Harty: There might not be a way to fix the sputtering Iowa offense
IOWA CITY, Iowa – This is starting to feel and look like the 2014 season all over again, only Jake Rudock isn’t around to take the blame anymore.
The same deficiencies that plagued the Iowa football team on offense two years ago have resurfaced this fall, the latest example being Saturday’s 17-9 loss to No. 10 Wisconsin at Kinnick Stadium.
On a bright and sunny day in which the Iowa defense did enough to keep the game close, the Iowa offense performed woefully, producing just 236 yards, including a measly 83 rushing yards on 27 carries.
The Iowa passing attack wasn’t any better as senior quarterback C.J. Beathard only threw for 153 yards while barely completing 50 percent of his 34 attempts.
Beathard has gone from flirting with legendary status after leading Iowa to 12 victories last season to now feeling the heat from frustrated fans. The same strong-armed quarterback who played with grit, poise and moxie last season now seems overwhelmed by the circumstances.
It certainly didn’t help on Saturday that Iowa was without three key pieces on offense in senior receiver Matt VandeBerg, senior tight end George Kittle and junior offensive lineman Boone Myers because of injuries. VandeBerg is out indefinitely with a broken foot, while Kittle tried to play on Saturday, but was ineffective because of a foot injury.
The problems on offense go way beyond missing three players, though.
Iowa has struggled to run against quality opponents this season, while the passing attack has struggled against just about everybody. Only twice this season has Beathard passed for at least 200 yards in a game.
So what’s the deal?
I asked Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz after Saturday’s game if the offense was struggling as a result of the receivers not getting separation?
“I think it a combination of everything,” Ferentz said. “That’s part of it. There’s no question about that. Open quick enough, or wide open, that type of thing. Getting guys wide open against a good team is really difficult, getting open quick enough and then still having the opportunity to get the ball in there.
“We’re going to just keep banging away. We’ll get there.”
There is no choice, but to keep banging away.
Iowa is now a longshot at best to win the Big Ten West Division for the second year in a row. But there still are four games left in the regular season, along with a bye week this coming week to regroup, re-energize and refocus.
There still is enough time to fix what is ailing the offense, but also enough time for opponents to keep exposing the deficiencies.
It is too simple and too easy to blame the offensive woes on receivers not getting open or on the schemes being too simple and predictable under offensive coordinator Greg Davis. That could be two of the reasons, but Davis’ schemes also were simple and predictable last season.
In fact, Iowa had more yards on Saturday than it did against Wisconsin last season. The only difference is that Iowa won 10-6 last season in Madison, Wis., so it was easy to excuse Davis and the offense for only gaining 221 yards, including 77 passing yards.
Maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised that the offense is sputtering because it hardly was a thing of beauty last season.
Winning simply changed the narrative.
Beathard almost doubled his passing yards against the Badgers on Saturday compared to a year ago. But it came during a loss, so it doesn’t matter.
“I have to give credit to the Wisconsin defense,” Beathard said. “They’re a good defense. We knew that going into it that they were going to be a tough defense to move the ball against.
“But I still think we should have moved the ball a little bit better than we did today.”
The Iowa fans would agree.
Some are even starting to question Beathard, which is incredible considering where he was two months ago in terms of popularity.
Beathard was asked after Saturday’s game what else he could do to help the offense.
“You can always do stuff to help,” he said. “We’ve got a bye week coming up, so that’s going to be much needed to get some guys healthy and to just work on getting better with those receivers and have better chemistry and that type of stuff.
“All you can do is continue working and move on and put this one behind us and move on to the bye weekend and Penn State after that.”
There isn’t just one thing or one deficiency that is causing the offense to struggle. It’s a whole bunch of things, including a lack of explosiveness at receiver.
Sophomore receivers Jerminic Smith and Jay Scheel and true freshman tight end Noah Fant have moments when they get open, just not enough to sustain anything. And there are times when they get open and Beathard either misses them, doesn’t throw to them or gets sacked.
Senior Riley McCarron has emerged as Beathard’s favorite target in the wake of VandeBerg being injured. The problem is that McCarron is more of a possession receiver who struggles to stretch defenses.
McCarron said after Saturday’s loss that the players don’t listen to the outside noise. He also refused to use the loss of VandeBerg and Kittle as an excuse.
“Obviously, having them out isn’t going to benefit us by any means,” McCarron said of Kittle and VandeBerg. “But it’s that next-man-in mentality. You can’t change the playbook just because a different guys is in there and stuff like that.
“We have Jerminic, we have Noah Fant and Jay Scheel; those guys can all make plays, too. We’re alright. We just need to keep pushing, and obviously, make some more plays.”
Iowa also could use All-America cornerback Desmond King as a receiver on offense, but it would be naive to think that his presence alone would fix things.
Fans get frustrated when they hear Ferentz and the players say after losses that they have to keep pushing forward and clean things up.
But what are they supposed to say under the circumstances?
Perhaps the best thing to take from Saturday’s game besides the performance of the defense is how the defensive players reacted to the loss.
Instead of being frustrated with the offense, the defensive players tried to be supportive.
“If our offense isn’t doing what it needs to do, it’s really up to our defense to just go out there and keep getting stops,” said Iowa senior defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson. “If our offense isn’t really doing what they need to do, they’re really is no argument. Our defense needs to pick it up every time.”
That statement would suggest that there still is good chemistry on the team.
But good chemistry doesn’t always mean good offense.
The Iowa defense struggled against the run earlier in the season, but has improved steadily. Wisconsin rushed for 167 yards on Saturday, but only averaged 3.5 yards per carry.
Corey Clement led the way with 134 rushing yards on 35 bone-jarring carries. His longest run gained 34 yards and essentially put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell was in position to tackle Clement for a short gain on Clement’s 34-yard scamper. But Clement broke loose and helped to secure the victory, which was the sixth in a row for the visiting team in the series.
It was more a case of Clement making a play at crunch time than the Wisconsin coaches making a great play call.
Davis certainly should be held accountable for Iowa’s offensive deficiencies because nothing seems to come easy for the Iowa passing attack and we’re three-fourths of the way through the season. But at some point, the players also have to make plays.
And nobody is doing that with any consistency this season, including Beathard.
Iowa needed its fifth-year senior quarterback to perform at an all-Big Ten level on Saturday, but it didn’t happen.
The Hawkeyes are now 5-3 overall and showing signs of being like the 2014 squad that unraveled down the stretch with Rudock playing quarterback.
Rudock ultimately lost his starting position to Beathard and then transferred to Michigan where he started last season as a graduate student.
It seems unlikely that Ferentz would make another switch at quarterback, especially during the season, because next in line is true freshman Nathan Stanley.
The Iowa offense needs a spark, but it would be asking too much for a kid who was in high school just a year ago to provide it.
There is no quick or simple fix on offense. There might not even be a way to fix the offense.