With Iowa football enjoying its bye week, the players get a break from the media. Instead, the coordinators get a chance to open up on their thoughts four games into the season.

Brian Ferentz and the offense

It’s no secret that the offense got off to a sluggish start the first two games of the season, as it managed just 6 points in the first half of both those games. That is something offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz addressed going into the Wisconsin and Northern Iowa games, and it paid off.

In their last two games, the Hawkeyes put up 28 first half points, a trend they would like to continue after the bye week.

“Didn’t feel like we had started very fast in either of the first two ballgames,” Ferentz said. “So we tried to tweak some things, change some things up, take a little different approach just with how we were doing everything. It will be the same thing coming out of the bye; the emphasis will be to help the players get going faster.”

Part of the key to starting fast is, not surprisingly, starting fast on first downs.

“Our number is 4 yards on first down.” Ferentz said. “If we’re at 4 yards, we’re winning. So the next step for us, whether we’re throwing the ball or running it, just staying on schedule and doing that on a more consistent basis.”

Phil Parker and the defense

On Tuesday, it was reported that Nick Niemann would miss a couple of weeks because to a leg injury he suffered on the last play of the Wisconsin game.

Nothing is official regarding his replacement, but it seems to be narrowed down to two.

RELATED: Iowa linebacker Nick Niemann to miss time with leg injury

“Barrington Wade has been playing out there,” Parker said. “He’s been doing a good job in practice. So we’re pleased to see where he’s going. We’ll probably move Kristian [Welch], and he’ll be taking some reps there at outside backer. He played there early in camp, and he has flexibility, so we’re confident we can move him out there, too.”

Welch has started a few games at weakside linebacker this season and has racked up 26 tackles along with a sack, while Wade has appeared in every game so far this season but does not have any stats.

While the big question going into next week’s game against Minnesota will be who is starting at outside linebacker, the weakside is also up for grabs.

Both Djimon Colbert and Welch have started at weakside linebacker, and each has taken a significant amount of snaps at that position, and right now, Parker is still unsure of who will be with the first team come Oct. 6.

“I think Djimon and Kristian both have to go in there,” Parker said. “We’ll find a guy in there, and I think as we go moving Kristian back out and giving him some reps at the Will backer might help us out in the long run.”

LeVar Woods and special teams

After the Wisconsin game, there was a lot of scrutiny on special teams, especially the punt returns. Two miscues during returns may have botched the game for Iowa (in the eyes of some), but Woods is confident his team will move on, and it has the chance to become an elite punt-return squad.

“It’s a team effort,” Woods said. “There are some things that we’ve got to fix, but I think we’re very close to being a dangerous return unit.