lead back Kamari Moulton. 

There's no question that everything was clicking on all cylinders against the Huskies, but now the most important topic comes up - consistency. Now that we've seen Iowa dominate in the trenches against a respectable opponent, it's time to continue to put it together. It's not going to be easy considering a team like Minnesota is probably going to stack the box and make you beat them through the air, so it's going to be interesting to see how everything continues to come together. 

Iowa's secondary will be the first to tell you that it didn't have the best game against Washington. This unit performed well before Demond Williams left due to injury and proceeded to allow Husky backup Elijah Brown to throw for 251 yards and three touchdowns. 

Defensive coordinator Phil Parker will iron some of those kinks out over the next few weeks, but the main question I have with this group at this point is its health. The depth has really been tested over the last two games, especially at safety. Ferentz said Tyler Brown is going to be out for awhile after he re-aggravated an injury at Michigan, and his backup, Ty Hudkins also missed the Washington game due to an injury, and though available, Zach Lutmer has been banged up as well. 

Xavier Styles performed well in relief, collecting a team-high nine tackles, but Iowa will hope the bye week will help get the secondary in full health before the back-half of the schedule. 

But the secondary isn't the only area of concern health-wise. Tight end DJ Vonnahme and  running back L.J. Phillips Jr have battled lingering injuries as well, so it will be interesting to see if the bye week allows them to get back to full strength.

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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]