By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – One of the questions asked to the Iowa football players at Tuesday’s weekly press conference was about the team’s identity on offense after three games.

Does it have one?

“Identity on offense; we’re going to run the ball, we’re going to try and stretch the teams out left to right, but then also take a lot of play action deep shots,” said Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski. “And when those deep shots aren’t open, and I don’t have the ability to be aggressive on some of those, I’ve got to continue to check the ball down so we can continue to have those positive plays, so we can keep running those play-action plays throughout games.”

Through three games, the Iowa offense has accomplished two of those things, which is run the ball and stretch teams left to right, or in other words, horizontally.

Iowa is averaging a very respectable 214.0 rushing yards per game, and 4.9 yards per carry as a team, heading into Friday’s Big Ten opener at Rutgers.

Proof of the horizontal effect is that Iowa only has one reception that has gained more than 22 yards this season, and that was the 45-yard catch by Sam Phillips in the 44-7 win over UMass.

So, from an identity standpoint, the 2025 Iowa offense is basically what fans have been used to seeing.

Tim Lester is in his second season as the Iowa offensive coordinator, and while the running game has improved under his watch, Iowa’s passing attack still leaves much to be desired.

Iowa strives for balance on offense; a 60-40 run-pass ratio probably would be ideal.

But it’s hard to be balanced when a team struggles to throw downfield.

The inability to throw downfield is a problem that has haunted the Iowa offense for far too long.

Former Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara struggled to do it in each of the pst two seasons, and so far, Gronowski has struggled to do it.

There were signs of life downfield in the UMass win, and even though the opponent left much to be desired, it was important for the Gronowski and his cohorts to show some balance on offense and the ability to throw downfield before heading into Big Ten play.

“I 100-percent needed it, and I think the team needed it as well,” Gronowski said. “Just continuing to be confident in myself and continuing to be confident in the guys around me is going really help us.”

Iowa could receive a boost from the expected return of sophomore running back Kamari Moulton, who hasn’t played since early in the season opener against UAlbany due to an injury.

“Positive front, looks like Kamari has got a chance to be back,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. “He worked yesterday and today and looked fine, so hopefully, we’ll get him ready to roll in the game as well.”

Moulton started the season opener against UAlbany and was Iowa’s leading returning rusher from last season when he gained 473 yards and scored three touchdowns as a backup to Kaleb Johnson.

“Getting Kamari back is always a good thing,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Anytime you get a good player back, it’s a good thing, and we think Kamari is a real good player. He is capable of breaking some longer runs, and if he can do that, that would be a great thing. This is a tough defense to do that against. These guys have done a really good job.”

Moulton’s return will help to offset the loss of redshirt freshman running back Xavier Williams, who apparently injured his arm in the win over U Mass.

Williams leads Iowa with 186 rushing yards and is averaging 7.2 yards per carry.

“Getting a good quality player back is really helpful,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Unfortunately, we lost Xavier. I’d rather not do a prisoner exchange, quite frankly. I’d rather go two for none instead of one for one.

“But the good news about Xavier is he’ll be fine, but it’s just going to take a little time.”

Iowa will also be without sophomore receivers Reece Vander Zee and Jarriett Buie, both of whom are injured and haven’t played this season.

Ferentz was asked Tuesday if there is any chance that Vander Zee could return before the bye week.

Following Friday’s game against Rutgers, Iowa will host Indian on Sept. 27 before heading into the first of two bye weeks.

“We’re not counting on it, but we’ll see,” Ferentz said. “We’ll see what it looks like next week, but not counting on it based on what I know. But I think beyond that, it looks pretty good. We’ll see.”

Buie continues to be hobbled by the same injury that has kept him from practicing for quite some time.

“We can go back to January. He’s just had some soft tissue stuff that we can’t quite get right,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I don’t think it’s anything major right now, but it’s been enough to keep him out, and it’s hard as a receiver if you can’t run, and that’s kind of been the issue.”

Iowa’s passing attack also has been hurt by multiple dropped passes this season. There were at least four drops in the first half of the UMass game.

“Believe it or not, we coach not to drop it, emphasize catching,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I always joke with the guys, that’s why they call it wide receivers, not wide droppers. There’s a name, why you call them wide receivers. The objective is to catch the football. It’s easier said than done sometimes. Sometimes it might be ball placement, sometimes a little bit behind, a little high, a little low, but you’ve got to flip it around, too, the quarterbacks have a tough job, and it’s not always clean back there.

“Everybody is just doing a little bit better, and a lot of times just concentration, and then sometimes I think guys try too hard and start fighting it. I don’t know anything about throwing a football, but I know this, if you throw a baseball and try to steer it or aim it or try to overthrow it, the ball tends to sail on you.”

 

Iowa (2-1) vs. Rutgers (3-0)

When: Friday, 7:05 p.m.

Where: Piscataway, New Jersey, SHI Stadium (52,454)

TV: FOX

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series: Friday’s game is the fifth all-time between Iowa and Rutgers. The Hawkeye are 4-0 against the Scarlet Knights, with two of the victories coming in Piscataway.