The first quarter was witness to an effective beginning for the Arizona Wildcats. Kicking off, they allowed the crowd to play heavily into Iowa's first series, which culminated in a blocked punt by the Wildcats.
After quickly scoring a touchdown, Arizona was at it on the defensive end again, returning a fluke deflection for another touchdown.
Things were wild, and the crowd was loving it. Iowa was forced to punt yet again, and Arizona looked determined to run it up to a three touchdown lead before Nic Grisgby coughed up the ball on the Iowa 7-yard line.
Since that moment, the Hawkeyes were on the offensive. Ricky Stanzi led an effective drive into Wildcat territory, completing big passes to Marvin McNutt and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos before hitting Jewel Hampton in the end zone for Iowa's first touchdown.
The momentum shift was evident, and the Iowa fans were back in the game. That lasted for approximately 15 seconds before Travis Cobb returned the Iowa kickoff 100 yards for an Arizona touchdown.
With that, the seesaw shifted back to the Wildcats.
Iowa missed out on an easy touchdown when Stanzi slightly overthrew Johnson-Koulianos, who was wide open on the left sideline. They ended up punting the ball away, and Arizona was able to again capitalize with an Alex Zendejas field goal.
Arizona was once again able to score before the half ran out when Zendejas put another through the uprights.
My photographer, Matt Levine, told me that the crowd was "deafening." Everything Iowa did, Arizona did faster and with no hesitation. The Wildcats were dominant.