Iowa Hawkeyes have legitimate problems on offense

Iowa is one of 15 teams in the Power Five to reach double-digit wins this season. The Hawkeyes accomplished that with a strong defense and elite special teams.

However, Iowa has major issues on offense.

Thanks to some roster turnover, unfortunate injury luck, and old-school scheme, Iowa has had issues finishing drives with touchdowns. The ineffectiveness of this unit led to blowout losses to Michigan, Purdue, and Wisconsin.

Heading into the Citrus Bowl matchup with Kentucky, the Hawkeyes could struggle to put points on the scoreboard. KSR has the rundown on where offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz and his unit stand heading into the postseason.

Quarterback injuries

Spencer Petras was a four-star recruiting win for Iowa in the class of 2018. The Bay Area native backed up Nate Stanley in his first two years on campus before becoming the starter in 2020.

The 6-5, 233-pound pocket passer led the Hawkeyes to a 6-2 record with six consecutive wins to end the season. However, the numbers were not great. Petras averaged just 6.4 yards per attempt and completed just 57.1 percent of his passes.

As a redshirt junior, the quarterback was unable to take a step forward in 2021. Petras is averaging just 6.5 yards per attempt with a completion rate of 56.6 percent. Injuries have not helped.

Petras hurt his throwing shoulder in a loss to Wisconsin on Halloween weekend and has been slowed throughout the season. The redshirt junior quarterback only played a few series against Northwestern the next week before sitting out games against Minnesota and Illinois at home. Redshirt sophomore Alex Padilla stepped in, but the results were not pretty (49.1% completion rate, 5.7 yards per attempt, 33.9% success rate).

Petras replaced Padilla off the bench in the regular-season finale as Iowa pulled off a come from behind victory to beat Nebraska on the road. Petras got the start in the Big Ten Championship against Michigan but was knocked out early after suffering an abdominal injury during the game.

Iowa hasn’t been able to stay healthy, and that has played a major part in an offense that ranks No. 122 in yards per play (4.55).

Youth movement at wide receiver

In 2020, Ihmir Smith-Marsette emerged as one of the best receivers in the Big Ten. The senior was also helped out by veteran upperclassmen Brandon Smith. However, Iowa had to replace both in 2021.

The Hawkeyes have decided to get young and that has led to obvious growing pains.

Both Arland Bruce IV and Keagan Johnson were four-star recruiting wins for Iowa in the class of 2021. Unfortunately, they have been asked to contribute a ton as rookies.

Johnson leads Iowa wideouts in targets (52) but is woefully inefficient with a success rate of 34.6 percent as the Hawkeyes look to use the Nebraska native on vertical concepts as he has shown flashes of explosive playmaking.

How did Keagan Johnson get out of that!? 🤯@HawkeyeFootball | @_keaganj pic.twitter.com/b1Sx8DEfR8

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 13, 2021

Bruce has been efficient (80.8% catch rate) but only has 26 targets.

At tight end, Sam LaPorta leads the team in targets (77), receptions (46), and receiving yards (548). However, it’s very hard for an offense to be dynamic when a tight end is the clear top target.

The Hawkeyes are going through growing pains in the passing game, and it has had a huge impact on the offense.

Too many negatives

In Iowa’s pro-style attack, the Hawkeyes want to establish the run to create matchups in the play-action passing game. Iowa is not afraid to get into heavy or condensed sets and will use a fullback quite often. With a large amount of outside zone, bootleg concepts are a key part of the Iowa offense.

Unfortunately, negative plays occur often and consistently put an inefficient dropback passing game behind the chains. That has been a recipe for disaster in 2021.

Junior tailback Tyler Goodson has rushed for 1,151 yards and six touchdowns, but the Metro Atlanta native has had a heavy load of ineffective usage. On 256 attempts, Goodson has a success rate of just 34.4 percent on a 4.50 yards per rush average. That has mainly been driven by negative plays.

Over 25 percent of Goodson’s rushes have been a tackle for loss or no gain. In the passing game, Iowa’s offense has a sack rate of 7.65 percent which ranks No. 92 nationally.

Overall, Iowa’s offense has allowed 7.23 tackles for loss per game, and that ranks 119th nationally. For an offense that runs just 67.8 plays per game, that is a very high number.

When the Hawkeyes fall behind the chains, possessions usually come to an end.

Lack of production

Iowa has played 11 games against Power Five competition this season. In nine of those contests, the Hawkeyes have scored two touchdowns or less.

Brian Ferentz’s offense scored just one offensive touchdown against Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue, and Wisconsin. In the Big Ten Championship, Michigan held the offense out of the endzone for 60 minutes. Finishing drives with points can be very difficult for this unit.

Thanks to seven defensive/special teams scores and a bunch of field goals, the Hawkeyes have been able to get just enough points on the board. That has allowed Iowa to go 4-0 in one-possession games this season. However, there is no hiding from the fact that this offense has legitimate issues.

Thanks to a combination of multiple factors, Iowa has one of the worst offenses in the Power Five. Despite that, the Hawkeyes are 10-3 and at No. 15 in the CFP Top 25.

Kirk Ferentz’s club finds ways to win, but quite often it is not because of an offense that is finishing drives with touchdowns.