Waiting on the run

IOWA CITY - You've waited all season for the Hawkeyes' running game to click and totally flatten an opponent. Really, you've waited for Iowa's offense to be Iowa's offense.

You know how this is defined. You know it when you see it. The Hawkeyes (5-2, 2-1 Big Ten) put the hammer down three times last season. They rushed 60 times for 218 grinding yards against Iowa State. At Minnesota, Iowa took the air out of TCF Bank Stadium with 45 rushes for 246 yards. And then, Iowa kicked around lowly Purdue with 318 yards on 52 carries.

It's week 8 in 2014 and you're still waiting for that game, the game where Iowa's O-line takes over, crushes souls and imprints a game.

'That's our pride right there, being able to run the football,” senior offensive tackle Andrew Donnal said. 'We take a huge amount of ownership when we're consistently not running the ball. We're trying to finally find that.”

A quick run through the numbers: The Hawkeyes have averaged 4.0 yards a carry or better in just two of seven games going into this week's test against Northwesten (3-4, 2-2). Iowa has now gone 10 games without a 100-yard rusher. Iowa is 10th in the league in rushing with 146.29 yards a game. Iowa's 3.79 yards a carry is No. 97 in the nation.

Last time out against Maryland, running back Mark Weisman had it going, rushing 10 times for 78 yards and a pair of TDs. A three- to 10-point deficit dictated that the Hawkeyes retreat from the running game. And so Iowa remains in search of it's grinder trademark.

'It's important. It's important for us to play cohesively, so that's part of what we do,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'It would be really great to come up with a couple big plays in the run game, but you just keep chipping away and working at it.”

The 56 passes Iowa threw against Maryland? That's not very Iowa and that doesn't work for the Hawkeyes, who are 4-21 when they throw 40-plus times during Ferentz's 15-plus seasons.

When Iowa's offense is rolling, it does so with a strong spine in the running game. It constrains a defense and opens up what usually has been a productive play-action passing attack.

But really what Iowa does when it's healthful in the running game is wins. The Hawkeyes are 89-23 in the Ferentz era when they rush 35-plus times in a game. When Iowa has run the ball 35-plus times in the last 15-plus years, it's won 79.4 percent of its games, including 4-1 this season.

That's Iowa's offense being Iowa's offense. Forget about the big gawdy yardage total, think about the grind 35-plus carries puts on an opponent, its defense and time of possession.

With the offensive line, the problem has been sustaining blocks, center/guard Austin Blythe said.

'We're getting on defenders, but we're not sustaining blocks and finishing the way we need to to have a good running game,” Blythe said. 'Just getting on defenders and finishing.”

There have been moving pieces in rush personnel all season. In the offensive line, the center-guard spots have seen rotation because of injury. Junior guard Jordan Walsh left the Indiana game early with an ankle injury. Senior walk-on Tommy Gaul took over at center while Blythe shifted to guard. Against Maryland, freshman Sean Welsh suffered a leg injury. Walsh went back in at guard, and Gaul and Blythe stayed in their spots.

This week the combination remains up in the air. Running back also is in flux this week.

Junior Jordan Canzeri was termed 'dicey” for this week by Ferentz. Canzeri suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter against Maryland. Outside of jet sweep specialist Jonathan Parker, Canzeri is Iowa's only back averaging 4.0-plus yards a carry.

Running back LeShun Daniels hasn't been a factor in the running game, but he served as a capable backup. He was lost for the regular season after suffering a foot/ankle injury in practice last week.

So, for this week's matchup with Northwestern, which is ninth in the league in rush defense, it's Weisman, senior Damon Bullock and freshmen Parker and Akrum Wadley.

It's possible for Iowa to pull an Iowa-like 35-carry performance off. That's what you're waiting for. That's what they're waiting for.

'That's when it's fun for us, being able to do that,” Blythe said. 'We have to remember how it felt to play those games and get back to that as an offensive line.”

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