Solution for Iowa: Keep on runnin’

IOWA CITY - Up is down. Beer is lemonade. Day is night. Quarterback Jake Rudock leads the Hawkeyes in rushing. After two games. Seriously.

This is the Iowa Hawkeyes. You've met Kirk Ferentz. They have running backs with resumes. They also have some new faces on the offensive line. Going into Saturday's rivalry game with Iowa State (0-2), the Hawkeyes (2-0) will likely have another new face up front.

So, no, it has not been business as usual for Iowa's offense so far this season.

'It hasn't been to the point where we'd like it to be, and our opponents have had something to do with that, too,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

The numbers aren't awful. Iowa is 11th in the Big Ten with 132.0 yards a game (eight with 4.06 yards a carry). But let's not kid around. Wide receiver Tevaun Smith led the Hawkeyes in the opener with 35 yards on a reverse. Rudock led in last week's comeback victory over Ball State, gaining 36 yards on seven carries (scrambles, for the most part).

The Hawkeyes running backs - right now, they have four primary ball carriers - have combine for 157 yards on 46 carries (3.41 average). Junior Jordan Canzeri leads with 48 yards on 12 attempts. Senior Mark Weisman, who carried 35 times for 145 yards in Iowa's victory at Iowa State last season, has 47 yards on 16 carries.

'It's unfortunate the way we had to comeback that last game and throw the ball most of the second half,” Weisman said. 'We started to get the running game going a little bit.”

Yes, Iowa is a passing team now. What? That's what the numbers say.

Rudock is fifth in the nation with 93 pass attempts, his 64 completions are third in the country and his 572 yards are No. 23.

'I'm sure coach Ferentz will get on that, I'm sure the offensive line is ready to address that,” Rudock said. 'Obviously, here at Iowa, we like to run the ball. That's apparent. The five guys up front will figure it out. We'll get it going.”

These numbers are semi-historic at Iowa. The 592 yards passing are the most through two games since Chuck Long and Mark Vlasic combined for 671 yards in 1985. Rudock is believed to be the first Iowa quarterback to have 60-plus completions, 90-plus pass attempts and 570-plus yards through two games. He's also the only FBS quarterback with 90-plus attempts and no interceptions.

Maybe this is what Iowa is in 2014?

I hope not,” Ferentz said, 'because if we're in the 50s [pass attempts], it probably means we're losing, so I hope we're not that way every week for obvious reasons. We're not afraid to throw the ball. I don't think we've ever been afraid to throw it. It's part of it when you feel like throwing it. It's not just out of necessity.”

Iowa's record during the Ferentz era in games where the Hawkeyes have thrown 42 or more passes is just 3-13, counting last week's squeaker over Ball State (55 passes in a 17-13 victory).

'Bottom line is we have to get better, and there are ways we can do that,” Ferentz said. 'Hopefully, those things will start to show up as we go along. But I'm hardly ready to hit the panic button. It's a matter of us. We have to work better and get through some things.”

A random sample of plays from Ball State showed Iowa guards Sean Welsh and Jordan Walsh struggle a few times locking up with linebackers in space. There were several plays where the running back didn't see the hole or stopped moving his feet and was caught up in the wash. On a series in the second quarter, BSU strong safety Eric Patterson lined up on the hash across from wide receiver Derrick Willies. He made a quick read and sprinted to the line of scrimmage to make the tackle. Willies had no chance for a block.

In the postgame, BSU coach Pete Lembo said the plan was shifting fronts and run blitzes, because, you know, Iowa.

'We're not trying to fool anyone,” offensive tackle Andrew Donnal said. 'Everyone knows we're going to run the ball. We don't necessarily care that they know we're going to run the ball. We want to do our jobs and not worry about them. If something doesn't work, we won't do that. If we're sound, playing assignment football, we should be able to run the ball anyway.”

What Donnal says is true. When Iowa puts Weisman on the field, keep in mind that he's 6-0, 240 pounds. He can catch passes, but Iowa's primary passing running back is Damon Bullock. When Weisman walks onto the field, that's usually the tip to the defense that, hey, maybe the Hawkeyes are going to run on this play.

'When I'm in there, most people think it's going to be a run,” said Weisman, who entered this season averaging 4.64 yards per carry (it's 2.94 so far this year). 'We need the running game and passing game to feed off each other, that's what good Iowa football offenses do.”

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