Iowa’s offense gave itself plenty to feel good about in Week 6, but the biggest concern hasn’t gone anywhere.
The Hawkeyes rolled up 41 points in their win at Washington and got a huge day on the ground from Kamari Moulton, who finished with a career-high 208 rushing yards. Iowa piled up 263 total rushing yards, its best output since Week 3 against Northern Iowa, and that came after a stretch that included matchups at Michigan, against Ohio State and at Washington before the bye. Iowa went 2-1 in that run, which was enough to get through one of the season’s toughest sequences.
Still, the run game isn’t clicking in the way Iowa usually wants it to.
Before the Washington game, Iowa ranked No. 120 in rushing success rate at 36.1% and No. 115 in explosive rush rate at 4%. Against Washington, the Hawkeyes improved the efficiency number, posting a 53% rushing success rate, but the big-play problem stayed put. Iowa’s explosive rush rate in the game was just 3%.
That’s the issue staring this offense in the face: it can put together productive rushing totals, but it is not generating enough runs that break a defense open.
The season has already shown both sides of that coin. Iowa opened with 289 rushing yards in Week 1 and then blew past that with 422 against Northern Iowa in Week 3, when Xavier Williams ran for 151 yards, Braeden Jackson added 125 and Nathan McNeil chipped in 111. But the Hawkeyes also hit dry stretches, including the 93 rushing yards against Iowa State in Week 2 and the quiet outings against Michigan and Ohio State.
The common thread is simple. Iowa can look dangerous when the ground game is moving, but it has been far too dependent on volume and too short on explosive plays.
An explosive run, as noted, is any run of more than 10 yards, and Iowa has repeatedly struggled to produce them. That showed up most clearly in the games against Iowa State, Michigan and Ohio State, when the offense managed just 190 total rushing yards combined.
That matters because when Iowa runs well, the whole offense looks better. When it doesn’t, things get tight fast. And with opponents likely to crowd the box even more to slow the run, the Hawkeyes may be pushed toward a passing game they would rather not lean on.
Washington was a chance for Iowa to show what this offense can be when the run game finally wakes up. It did that in the box score, at least to a point. But the underlying issue remains.
The next test comes against Minnesota, and the Golden Gophers are coming off a rough Week 6 performance of their own, allowing 305 rushing yards in a loss to Purdue. Iowa will try to establish the run again there, but unless the Hawkeyes start producing more chunk plays on the ground, the same concern will keep hanging over this offense.
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