KOK's 'fun, interesting' year

His quarterback threw 14 interceptions, his running backs led the Big Ten in cortisone shots and, eventually, his offense saw 20 different starters.

Had to have been a fun and interesting year for Ken O'Keefe, Iowa's offensive coordinator.

"It would depend on what your definition of fun is," O'Keefe said during a news conference last week.

Maybe satisfying would've been the better word for the question.

Iowa's offense has never been a complete picture this season. It started in June, when No. 1 running back Jewel Hampton suffered a torn ACL. Then, all-star left tackle Bryan Bulaga missed three games with a thyroid condition. The Oct. 24 victory at Michigan State cost Hawkeyes offensive starters nine missed games, from guard Dace Richardson's season-ending broken leg to running back Adam Robinson's high-ankle sprain to wide receiver Colin Sandeman's concussion.

And then, after an aggressive first quarter against Northwestern that had Iowa headed to 10-0, quarterback Ricky Stanzi suffered a nasty high-ankle sprain and was lost for the last two games of the regular season, including the de facto Big Ten championship game the next week at Ohio State.

With pretty much everything in flux throughout the year, Iowa's offense, for the most part, found a way and the Hawkeyes are 10-2 and opposite Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 5.

 So, maybe not "fun and interesting," but how about "satisfying"?

"This group of guys has been a lot of fun to coach and a lot of fun to be around. They're a great group and being successful is important to them," O'Keefe said. "Our guys are resilient. They believe in themselves and they believe in the 'next man in' theory. They approach that with great seriousness and the guy who steps in is expected to fill the spot and fill it well and not let the team down and that's what we've seen for the most part.

"That makes it fun to be around these guys."

For more "fun and interesting," O'Keefe only needs to analyze the performance of Stanzi, whose season was a wild ride with more twists than Yoga.

Stanzi finished the season 154 of 275 (56 percent) for 2,189 yards, 15 TDs and 14 interceptions. At the beginning of the season, Stanzi struggled in the first half and came through in the second. Later, he just had nutty, nutty games, including the game-winning drive at Michigan State after not doing much and then the five-interception, two-TD, fourth-quarter comeback against Indiana.

It should be noted here in neon lights that Stanzi's record as Iowa's starter is 17-4.

O'Keefe hasn't done a total analysis of Stanzi's season, but he saw some good and some "sort of." He was asked if Stanzi improved this season.

"I will say this; from a leadership standpoint, absolutely," O'Keefe said about Stanzi's progress. "From a performance standpoint, sort of.

"As many big plays as we made that were the difference in a game, we took the bare minimum, but we made them," O'Keefe said. ". . . It was disappointing that we didn't take care of the ball as well as we should have. Rick would be the first to tell you that. We're back working at that right now."

O'Keefe acknowledged that he puts a lot on Stanzi. His directions to the junior are "be careful, but not too careful."

"Being a quarterback is a tough job," O'Keefe said. "He has me telling him to take care of the ball, and the next time I'm telling him to get the ball out of his hands. Those two things kind of don't go together the right way.

"We've thrown the ball down the field more this year, too. We need to do a better job of that. Those are the same things we're talking about right now. Make good decisions, but don't be afraid to throw it downfield, or to throw it away and let (punter Ryan) Donahue go to work."

The other hot spot on Iowa's offense -- OK, the other massive hot spot -- was running back.

The depth chart was basically turned upside down, with Hampton (knee) and freshman Jeff Brinson (foot) never factoring because of injury.

"We thought it might be Jewel, Brinson, Paki (O'Meara), Robinson and (true freshman Brandon) Wegher," O'Keefe said. "The order got flipped a little bit. How would we know anything? Wegher wasn't here, Robinson got limited reps in the spring. Until you put the ball in their hands against someone else, it's hard to tell."

Robinson and Wegher were relative unknowns when camp started last August and certainly when the season started. They ended up being the team's top two rushers with Robinson gaining 775 yards with five TDs and Wegher going for 528 yards and seven TDs.

"I will say this, I think (runnin backs coach) Lester Erb has done an unreal job the last two years," O'Keefe said. "He took Shonn Greene off the furniture truck and got him ready to play last year and Hampton was a true freshman last year.

"You look at this year, two guys that were relative unknowns at this level, with no experience, he's done an outstanding job, especially in the pass game. Running backs are pretty instinctive. . . .  But now you have to put them in situations where they have to protect the quarterback. You have to be able to trust what they're going to do, or do they know what they are going to do? The doing it is the toughest part, usually for a first-year running back.

"Are they physically able to do it? And then understanding the assignment. Both of those guys did an outstanding job, especially early on in the year. There were critical plays in each of the first five or six games where they picked up blitzes and we made big plays in the pass game. Where you wouldn't say they were freshmen playing for the first time.

"Lester has done an unbelievable job of keeping those guys moving. He doesn't even blink. Lester doesn't blink about any of that stuff. He's a great teacher."

The fun continues for another month.

The Hawkeyes' offense is going to have to be a factor in the Orange Bowl. Georgia Tech's best foot forward is its offense, which averages more than 300 rushing yards a game. Iowa's offense will have to keep pace and keep Tech's triple option off the field.

O'Keefe noted the intensity of the December workouts in Iowa City. On this Friday afternoon, O'Keefe had a frame from one of Iowa's practices inside the bubble frozen on the video screen in his office.

"We've forced our guys into more competitive situations the last few weeks for two reasons," O'Keefe said. "Number one in my mind, you want to prevent boredom from setting in with the game being that far off (Jan. 5). Number two, the thing that will be most critical is to have the intensity that you want to have on gameday.

"If you have that, you have a chance to have rhythm and a chance to execute better. For us, that also means we need to be physical."