This was a immensly important win for us because the hawkeyes desperately needed a rebound game to recover their confidence and pride after the ohio state loss. we won 47-17, easier than any win we have gotten this year excluding maybe montana, but the big storyline for me was how well we ran the ball. our running game has been a major issue all year and we haven't really had that balanced running and passing attack with albert young getting only 50 yards a game, and with albert out against purdue (announced only minutes before tipoff) i didnt expect anything to change. i knew damien simms had an explosive burst up the middle with gamebreaking ability, but he seemed too small to be an every-down back, and shonn greene is a beast, a powerful runner who has looked unstoppable whenever he gets a carry, but he hasn't gotten enough touches to garner any confidence from me. i was even more skeptical, not to mention furious, when simms fumbled the ball on his 1st carry. but they really impressed me and proved me wrong, simms ended up with 2 touchdowns and a couple big runs, getting both of the biggest runs for the iowa running game this year (if that tells u anything), while green continued to look unstoppable whenever he got the ball and got plenty of big 1st downs, a really underrated workhorse who should still get plenty of touches when albert returns. the big question now is if albert is the undisputed number 1 back, he has been overally disappointing this season so far, valuable with his versatility and recieving skills but yet to have a 100 yard game or make iowa's running game enough of a threat. he has nfl-level talent but his underacheiving big time, will be interesting to see how things turn out when he returns. drew tate had a big rebound game, getting two touchdown passes to tight end scott chander (making up for that crushing fumble against osu) and another one to blue-collar fan favorite fullback tom busch, who the broadcasters just could not get enough of. i can see why everyone loves him, when i was up at the iowa-isu game he was talking to a kid with down syndrome and showing him around and introducing the kid to everybody, a really great guy and hardworker with outstanding blocking ability who deserves all the glory he is getting. so our offense was pretty unstoppable with tate rolling and the running game looking unstoppable and making big play after big play, standout recievers were andy brodell, who had a few long receptions, and the consistently good frosh dominic douglas, whos great hands and athletic ability are proving to me that he will be iowa's go-to-guy in the near future. herb grigsby is fast, but too small and hasn't made the impact some thought he would. our defense was also surprisingly dominate overall, just gave up a few big plays at the end, because purdue came out with a high-powered offense with great speed and a solid QB, i honestly thought they would give us problems after watching them hang with notre dame for a while last week. something else to note was adam shada's interception return for a 99 yard touchdown, it was a huge play and the longest INT return in iowa history, and should really give shada a big confidence boost after the disappointing start to the season he had, i have really not been impressed with him and all his grabbing so far but this play could be defining for his season. so a great win for us, and should give us momentum (beating indiana will as well this week, we can't overlook them though) into the game at michigan in 2 weeks.