What’s wrong with the Iowa football team?
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – What’s wrong with the Iowa football team?
That question surfaced for the first time on Sept. 17 when Iowa lost to North Dakota State on a last-second field goal at Kinnick Stadium and has festered ever since.
There was hope that Iowa had fixed its problems after winning back-to-back road games against Minnesota and Purdue. Hope was fleeting, though, considering Iowa is winless in two games since then, losing to Wisconsin and Penn State by scores of 17-9 and 41-14, respectively.
And now here comes mighty Michigan, undefeated after nine games and dismantling most of its opponents in overpowering fashion.
Iowa will face the second-ranked Wolverines on Saturday in prime time at Kinnick Stadium. Michigan is favored by 20 points on Iowa’s home field and that point spread comes just a year after the Hawkeyes won a school record 12 games.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz defended his program in the wake of the Penn State loss, telling reporters on Tuesday in his opening statement that the foundation still is strong.
“Just closing before I open it up, we've got a strong program here,” Ferentz said. “We've got committed players, great fans, and we're looking forward to getting into Kinnick Saturday night. Should be an electric atmosphere, certainly a night game in there, and great opponent to face.”
A naysayer would counter by saying it also could be a situation in which Iowa gets embarrassed in prime time for a second consecutive week, and with at least 60 recruits watching as guests.
As for what’s wrong with Iowa, there is no simple or single answer.
Iowa always has been predictable on offense under Ferentz, including last season. But the current team isn’t good enough to win consistently with that label.
Being predictable certainly is a problem, but there are reasons why this season it's a bigger problem than usual. Here are my five biggest reasons for why Iowa has failed to meet expectations this season.
1. Unreliable rushing attack: This is where it starts for Iowa on both sides of the line of scrimmage, even the defense is impacted by the rushing attack. If Iowa can’t run, that often leads to three-and-outs on offense, which then leads to fatigue on defense.
Third-and-long could be the title to this season, or three-and-out, because the Iowa offense has experienced plenty of both in the first nine games.
Probably the biggest difference between the current team and last season’s team, besides the end of the schedule, is that Iowa ran the ball effectively last season until the final two games, while the current team has stalled on the ground against quality opponents.
Iowa has rushed for fewer than 85 yards in each of the four losses this season, including just 30 yards against Penn State last Saturday.
“Typically, when you don't win, you don't rush the ball well, and once you get behind it's hard to have a good attack,” Ferentz said.
Center Austin Blythe and guard Jordan Walsh are all that is missing from last season’s offensive line, but maybe we underestimated their impact and value. Walsh made first-team all-Big Ten last season, while Blythe was a second-team choice and a respected senior leader.
Perhaps they were just that good and Iowa simply can’t fill the void this season.
Whatever the case, the rushing attack has been a huge disappointment, ranked 12th in the conference with an average of 152.6 yards per game.
Iowa is the only Big Ten team with two players ranked in the top 10 in rushing in the conference, which seems impressive.
But it’s misleading because much of the 1,306 rushing yards for which Akrum Wadley (664) and LeShun Daniels (642) have combined to gain this season has come against inferior opponents, including Iowa State, Rutgers and Purdue.
In Iowa’s four losses, Wadley and Daniels have combined for 281 rushing yards, with neither gaining more than 72 yards in any of the four games.
This isn’t an indictment on Wadley and Daniels alone because it starts with the offensive line, and right now, it isn’t meeting the challenge.
Injuries have been a factor, but Iowa was mostly healthy against North Dakota State, but still only rushed for 34 yards on 25 carries.
That was the first sign of trouble, the final score, but also the poor performance by the running game.
2. Receiver separation: Iowa had enough quality pass catchers last season who stayed healthy, including speedy receiver Tevaun Smith, making it easy to overlook this ongoing problem.
Iowa’s receivers have a long history of struggling to get separation. But the problem seems worse this season, especially without Matt VandeBerg, who was four game into his senior season when he suffered a broken foot in practice on the Monday after the Rutgers game on Sept. 26.
Iowa’s receivers were suspect with VandeBerg, but without him, they’re a weakness.
Smith isn’t around to stretch defenses anymore and there aren’t two healthy and reliable tight ends for quarterback C.J. Beathard to fall back on, as was the case last season when cousins, Henry Krieger Coble and George Kittle combined for 695 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
Krieger Coble is now on the practice squad for the Denver Broncois, while Kittle has been hobbled by a foot injury in the last two games.
Kittle has 19 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns this season. True freshman Noah Fant has five receptions for 35 yards and one touchdown, but is the only other tight end on the team with a catch.
3. Protecting the quarterback: Iowa and Rutgers both have allowed 24 sacks in nine games. That’s the second highest total in the Big Ten behind the 27 sacks allowed by Maryland.
Being lumped together with Rutgers in anything statistically speaking this season is a problem.
Some of the sacks could be attributed to Beathard holding on to the football for too long in the pocket or not recognizing from which direction the pressure was coming. But most of them were plays in which the defender won his individual matchup against an Iowa offensive lineman.
Michigan’s defenders excel in those kinds of matchups. So if Iowa can’t run against the Wolverines, Beathard might need eyes in the back of his head to survive in a collapsing pocket.
4. Tackling in space: Coaching and strategies only go so far. At some point, talent prevails, like in space for example. A battle in space often comes down to a running back or receiver against a linebacker or defensive back.
Iowa has lost too many of those individual matchups this season by missing tackles beyond the line scrimmage or by having breakdowns in pass coverage.
5. One-dimensional quarterback: Beathard hardly performed like a dual-threat quarterback last season, but he had a knack for gaining crucial rushing yards.
He gained 468 yards on the ground last season, but was credited with just 237 rushing yards because of sacks. The odd thing is that Beathard was admittedly hurt for most of last season, but he still had more mobility in the pocket and was more willing to run compared to this season.
Beathard almost seems shell-shocked because of all the dysfunction surrounding him on offense.
Combine these five things together and you have an Iowa team that just isn't very good right now.