Steppe’s Stats: Why Iowa football’s lack of sacks is ‘not a huge concern’

IOWA CITY — Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins saw “pure excitement” from his brethren on the defensive line while watching film.

It was not because of some massive play, but rather seeing that “the quarterback held the ball longer than three seconds.”

“They just need opportunity,” Higgins said. “I felt bad.”

The pass-rushing opportunities have been limited for Iowa football through the first two weeks of the 2023 season.

The Hawkeyes are one of eight FBS teams to have only one sack through the first two games. (Every FBS team has at least one sack.) It is a noticeable contrast for a team that was tied for 26th in the FBS last season with 2.69 sacks per game.

The lack of pass-rush production does not seem to be much of a concern, though, on Evashevski Drive.

“There are different factors that go into it,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. “I'm not worried about it. The guys are working hard. We have guys that can get there.”

Seth Wallace, Iowa’s linebackers coach and assistant defensive coordinator, said some of Iowa’s lack of pass rush is “really more to do with the opponent.”

Both of Iowa’s 2023 foes so far had quarterbacks with quick progressions.

Iowa State’s Rocco Becht averaged 2.22 seconds to throw in Saturday’s Cy-Hawk game, according to Pro Football Focus. It is the fastest average for a starting quarterback against Iowa in the last two seasons.

The only other quarterback during that span to be even close to Becht’s speedy release was Iowa State’s Hunter Dekkers, who took 2.28 seconds to throw on average against the Hawkeyes in 2022.

No other starting quarterback has taken 2.35 or fewer seconds to release the ball against Iowa since the start of the 2022 season.

Out of the 15 starting quarterbacks Iowa has faced in 2022 or 2023, seven have taken at least 2.6 seconds to throw. Those seven have accounted for about 74 percent of Iowa’s sacks despite making up only 47 percent of the sample size, according to a Gazette analysis of PFF data.

Ferentz, in his 25th season as head coach, said some of it also has to do with “how we’re playing defense.”

“Sometimes we're more geared to stop the run at least or play both run and pass as opposed to just taking off, going after the guy,” Ferentz said. “Third-and-long obviously you're chasing.”

Iowa’s defense is “trying to defend the run before we ultimately start defending the pass,” Wallace said.

“The way that we play our defensive line or our front seven, we’re real heavy in regards to our alignments and how we play our techniques up front,” Wallace said.

More third-and-long situations could also potentially aid Iowa’s pass rush. Iowa State had 18 third-down attempts, but it only needed 9-plus yards on three of those attempts.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting our opponent into off-scheduled second downs,” Wallace said. “And then you’re third-and-7 or greater, and that’s usually when you’ll start to see a little bit more pressure on the quarterback.”

But, like what Ferentz said, it is “not a huge concern” for Wallace either.

“Obviously we’d like to get the quarterback on the ground a little bit more, but I think right now, it’s just a matter of us continuing to do what we’re doing,” Wallace said.

Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, a quarterback who is not always as quick to throw will be visiting Kinnick Stadium on Saturday. Western Michigan’s Jack Salopek took 2.67 seconds to throw against Syracuse last week.

“Hopefully, the quarterback keeps it and actually does a three-step dropback this week,” Higgins said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com