Iowa loses Kamari Moulton for season, Hank Brown starts

Tuesday's press conference was a rough one for Iowa, and the running back news came first.

Madison Hricik

@SportingMads

BREAKING: Kirk Ferentz has announced that RB Kamari Moulton is out for the season.

Moulton suffered an upper body injury in Saturday's loss at Minnesota. He's been the engine of this offense, with 86 carries for 541 yards and 4 touchdowns. In an Iowa offense that's struggled to throw the ball for years, that's the guy you can least afford to lose.

Scott Dochterman

@ScottDochterman

Iowa loses RB Kamari Moulton for the season. Major loss for the Hawkeyes. He rushed for 208 yards against Washington.

That Washington game was Moulton's best: a career-high 208 yards and 2 scores on 26 carries. That's the version of Iowa football Ferentz has wanted forever. Run it down your throat, play defense, punt, win 17-13. Now somebody else on the depth chart has to carry that load, starting Saturday, and nobody back there has shown they can do what Moulton did.

The other half of the news is the quarterback spot, which has been a revolving door all season. Ferentz isn't calling it a full commitment. He says the plan is to start Hank Brown and see how it goes, but Brown is the guy getting the first snaps.

Chad Leistikow🆑

@ChadLeistikow

QB Hank Brown will get the start for Iowa vs. Wisconsin, per Kirk Ferentz.

Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski have been going back and forth, and Ferentz didn't sound interested in taking outside criticism of how the staff has handled it. His point was basically that you can't grade a quarterback when you don't know what he's being asked to do.

Chad Leistikow🆑

@ChadLeistikow

Kirk Ferentz on the QBs: "It's hard to evaluate somebody if you don't know the details of what they're being asked to do. ... We're not just pulling numbers out of the air" when making a decision to pull or stick with the QB, but no second-guessing by riding with Brown.

That's classic Ferentz: trust the process, don't explain the process. But the math is simple. Iowa just lost its best skill player, the quarterback is on a short leash, and Wisconsin comes to Kinnick Stadium for an 11 a.m. kickoff. With no Moulton to lean on, Brown has to make some throws. If he can't, expect a lot of punting at Kinnick and a lot more questions about the quarterback next Tuesday.