Iowa football has eye toward forcing more turnovers in 2024

IOWA CITY — Name a defensive stat, and there was a good chance the 2023 Iowa football team was among the best in the country.

Yards allowed per play? First (for the second consecutive season). Yards allowed per game? Seventh. Points allowed per game? Fourth.

Ironically, though, one of the hallmarks of defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s units was one of the few areas where Iowa’s defense was lacking.

Turnovers.

Iowa forced only 15 turnovers in 2023 — tied for 97th out of 130 teams in the FBS and tied for 10th out of 14 Big Ten teams. It marked the fewest turnovers in a season for Iowa since Parker’s promotion to defensive coordinator in 2012.

Iowa’s emphasis this year on forcing turnovers

Defensive end Deontae Craig said getting more turnovers is “definitely an emphasis for us.”

“Every day in practice, we do certain things to not just put an emphasis on it, but kind of reward the turnover system,” Craig said this week. “It’s definitely something that we need to pick up because it helps our team as a whole with field position.”

Iowa’s increased focus on forcing turnovers has been evident since the spring with the implementation of its pre-practice turnover circuit, which sets aside time for all three defensive position groups to work on turnover-forcing skills.

Some of Iowa’s defensive coaches visited Virginia Tech — a common exercise as coaches learn from other coaches across the country in the offseason — and took with them the pre-practice drill of “picking up a ball off the ground, matching hands, poking the ball out.”

“It’s really showed some dividends during the preseason here,” Parker said last week.

Turnovers lead to wins in the Ferentz era of Iowa football

Iowa experienced a high degree of success in 2023 — 10 wins and a Big Ten West title — despite the lack of takeaways. But last season was an exception when looking at Kirk Ferentz’s first 25 years as head coach at Iowa.

The Hawkeyes are 122-25 in the Ferentz era when winning the turnover battle, according to Iowa sports information. That translates to an .830 winning percentage — significantly above Ferentz’s overall winning percentage of .622 at Iowa.

When Iowa loses the turnover margin, its record during the Ferentz era drops to 27-62 (.303).

As much as Iowa emphasizes the need for turnovers, some factors affecting the turnover total are outside of its control. Iowa’s turnover-taking tendency is no secret, including to opposing offensive coordinators.

“After a while, when somebody starts playing against you, they might limit some of the things that they do to try to make sure they hold on to the ball,” Parker said.

Game situations could potentially affect the propensity of turnovers as well. Iowa did not have any double-digit second-half leads in seven of its last eight games of the 2024 season, so that theoretically leaves less of a need for aggressive offensive playcalling.

If it is indeed a strategic decision for opposing offenses to avoid high-risk plays that can yield turnovers, Iowa’s defense has done well at containing opposing offenses in other ways.

Just look at almost any statistic from last year. Well, anything except turnovers gained.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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