By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – There is no such thing as a good penalty in football.

Or is there?

Iowa senior center Logan Jones cost his team 15 yards by being called for a personal foul penalty in the second quarter of last Saturday’s game against Washington at Kinnick Stadium.

Jones blocked his defender well out of bounds on the Washington sideline, and after the whistle had been blown.

His penalty essentially killed the Iowa drive, and there was no disputing it because it was excessive the way in which Jones slammed the Washington defender on to his own bench.

But it also seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game as Iowa would go on to rush for 220 yards in a 40-16 drubbing.

Kaleb Johnson continued his record-breaking pace with 166 rushing yards and three touchdowns, but the success on the ground started up front in the trenches where Jones and his cohorts controlled the line of scrimmage.

“I had a feeling they might call it a penalty,” Jones said Tuesday. “I didn’t hear the whistle. But the refs probably should have called that. I was playing through the whistle, and the ref did a great job. I would have called it, too.

“It was fun. I really enjoyed it. That was a fun play for me. I had a lot of fun doing it, and maybe I’ll do it again, hopefully.”

Of course, Jones might feel differently if Iowa had lost to Washington.

But when you win by 24 points, and your unit is a big reason why you prevailed, it’s easier to overlook, or excuse a penalty.

Jones seems to have lit a fuse with his physicality and with his relentlessness on that play, and the players and the head coach all rallied around it.

“He loved it,” Jones said of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who coached the offensive for nine seasons under Hayden Fry at Iowa from 1981 to 1989, and for six seasons in the NFL. “He loves plays like that. Any time an offensive lineman finishes a guy, he loves those plays.”

Jones’ block was kind of similar to the block that was made famous in the movie “The Blind Side,” which tells the story about Michael Oher’s improbable rise to football stardom as a high school left tackle.

In the movie, Oher’s character is shown blocking a player nearly the length of the field and then pushing him over a fence.

“It felt good,” Jones said. “It felt like Michael Oher out there.”

Jones and the Iowa offensive linemen have a lot to feel good about these days as they have certainly lifted their performance level, individually and as a unit.

Iowa, which plays at Michigan State on Saturday, has rushed for over 200 yards in five of six games, while Kaleb Johnson is second in the nation with 937 rushing yards.

He has also scored 13 touchdowns, and has 16 rushes of 20-plus yards this season.

The 6-foot, 225-pound Johnson excels at gaining yards after contact, but he also has been the beneficiary of some top-notch run blocking, as he often points out after games.

The current offensive line has been through its share of peaks and valleys as the five listed starters on this week’s depth chart have combined for 143 career starts.

They struggled as underclassmen, especially Jones, who switched from defensive tackle to center in the spring of 2022.

The Council Bluffs native faced the daunting task of replacing former All-America center Tyler Linderbaum, who also had switched from defensive tackle early in this career.

At first, it didn’t look good for Jones.

“I remember when Logan switched (positions),” said Iowa senior defensive tackle Yahya Black. ” I walked in on indoor and he was getting snaps in, and that was the ugliest sight ever. And we joke about it all the time because I took a video and it’s funny.

“It’s really cool because Logan Jones, me and him go head-to-head a lot. And it’s really fun. It makes me better, and I hopefully get him better, too.”

Kirk Ferentz has been patient and realistic with the growth of his offensive linemen. He has added a few pieces from the transfer portal, but the five current starters all began their careers at Iowa.

“We’ve gone through a couple tough years up front,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Nobody’s fault. It’s just how it’s gone. I think we’re closer to where we want to be.”

They often say there is no substitute for experience, and that seems true with the 2024 Iowa offensive line.

Jones and his cohorts have certainly taken their lumps, but they have stuck together and persevered under fourth-year offensive line coach George Barnett. And now it’s their turn to deliver some lumps as they did against Washington, and will have a chance to do against Michigan State.

“It’s fun to watch the guys’ confidence grow a little bit,” Kirk Ferentz said. “They deserve it. They did a good job Saturday, they really did. A lot of respect for the defense we were up against for obvious reasons. I thought our guys met the challenge, pushed.

“This is going to be another type of challenge but another challenge nonetheless with a lot of good defensive teams in this conference.”

Jones is the latest in a long line of Iowa players under Kirk Ferentz that have flourished after switching positions.

“He’s the kind of guy we want on our football team,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Everything about him. Everything he does is with purpose. He’s really wired in when he’s working. He’s very popular with his teammates. He’s so invested. Comes from a great family, mom, sister, really good people.

“It may not have gone perfectly for him, all that kind of stuff. He was such a good prospect two years ago. Now he’s a really good football player just because he’s got every attribute you hope for, hard worker, very selfless.”

Kirk Ferentz wishes he would have had Jones switch positions earlier than he did.

“I don’t know if it said it publicly, but I screwed that one up,” Kirk Ferentz said. “We should have done that in December. We should have approached him then until waiting for spring ball. That slowed his progress down, too. We could have done him a favor by getting over there quicker. He can blame that on me.

“I’m just so glad he’s on our team. He’s playing really well. No big surprise. We were certainly counting on that.”