By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team had its share of concerns or perceived weaknesses heading into this season, but the offensive line wasn’t among them.

If anything, it was considered a strength, thanks to loads of experience and proven depth.

Iowa’s rushing attack was expected to thrive while running behind an offensive line with four full-time starters back from a unit the won the Joe Moore Award last season as the nation’s top collegiate offensive line, and with senior running back Akrum Wadley a big play waiting to happen.

But for reasons that are easy to explain and some that are impossible to explain, Iowa’s running game has sputtered behind an under-achieving offensive line.

Iowa enters Saturday’s game against Minnesota ranked 12^th in the Big Ten in rushing offense, averaging just 131.6 yards per game. But even more disturbing is Iowa’s 3.5 yards-per-carry average as a team.

Injuries have certainly been a factor, with senior right tackle Ike Boettger out for the rest of the season with an Achilles injury that occurred against Iowa State, while senior guard Boone Myers is questionable for the rest of the season because of an ankle injury that he sustained during preseason camp.

But even without Boettger and Myers, the offensive line shouldn’t be this ineffective.

And it wasn't overly impressive in the one full game in which Boettger played against Wyoming in the season opener. Iowa rushed for 138 yards on 41 carries, which averages out to a mediocre 3.4 yards per carry as a team. 

Senior Sean Welsh is a three-year starter, mostly at guard, and junior James Daniels will be a three-year starter, mostly at center, by the time he is finished at Iowa.

Junior Keegan Render also has started multiple games on the offensive line, so there still is a solid nucleus to build around.

Iowa’s youth at both tackle positions has been exposed, but a bigger concern is that redshirt freshman Alaric Jackson and true freshman Tristan Wirfs are the best options at left tackle and right tackle, respectively.

They both struggled in last Saturday’s 17-10 overtime loss at Northwestern, but the offensive linemen who didn’t play in the game must have performed at a lower level in practice or they would’ve played.

Iowa has 15 offensive linemen on scholarship according to the 2017 roster. It’s not Jackson’s or Wirf's fault that they are Iowa’s best options at the two tackle positions.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was asked at his weekly press conference on Tuesday what he sees when he looks at his running game.

His answer sort of went all over the place.

“We want to pass it successfully, too,” Ferentz said. “We've done both with success. There have been some years we've run the ball better, and other years we've been pretty successful throwing it. But ultimately, we want to do both efficiently.

“And to that point, we're not running the ball right now effectively enough to be where we want to be.”

Ferentz also addressed the inexperience at both tackle positions when asked if there are ways to assist in their progression.

“There are things you can do, certainly, for any position to help out a little bit,” Ferentz said. “But we're going to try to play the way we play, and the challenge is for those guys to be able to do it. They're both capable. They've shown that in practice against good players. So the whole thing now is just consistency. Getting a little confidence, and the only way you get that is to go out and play.”

That is the only solution to anything, to go out and play.

Calling any game a must-win is sort of silly, but if there is such a thing, then Saturday’s game, which kicks off at 5:35 p.m., is it for Iowa and for Minnesota.

Both teams are 4-3 overall, 1-3 in conference play and fading fast in the Big Ten West Division.

It’s time for the Iowa offensive line to step up and meet the challenge on what figures to be a chilly night at Kinnick Stadium.

It’s time to give Wadley some room to maneuver because he has shown over and over what he can do with just a little space.

And it’s time for the two freshmen tackles to grow up and assert themselves.

We hear so much about Iowa's next-man-in battle cry, and we've seen it work on numerous occasions.

So it's not asking too much for the offensive line to overcome injuries.  

Enough with the excuses and apologies because injuries happen.

You feel horrible for Boettger and Myers, but there is no mercy in football. The show must go on, and it’s time for the Iowa offensive line to deliver.

And in fairness, it isn’t Kirk Ferentz or the Iowa offensive linemen who are making excuses, but rather fans and the media.

Some of the excuses are justified, especially the injuries, but doubt starts to creep in if you dwell too much on being short-handed, while too much sympathy can lead to a level of acceptance.

No, it’s time for Iowa’s blocking crew to show that progress is being made under first-year position coach Tim Polasek before it’s too late.

Polasek came highly respected as the former offensive coordinator for North Dakota State, which upset Iowa last season.

The only red flag was that despite all of his experience and energy, Polasek had never coached the offensive line at any level.

But it wasn’t that big of a concern because Kirk Ferentz’s area of expertise is the offensive line and because Brian Ferentz also had coached the Iowa offensive for the previous five seasons before being promoted to offensive coordinator.

Polasek has plenty of experience to draw from on a daily basis.

Sophomore quarterback Nate Stanley also could help fix Iowa's rushing woes by running more from the pocket instead of taking sacks or just throwing the ball away. Give the defense something more to think about.

Iowa quarterbacks coach Ken O'Keefe apparently feels the same way.

"It's something coach O'Keefe has talked about," Stanley said. "He said it's always hard (on the defense) when a quarterback runs for two or three first downs. It's something that I've become more aware of as this season has gone on."

Iowa will be matched against a Minnesota defense that is ranked seventh in the conference in rushing defense, allowing a respectable 133.9 yards per game under first-year coach P.J. Fleck.

This will be no easy task for the Iowa offensive line. But it shouldn’t be easy.

That’s why you respect the offensive line so much when it does dominate and paves the way to success because it takes a cohesive group working well together to accomplish that.

It also takes toughness and being fundamentally sound.

And, of course, it takes leadership, which Iowa has with players like Welsh, who is a fifth-year senior and a proven force.

The offensive line won’t solve all of its problem on Saturday, but enough of them to help keep Floyd of Rosedale in Iowa City for another year.

Prediction: Iowa 27, Minnesota 23