The Iowa Hawkeyes are simple– run the damn ball.
RUN KALEB RUN. That was the simple motto that the Iowa Hawkeyes rolled into Minneapolis with. The Hawkeyes have never been an offensive juggernaut– but Saturday’s game was a clear rebuttal by first-year offensive coordinator Tim Lester. Long sans a true passing attack, Iowa proved to the college football world that shooting the ball through the air is an overrated gameplan and their argument worked out masterfully.
When all was said and done, the Hawkeyes trotted off Huntington Bank Stadium with a resounding 31-14 win– one, that in the second half was more dominant than the final score presented. Running back Kaleb Johnson looked like an all-star rusher and a candidate for the Heisman Trophy with 206 yards on only 21 carries.
As college football gets more and more complicated with plenty of offensive schemes– everything ranging from the air raid to the triple option, Iowa’s offense shows a rebuke to the status quo. Sometimes, all you need is a return to simplistic, classic football. Keeping the ball on the ground shows a personification of conservative football values, but it’s clear that Lester is more than willing to take on a neo-conservative persona when it comes to the flash his offense has.
Lester doesn’t shy away from adding plenty of window dressing to his plays and formations, in addition to finding modern ways to achieve traditional play calls. A simple power could have up to two motions and plenty of moving parts. In essence, Lester has figured out the key to modernize and bring Iowa’s offense to the 21st century– 24 years later.
Take one look at the Iowa offense and you’ll see it’s not the same one Brian Ferentz left last year on his way out. Instead, it’s revamped in a way that hasn’t been seen by the bulwark of the Big Ten West in years.
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On Iowa’s first play from scrimmage, Lester directly attacked the common notion against the Hawkeye offense– the fact that they’re going to run the ball. A play action paired with a outside zone full slide and a bootleg immediately opened up options for transfer quarterback Cade McNamara. From there, Iowa did exactly what they did best. It was a return back to Iowa’s greatest hits. Inside zone, power, split zone with a tight end coming across behind the line of scrimmage– it was all there.
On Iowa’s first touchdown of the night, we saw a cornerstone of the modern offense, a slingshot motion by the slot wide receiver. A staple of newer coordinators who’ve been Kyle Shanahan-pilled, the motion is a direct contrast to the standard jet motion. A foreign thought in the previous Ferentz offensive regime, the slingshot motion draws vital defenders out of the box and away from where the offensive play will hit. Instead of playing straight big-on-big heifer-influenced football, it’s fancy heifer-influenced football.
And it makes sense. Iowa does one thing well on offense– and they do it damn well. Running the football has always been Iowa’s forte. A pedigree filled with “big uglies” as Ferentz likes to call them has led to a strong background and emphasis on the ground game in Iowa City. Historically, that has made them one-sided, but this year seems to be different.
With 293 yards on the ground, it’s hard to lose. But the Hawkeyes pounded the ball down the Gophers’ throat time after time. The time of possession was wildly swung in the Hawkeyes’ favor, but Minnesota made it closer at the end. That was Lester’s goal all along– wear the defense down.
Tight sets speckled the formation palette throughout the game, allowing receivers to make key blocks for when Johnson got to the second level. Iowa did an exceptional job of squeezing formation with plenty of sets where the widest receiver was positioned on the hash.
This allows receivers to be in a position to be more successful in the run game with a pin technique. Modern day offenses have also used this technique at the professional level especially from the Shanahan tree.
If there was one word to describe what Iowa’s offense did on Saturday, it would be pragmatic. Tim Lester has shown a true modernization of the offense that has otherwise been archaic– leading the Hawkeyes to a 3-1 record despite their lacking personnel compared to other Big Ten teams.
