Depth Chart Monday

This is what I meant to write yesterday, but the bigness of this game kept piling up and overwhelmed me.

Super aggressive, active run support from the secondary

— After the 'happening' in Minneapolis, you saw plays against Illinois where defensive backs really jumped run keys. I know, they pretty much could've done anything they wanted against Illinois, but it worked exceedingly well against a QB who was more than capable of hurting them with his arm.

You guys know that saying 'if your safeties are making all the tackles, it's bad'? I still kind of buy into that, but has been the way for Iowa and quite a few defenses in the Big Ten. Linebacker is a physical position and Iowa is young there. The secondary has been asked to fill a lot of gaps this season, starting with the Pitt game. The results have been mixed, but the aggression paid off against Illinois.

Strong safety John Lowdermilk led Iowa with seven tackles and had a tackle for loss. Cornerback Greg Mabin had six tackles and a tackle for loss.

Iowa preaches team defense. Run fits are a huge part of that, and the Iowa secondary is asked to play a lot of force in games.

Can it afford that approach against Wisconsin and Melvin Gordon? It doesn't have a choice. Gordon is money in the bank. QBs Joel Stave and Tanner McEvoy are a pass-run combo that is working on the pass part of QB. Iowa has to sell out and take it chances through the air. Lots of man coverage coming this week.

Attack of the tight ends

— I don't know if it's sustainable, but Iowa tight ends splashed back into the gameplan with seven catches for 130 yards and two TDs.

Junior Jake Duzey caught 53- and 44-yard passes. Senior Ray Hamilton caught the first two TD passes of his career. Junior Henry Krieger-Coble left the game with what radio said was a shoulder injury. I'm not sure of his status this week. Sophomore George Kittle, who missed a couple of games, played quite a bit last week. HKC and Kittle are cousins but very different players. HKC has been a classic second TE (blocker) with some decent feel in short-yardage passing. Kittle is fast and athletic.

Can the Iowa TE position be a game-changer? Against a 3-4 defense, an overloaded line might be able to freeze blitzes and win a numbers game at point of attack.

Healthy running game

— Oh boy, do the numbers scream that Iowa can win when it runs and can't when it doesn't.

In Iowa's three losses this season, it's yards per carry were 2.93 (ISU), 3.74 (Maryland) and 2.80 (Minnesota). It's won some games where it hasn't been great, but when it's bad, that's a losing number for Iowa.

You saw it work last weekend. RB Mark Weisman crossed the 100-yard barrier for the first time in 18 games. That's nice, but what maybe was more important was junior Jordan Canzeri looking alive. He suffered a high-ankle sprain at Maryland on Oct. 18. You saw him limp to the sidelines a few times on Saturday, but he had his best game this year, rushing 12 times for 68 yards. Iowa coaches have tried to make him a featured runner, but health hasn't cooperated. He would help this week.

Moving the chains

— I think it was significant that Iowa converted big pass plays on third-and-shorts last week. QB Jake Rudock passed for first downs on of five third-and-shorts, including a pair of TD passes to Hamilton. That's good playcalling. That keeps defenses off-balance. It skews tendencies and you know it's something the Badgers defensive staff is combing over this week.

And, as you've probably already guessed, in Iowa's three losses, it's had its worst third-down performances of the season — 43 percent (ISU), 33 (Maryland) and 38 (Minnesota).

Big, big pass plays

— Iowa had nine 20-plus plays against Illinois. And, sure, the fact that it was Illinois does water down this number, so grain of salt and everything.

Iowa has to be balanced against Wisconsin. It has to know that going in. Big pass plays, IMO, show growth in this offense. Doing that against Wisconsin would show overall health and, maybe, an arrival.

TV stuff

— This game kicks off 2:30 on ABC with Dave Flemming, Chris Speilman and Todd McShay. BTW, McShay brought up former Iowa RB Brandon Wegher in his ESPN post this week. McShay said Wegher will get a shot in an NFL training camp next summer probably as an undrafted free agent. (No, Wegher wouldn't have been eligible for Saturday if he stayed at Iowa. His last year would've been 2012, without a redshirt.)

Wegher has had a terrific resurgence at NAIA Morningside. In a loss to Doane last week, he rushed for 250 yards and five touchdowns. This season he's set three NAIA records — 36 TDs, 33 rushing TDs and 218 points in a season. Morningside is the fourth seed in the NAIA playoff bracket.

Iowa closes the regular season Friday, Nov. 28, hosting Nebraska (11 a.m., ABC).

The actual depth chart

— I see no changes this week.

Nothing to the Rudock shoulder injury that bloomed after his 6-yard TD run against Illinois. He said after the game he was fine.

TE Henry Krieger-Coble left Illinois with what radio said was a shoulder injury. He's on the depth chart. After that, I can't think of anyone.

Hey, this week does Iowa try Carl Davis at DE? Just spitballing. You could make an argument for sophomore DT Jaleel Johnson maybe being Iowa's fourth-best DL. Play him at DT and switch Davis to DE? Crazy talk? OK, I'll move along.

LB Josey Jewell gets his second career start with junior Travis Perry out with an ankle injury. Sophomore Reggie Spearman backs him up.

WR Riley McCarron is likely out for the regular season with a case of mono. You saw last week that sophomore WR Matt VandeBerg replaced him on punt return. Senior WR Kevonte Martin-Manley lost the job in camp after a muff against LSU in the Outback Bowl. Ferentz said a couple of weeks ago that he hates NCAA rules on punt return, which gives all 10 players a free release when the ball is snapped. In the NFL, just gunners and the center have free release at snap. The rest of the unit has to wait until the ball is punted.

It's a simple exchange. Don't read anymore into it. OK, maybe it's not exactly simple, but it's an exchange.

For whatever reason, Iowa still likes freshman Ike Boettger at No. 2 left tackle and freshman Boone Myers at No. 2 left guard when it warmups it's reversed.

More football nerdiness

... Iowa's personnel groups last week against Illinois. The Hawkeyes did what they wanted. Illinois' defense is broken.

12 (RB, two TEs)

— 33 (41.7 percent) Iowa wants to use the TEs. It aches to use the TEs. So, it did vs. the Illini to great success — seven catches, 130 yards and two TDs. In Iowa's previous two games, TEs were limited to two receptions. Did Jake Duzey show enough last week to make UW sweat against 12 in its base 3-4? Probably a better question is if Iowa's run game can keep UW in base and try to take advantage of that in the pass game. I don't see the Badgers throwing any nickel against the Hawkeyes in any down that might be seen as a run down.

21 (RB, FB, one TE)

— 18 (22.7 percent) Iowa doesn't pass a lot of out this unless it's play-action. That's been a pretty big tell. Still, a lot riding on Iowa's run game. It's going to have to be clipping along to get UW to take play-action seriously.

11 (RB, TE)

— 19 (24.0 percent) If you add this all up throughout the season, you'll probably find this is Iowa's most frequent personnel group. Iowa simply hasn't run the ball well enough out of this to take advantage of the edge it would have against a nickel defense, which often is the sub-package against three wide receivers. Iowa has run more 11 with the TE in-line. I assume that's an attempt to give the possibility of a run out of this formation a boost.

23 (RB, FB, three TEs)

— 4 (5.0 percent) Iowa was 0-for-2 from this formation in the first drive of the game, when it had third-goal and fourth-goal from Illinois' 1.

22 (RB, FB, two TEs)

— 7 (8.8 percent) Iowa runs out of this like 98 percent of the time. It is, however, one of Iowa's jet sweep formations. It worked for good yardage twice against Illinois.

13 (RB, three TEs)

— 3 (3.7 percent) This is the maximum amount of 'run show' while still maintaining a little threat of a pass. HKC was hurt last week, but he's on the depth chart this week. I wonder if he is hurt that this sees the light of day. It could be a could formation against a 3-4. Does this formation force Wisconsin to put eight in the box and thus open the possibility play-action?

Where Iowa's O did stuff

... Here's what they did and where they went (formations included):

Series 1

— rush right (+6 Weisman, 21), pass short right (+18 Plewa, play-action roll, 21), jet sweep left (+20 Parker, 12), rush right (+23 Weisman, 12), rush middle (+5 Weisman, 22), rush middle (+1 Weisman, 22), rush left (+1 Weisman, 22), rush middle (0 Weisman, 23)

Series 2

— rush right (-2 Wadley, 13), rush middle (+3 Bullock, 11), pass short right (incomplete, Duzey target, 11)

Series 3

— rush left (+9 Weisman, 12), rush left (+7 Weisman, 12), fumbled snap (12)

Series 4

— rush right (+3 Weisman, 12), pass mid right (+12 Hamilton, 12), rush right (+6 Weisman, 21), rush left (+3 Weisman, 21), QB sneak (+2 Rudock, 21), rush right (+4 Bullock), rush right (+3 Canzeri, 12), pass mid right (incomplete, Hamilton target, 12)

Series 5

— pass deep left (+44 Duzey, 12), pass mid left (+13 Duzey, 13), scramble left (+6 Rudock, 22), rush right (+3 Weisman, 22), pass short right (+1 Hamilton, TD, 23)

Series 6

— pass deep left (+39 Martin-Manley, play-action, 21), rush right (+4 Canzeri, 12), rush middle (+3 Canzeri, 12), rush right (+1 Weisman, 21), pass left short (+1 Plewa, 23)

Series 7

— rush middle (+12 Bullock, 11), pass short left (+6 Powell, 11), pass deep left (incomplete, Smith target, 11), scramble right (+20 Rudock, 11), pass short left (+7 Bullock, screen, 11), pass mid middle (+15 Smith, 11), pass mid left (incomplete, Smith target, 11)

Series 8

— jet sweep left (+1 Parker, 22), rush left, (+2 Weisman, 12), pass mid right (+11 Smith, 11), pass deep right (incomplete, Smith target, 21), rush right (+28 Weisman, 12), rush left (+4 Weisman, 21), rush left (+2 Weisman, 21), fumbled snap (+1, 11), pass short right (incomplete, Smith target, 11)

Series 9

— rush left (+2 Canzeri, 12), rush right (+4 Canzeri, 12), pass short right (+13 Martin-Manley, 11), rush right (+7 Weisman, 12), rush middle (+7 Weisman, 12), scramble (+8 Rudock, 12), rush middle (+16 Canzeri, 21), pass mid right (incomplete, 21), rush middle (+5 Weisman, 12), pass short left (+6 Hamilton, TD, 11)

Series 10

— scramble (+2 Rudock, 12), rush middle (+5 Weisman, 12), rush right (+2 Weisman, 12), pass mid middle (+21 Smith, 11), rush left (+14 Canzeri, 12), rush middle (+3 Weisman, 12), rush left (+6 Rudock, TD, 12)

Series 11

— rush middle (-3 Canzeri, 11), jet sweep left (+13 Parker, 12), rush middle (+3 Canzeri, 12), pass deep left (+53 Duzey, 12), pass short right (+1 Hamilton, play-action, 12), rush left (-1 Beathard, 11), pass deep left (+19 Powell, 11)

Series 12

— rush middle (-1 Canzeri, 21), rush right (+4 Canzeri, 21), rush middle (+20 Canzeri, 12), rush left (+3 Wadley, 21), rush right (+6 Wadley, 21), rush right (+2 Wadley, 21), rush right (+3 Wadley, 21), rush left (+2 Wadley, 22)

Points of interest

— Good stuff from Iowa SID office.

• Iowa has scored 30 or more points in four Big Ten games for the first time since 2005 (4). The last time Iowa scored 30 or more points in five Big Ten games was 2002 (6). Under head coach Kirk Ferentz, Iowa is 62-6 when scoring 30 or more points.

• Iowa has three road wins this season (3-2) and seven road wins over the last two seasons (4-1 in 2013). It is the first time in the Ferentz era Iowa has back-to-back winning seasons on the road. Iowa has five winning road records since 1999 (2002, 5-0; 2004,

3-2; 2009, 4-1; 2013, 4-1; 2014, 3-2).

• In Big Ten games only, the Hawkeyes lead the conference in pass defense, allowing 125.7 passing yards per game. Iowa's pass offense ranks No. 2 in the league with 241.0 yard per game.

• In six conference games, the Hawkeyes rank No. 4 in total offense averaging 425.2 yards per game.

• In Big Ten games only, Iowa leads the Big Ten averaging 25.5 yards in kickoff returns. In all games, RB Jonathan Parker averages 24.7 yards per return, No. 2 in the conference.

• Nineteen Hawkeyes have caught at least one pass this season (eight backs, seven receivers, four tight ends). The Hawkeyes have had 10 or more players record at least one catch in four of their seven wins.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com