IOWA CITY — It's been a rough couple years up front for the Iowa offense, but just in time, the ground game is back to carry a winning season.
As injuries continued to pile up in the passing game, Iowa needed to lean on its offensive line and rushing attack for its trip to Camp Randall against Wisconsin Saturday. With the Hawkeyes looking for their first win in Madison since 2015 and the Badgers favored by 10 points entering the game, the outside pessimism was, at least, understandable.
Instead, the Hawkeye offense continued to build on its progress in the rushing game and delivered its biggest statement of the season with the 15-6 win that propelled Iowa to the driver's seat of the Big Ten West.
Tuesday, the Hawkeyes talked more about their progress and what it means for the last five games of the season and the chase for another Big Ten West division title.
Junior running back Leshon Williams was named the starter on Monday’s depth chart over sophomore Kaleb Johnson, who had a breakout season in 2022 but has battled injuries all season.
Williams, who has a team-high 459 yards on 75 rushes this season, was unaware Tuesday that he was put ahead of his close friend and self-described “RBU” stable-mate.
"I didn't know that,” Williams said. “I still gotta go out there and do my job. Just because I'm listed as the starting running back really doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day; we’re gonna need every back that's suiting up. Last week was my game, this week might be another person's game, so we've still all got to go out there and do our job."
Head coach Kirk Ferentz wasn’t exactly coy about his decision process with Williams.
“It had something to do with the 82-yard run, or whatever it was,” Ferentz said. “I mean shit, pardon my French, that was a really big play for us. He ran the ball extremely well. We’ve got faith in all of our guys, including the two young guys.”
Ferentz's “two young guys” are true freshmen Kamari Moulton and TJ Washington, who have combined for 30 rushes for 127 yards and a pair of scores in reserve work, mostly while injuries battered the RB room earlier in the season. “They may be in there Saturday too,” Ferentz said. “You never know, the way this year's going.”
Johnson is at least back in the mix, and running back Jaz Patterson is close to returning to the rotation as well; Iowa’s most bruising back missed the first three weeks of the Big Ten season and was only available in an emergency role against Wisconsin Saturday. Indeed, Patterson hasn’t rushed the ball since the first quarter of Iowa’s 41-10 victory over Western Michigan in Week 3.
Offense is often looked at on an individual basis — certainly more often than defense — but a rushing game depends on so many more factors than who's taking the handoff. A successful ground game necessarily starts with the offensive line, and Iowa’s much-maligned front five have settled into their roles this season and become (somewhat improbably) the bedrock off the offense.
"We pride ourselves on the offensive line here at the University of Iowa,” senior center Logan Jones said. “And just to see the amount of obstacles we've overcome, and the amount of growth we've had. That's just the way we do things. We want to get better each week, from Week 1 to Week 12, and you're going to see that from this unit."
Ferentz, notoriously a line-focused coach, has seen the same thing.
“I think all of us have seen improvement the last three weeks,” Ferentz said. “It shows up in different ways, but we're getting a little bit more mature. Now we're operating a little bit better together and having a better feel. Certainly the run game was huge for us the other night. We'll be a better football team if we can run the ball successfully.”
"If" is the operative word here, as the production isn’t yet a foregone conclusion week-to-week; Iowa still only rushed for 61 yards against Michigan State as recently as Week 5. The 190.5-yard average of the last two games, though, reflects development that some Hawkeyes have seen since summer camp.
"We've seen it from the beginning of the year,” Williams said. “I see how hard they work in practice, I see their film habits, their study habits and everything, and I expect no less from those guys. I know they're going to keep getting better and better every week, and we're going to continue to run hard."
The last two weeks aren’t Iowa’s only good performance up front, either; the Hawkeyes gashed Western Michigan for 254 yards in Week 3, even without Johnson dressing and with Patterson leaving the game early. Williams had his first 100-yard game of his career in that win, running for 145 yards on only 12 rushes, along with two catches for 27 yards and a touchdown.
Still, it’s one thing to put yards up against the likes of Western Michigan. It’s quite another to walk into Camp Randall and push the Badgers around for 60 minutes, outgaining the Big Ten’s rushing leaders 200-104 in the win.
Iowa set the tone for that game early, rushing the ball on the first seven snaps of the game for 32 yards and pushing into Badger territory before the Camp Randall student section was even half full.
“That was the plan,” tight end Steven Stilianos said. "I think it's just who we are and what we wanted to do, to send a message for that first drive. We're not going to shy away from the physicality. We're gonna come in here, we're gonna run the ball, we're gonna be physical. And that's what we're going to do whether you like it or not. Even if you stack the box, we're still gonna run."
Jones agreed. “When you can come out and run the ball, it opens a lot of areas for us,” he said. “Leshon and Kaleb were running their hearts out, and it makes things easier. You've got guys running that hard, you want to block for them. So being able to do that and establish our run game really helped us.”
Presumably, Iowa will need to pass the ball more effectively in the back half of the season if the Hawkeyes want to keep their 6-1 pace and get back to Indianapolis for another shot at winning the Big Ten Championship. Nobody in Iowa City is arguing that QB Deacon Hill's 87 yards per game since Cade McNamara's season-ending knee injury is sufficient or sustainable.
At a minimum, though, Iowa getting back to moving the ball on the ground effectively and continuing to win games lends the offense some patience with Hill's development.
"Deacon's a great leader," Williams said. "I know he's not having the games he wants to have, but everybody's still got faith in Deacon. He's taken control of the offense, and he's taking the extra time in practice to get his throws down, get his extra reps, footwork and everything."
"Eventually it'll click and everybody'll see," said Williams.
