By Jordan Hansen
Against Wisconsin, the story of Iowa’s running game was much as it had been throughout the season: up-and-down.
The Hawkeyes ended with just 83 yards rushing, a total far below what head coach Kirk Ferentz wants to see. Now to be fair, the Badgers have perhaps the best linebacker group in the Big Ten, which played no small part in the Heartland Trophy heading back to Madison.
Iowa’s going to have to be better against Penn State, owners of the 10th-ranked rushing defense in the conference.
“The way we’re built, we’re not built to play off schedule,” offensive coordinator Greg Davis said last week. “We are built to play hard-nose-run football.”
Davis was responding to a question about what issues were plaguing the offense. He immediately brought up getting into third-and-long situations, which has been a huge issue for the Hawkeyes this season.
Getting production on first and second down is critical, and there have been points where this simply hasn’t happened.
Iowa is currently eighth in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game, with 167.88. Not terrible, but when C.J. Beathard isn’t putting up quite the passing numbers he did a year ago, this starts to become a little bit of an issue.
Passing opens up the running game. It makes opposing defenses do things differently, moves them around, and can sometimes get them out of position. The Hawkeyes also live on play-action passes, another wrinkle they love to use.
Beathard hasn’t been bad, per se, but he only averages 171 yards passing per game. That’s 10th in the Big Ten. He does have 11 touchdowns against just 4 interceptions, but his 58.7 completion percentage is less than what Ferentz would probably like.
That said, the head coach isn’t worried.
“He’s what you want at quarterback. He’s wired right,” Ferentz said. “He’s a tough-minded guy. That’s really, at the end of the day, what it takes to be successful. You really have to be a mentally tough guy to do this and to do anything that’s hard and competitive.”
If Beathard can do a little bit more with his arm, it will help out running backs Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels. There’s been talk of getting both of them on the field at the same time, which could have some interesting consequences.
Wadley has been working a bit split out and seems to be going well.
“Whether I’m in the backfield or the slot, any way I can help the team out best, I will,” Wadley said.
Wadley works best in space, which is why he is fed so many outside run ning plays. When he breaks free, watch out. If you need a reminder, take a look at any one his runs against Northwestern a season ago.
To pull an upset against Penn State (which sounds weird to say) it’s imperative the running game gets going early. The Nittany Lions are going to want to run the ball with Saquon Barkley, especially if they feel there’s a chance to exploit weakness in the Iowa defense.
It’s going to be interesting to watch and may just help decide Iowa’s fate.
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