Before every game, I ask a reporter who covers the Gophers upcoming opponent to give us a view from the opponent’s perspective.
I asked Jonah Parker from Black Heart Gold Pants’ of SBNation six questions about the Iowa Hawkeyes
Minnesota travels to Iowa City for the battle of the Floyd of Rosedale on October 21st, this will be the 117th meeting between the two rivals.
Huge thanks to Jonah for giving us his thoughts!
Follow CJ on Twitter: @JPinIC_BHGP
Follow Noel on Twitter: @N0elthompson
1. Kirk Ferentz enters his 25th year at Iowa, where he is 186-115 as the leader of the Hawkeyes. Last year, Iowa finished 8-5 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play. They finished their season with a 21-0 victory over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl. Entering this week, Iowa is 6-1 overall and in the driving seat to win the Big Ten West. What were the expectations of the Hawkeyes entering this year? In your opinion, are they beating, meeting, or not living up to those expectations?
That’s a really loaded question and much more complex to answer than it really should be. We spent a fair amount of time asking our community about their expectations both before the season and at various points through last week. Given how last season ended and the general state of Hawkeye fans really at any time since 2015, I would say the fanbase more optimistic than they’ve been in some time coming into the year.
On average, our community was calling for a 9-3 finish to the year, but the outliers were much more skewed toward the upside than the downside with virtually nobody calling for a finish worse than 8-4. A lot of that came down to the schedule, which is once again pretty soft with the trip to Penn State representing the only matchup with a ranked opponent to-date.
Of course, that resulted in a blowout and the offense seemed to start taking steps backward each week heading into that disaster. That was capped off with the loss of Cade McNamara for the season a week later and if you had run a poll of the fanbase midway through the first quarter of that Michigan State matchup, I think the answer would have been closer to 6-6 than 9-3.
So if you’re looking at preseason views, 6-1 at this point is probably pretty close to expectations. But the offense has clearly disappointed and the outlook from hear is pretty cloudy. Virtually nobody (less than 30% of our community and only one of our staffers) expected Iowa to win on the road in Madison and yet the Hawkeyes finally seemed to find the ground game and if they can do that, we might be right back on track for those 9-3 projections with more upside than downside.
2. Iowa landed a big player in the transfer portal when quarterback Cade McNamara decided to transfer to Iowa City from Michigan. McNamara injured his leg against Michigan State, which would take him out for the season. Now enters Deacon Hill, who has won the last two games as a starter. Can you give us a scouting report on Hill? What are his strengths, and what are his weaknesses?
Like McNamara, Deacon Hill is a fellow transfer who came to Iowa from Wisconsin. But that’s really where the similarities end. Hill is a big QB at 6’3” and 258 pounds and his big frame comes with a big arm. He has the ability to air it out 65+ yards, but to this point has really struggled with touch. His short and intermediate passes have been thrown with the same pace as those downfield passes, which resulted in an absurd six drops from Iowa WRs in that win over Michigan State.
That first entry into the lineup was really his best showing. We saw OC Brian Ferentz actually work in a fair amount of play-action passing with bootlegs and rollouts that had been off the table all season due to McNamara’s quad injury in the preseason. Hill isn’t going to be mistaken for a mobile QB, but getting him on the move seemed to put him in good rhythm to make on time throws that were largely on target. Just too hard to be caught.
Since then we’ve saw Ferentz the younger inexplicably abandon the play-action passing game in favor of empty sets out of shotgun. That’s seemed to leave Hill with little rhythm and he’s tended to lock on receivers and then… overthrow them.
The result has been a steadily declining completion percentage and a lack of attempts down the field. If Ferentz is to truly take advantage of what Hill does well, I would expect him to take advantage of the recent success on the ground and go back to those play-action bootlegs, get Hill on the move and take a few shots downfield with the big arm. Oh, and finally use the QB sneak given Hill is built more like a TE than a traditional Iowa QB.
3. The Hawkeye offense enters Saturday ranked 131st in the nation in passing with 116 yards per game; they are 100th in the nation with 130 yards per game. Even if those stats aren’t encouraging, the Hawkeyes are 6-1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the offense? Can you give us a few impact players Gophers fans should know about?
The low hanging fruit here is that there really are no strengths and not enough words for the weaknesses, but the reality is Iowa truly does seem to be finding its way in the running game. That’s been a major issue the last season and a half, but in Hill’s two starts Iowa is averaging 191 yards on the ground. That includes 200 a week ago at Wisconsin when Iowa got a lead and essentially decided the defense was not going to give up a TD unless the offense turned it over. So they refused to throw a pass the entire fourth quarter. Wisconsin still couldn’t stop the run and Iowa left with the Heartland Trophy and the keys to the West.
A big part of that has been the steady transition away from Iowa’s signature zone blocking scheme to more gap concepts. Halfway through the season, we’re really starting to see that change work out with running back Leshon Williams suited well for the scheme. He ran for 174 yards and a TD on 7 yards per carry against the Badgers, but has really earned a spot while starter Kaleb Johnson was sidelined with an ankle injury. A week ago against Purdue, it was Johnson who went off for 134 yards and a TD on 7.9 yards per carry.
Look for those two to get plenty of work this weekend with Jaziun Patterson sprinkled in as a guy with a bit more burst. He tallied 86 yards and a TD on 8.6 ypc in Iowa’s road win over Iowa State earlier this year but has also missed the last several weeks with an ankle injury.
In the passing game, Iowa is really struggling to find answers. Starting TE Luke Lachey was a Mackey-caliber player who was lost for the year to a leg injury against Western Michigan. Iowa had been running a lot of two tight end concepts with him and Michigan transfer Erick All, himself a Mackey-caliber TE. All was Iowa’s leading receiver before he tore his ACL at Wisconsin last week and forced the Hawkeyes to try throwing to receivers.
I expect Iowa to continue throwing to the tight ends with third stringer Addison Ostrenga poised to return from injury and other depth pieces Steven Stilianous and Johnny Pascuzi both capable of operating within the scheme. On the outside, the Hawkeyes still have Nico Ragaini and Coastal Carolina transfer Seth Anderson is a very capable receiver if Brian Ferentz opts to try a forward pass.
4. The Iowa defense is ranked 10th in the nation in points against, only allowing 14.9 points a game. They rank 9thin the Big Ten in rushing yards allowed and 6th in passing yards allowed. Once again, it looks like another great year under Phil Parker. What makes this Iowa defense so good at not allowing points? What players on the defensive side of the ball should Minnesota fans know about?
I really should draft a Phil Parker primer that can just be copy and pasted each year because the players change, but the scheme stays the same and so do the reasons it works. Parker is tremendous as teaching the fundamentals and hammering the keys to his defense into his players’ brains. And that’s really what makes this group special.
It’s really rare to find someone out of position. The scheme is based on keeping everything in front of the defense, giving up those short throws and trying to stretch runs to the sideline rather than letting runners get to the second level. Everyone swarms to the ball and the secondary moves to their spots like second nature, allowing them to keep their eyes in the backfield at all times.
They’ll allow teams to move down the field working under the assumption that opponents will make a mistake over the course of 10-12 plays that sets them off schedule or turns the ball over. Penn State has proven the only team this year both capable and willing to take the underneath stuff over and over without getting impatient or making a killer mistake (0 turnovers over the course of 97 plays without a single play over 19 yards).
The big names to know for opponents are linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson, an All-ACC transfer from Virginia. Higgins and Jackson are first and fifth in the conference in tackling respectively. Beside them is Sebastian Castro in Iowa’s “cash” position. He’s a human missile that has really come on the last several weeks and is good for at least two plays that will leave you wondering where he came from to make the hit.
And then there’s Cooper DeJean. I don’t know what I can honestly say about DeJean other than he is the best athlete on the roster and I don’t think it’s particularly close. He’s almost never out of position and if he is 90% of the time it’s because someone got away with something on the other side of the ball. In the other 10% of times he seems to come up with a massive play the next time out. If Minnesota throws at him more than a handful of times I would be surprised. I would be more surprised if they do and he doesn’t come away with a turnover.
5. It would be irresponsible of me to not ask you about special teams. What Iowa lacks in offensive power, it makes up for by flipping the field thanks to punter Tory Taylor and punt returner Cooper DeJean. Please tell me this is their last year in Iowa. Could Tory Taylor be the highest-drafted punter in NFL history when he declares? When will their statues be made outside of Kinnick?
Unfortunately for Iowa fans, yes, this is almost certainly the last year we get to talk about these two in Iowa City. DeJean is destined for the NFL after this season unless he decides college fun (of which he doesn’t appear to be having any at any point) is more important than money.
Taylor also has another year of eligibility, but as an Aussie he is not only older than your average college athlete, but also the only guy on the roster not able to make money from his NIL. I expect him to leave after the season as well.
Until then, look for Taylor to back the Gophers into a hole inside their own ten a few times this weekend and completely flip the field for the inept offense more than a few times. DeJean will have fewer opportunities, but if for some reason we get a Gopher punt that the coverage, buckle your seatbelts.
6. Saturday will be the 117th meeting between Iowa and Minnesota as they battle for the Floyd of Rosedale. Nobody needs to tell P.J. Fleck that he has never beaten Iowa in his tenure at Minnesota. Iowa has won eight straight over Minnesota; five of those games have been decided by a touchdown or less. What does Iowa need to do to continue the streak over Minnesota? What is your prediction for the game?
Like the defense answer above, I feel like I could copy and paste an answer to this question for every game Iowa has played under Kirk Ferentz. The long and the short of it is Iowa needs to win the turnover battle, establish the run and play from ahead of the sticks. If they do those things they’ll win virtually every game.
On the flip side, if they fail to do any one of those things, they’ll struggle with just about any opponent they face. The style Ferentz wants to play shortens games, limits possessions and makes more games than not a one-possession affair. You can’t play that style without winning time of possession by establishing the run and you can’t expect to win one-possession games when you lose the turnover battle.
This week, I think the Iowa defense finds a way to create 2+ turnovers and while they may not directly account for points, those shortened fields are desperately needed with this offense. I expect Minnesota to sell out to stop Iowa’s run game, but the Hawkeyes to actually go back to play-action passing more than we’ve seen the last two weeks and find a way to finally hit a deep shot or two. And in the end, I think that’s enough for the Hawkeyes to get a win in another low-scoring rock fight.
Iowa 17, Minnesota 13