IOWA CITY - If Iowa's football team didn't have a quarterback controversy last week, it does now.

Surprise stater Ricky Stanzi threw for 162 yards and three touchdowns in the first half as the Hawkeyes overwhelmed Florida International, a relative infant of the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision, 42-0, Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa held its second straight opponent without a touchdown and outgained the Golden Panthers by nearly 300 yards.

A week ago, Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz stated that Jake Christensen was his No. 1 quarterback. But Wednesday, offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe informed both players of the decision to start Stanzi.

"It's just a matter of we hadn't seen Ricky start, and we haven't seen him get sacked 48 times or nine times or whatever," Ferentz said. "We wanted to give him a start and see how he would react to it and give us more information to go off of."

Stanzi may have turned the competition into a one-man show as he showed a deft touch, especially on the long ball.

He completed a 59-yard touchdown pass to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, hitting his man in stride, and feathered one into tight end Allen Reisner's hands for a 32-yard gain on a post pattern.

Stanzi played all but nine snaps in the first half.

"To be honest … I knew we were going to come out fast, but what happened was a great thing," Stanzi said.

The Hawkeyes (2-0) rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead as Stanzi hit Johnson-Koulianos, Brandon Myers and Colin Sandeman with touchdown passes. Stanzi did not play in the second half.

Shonn Greene and Paki O'Meara added first-half touchdown runs for Iowa. The Hawkeyes had 338 total yards (171 passing, 167 rushing) in the first half and finished with 512 yards, the most since piling up 546 against Minnesota in 2006.

Greene rushed for 100 yards for the second consecutive game, including 101 in the first quarter. He had 130 yards on 13 carries.

As good as Stanzi was, Ferentz refused to name him the starter for next Saturday's game against in-state rival Iowa State at Kinnick.

"We'll make a decision who is going to start at some point, certainly, and I don't know if it's good, bad or indifferent, so we'll find out," Ferentz said. "In a nutshell, I'm just pleased with the way both guys are performing. We're clearly in a healthier position than we were a year ago, and it's a good thing for us."

Christensen, who had started the previous 13 games and is 8-6 as the starter, finished with 99 passing yards, including a 23-yard touchdown pass to Sandeman in the fourth quarter.

He got two series in the first half and played into the fourth quarter before turning the ball over to redshirt freshman Marvin McNutt.

While Christensen didn't express any resentment, his body language said he is unhappy with the situation.

"If you look at it, we won 42-0, and if anybody is upset right now it is selfish," Christensen said. "I'm not upset. But obviously I want to be the guy,"

Iowa scored with ease on its first two possessions, and it was pretty much a route from that point.

The Hawkeyes' defense swarmed all over the Golden Panthers, holding FIU to 218 total yards. Six Iowa defenders recorded sacks, led by Karl Klug's two.

It was the first shutout for the defense since it blanked Syracuse last year and the fifth in the Ferentz era. And the defensive group finished the goose-egg without stars Mitch King or Matt Kroul playing a down in the second half.

In fact, only four first-team defenders saw the field during the final 30 minutes.

"When we have somebody come in, we expect them to be a spark, expect them to do something good," King said. "That is what (the reserves) did. That is encouraging."

In two games, Iowa has allowed opponents only 438 total yards.

"They were a very physical team up front," said FIU head coach Mario Cristobal. "When they come off the football, it's almost like a tidal wave. They flatten you out."

With two relatively easy wins behind them, the Hawkeyes expect next Saturday's tilt will be a little tougher.

"It's a big rivalry game and we know Iowa State is going to play hard, and we're going to have to play hard," said King.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com