Iowa football rewind: Leshon Williams’ big plays against Western Michigan

IOWA CITY — Iowa football’s win over Western Michigan was quite the day for the running backs (and the quality blocking ahead of them).

Eight different players had carries for positive yardage, including true freshmen Kamari Moulton and Terrell Washington Jr. (Moulton even ran for two touchdowns in his collegiate debut.)

Iowa had 43 rushing attempts versus 22 passing attempts. When accounting for quarterback Cade McNamara’s four sacks and one scramble, Iowa called designed rushing plays 58.5 percent of the time against the Broncos.

Iowa’s 254 rushing yards against Western Michigan were more than what Iowa had in its first two games combined.

Inside the 25-yard screen pass touchdown

After a feeble start offensively, the Hawkeyes finally took the lead with a screen play that turned into a 25-yard touchdown.

Iowa was in a two-tight end set with both tight ends lined up on the left side. Diante Vines was the lone receiver on the right side.

The right side of the offensive line blocked as if it was an ordinary passing play while center Logan Jones peeled out to block for Leshon Williams on the screen.

It essentially was a screen pass that did not immediately look like a screen pass.

It was an excellent play call by offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz with perhaps even better execution.

McNamara said his job was “just trying to sell” the deception.

“I am basically an actor on that play,” McNamara said. “I am trying to make it look like I am going to throw it down the field, and then navigate the defensive line to get it to him.”

McNamara practically earned an Academy Award nomination as the Western Michigan defense seemed totally unprepared. It also helped that the free safety was blitzing, and tight end Erick All blocked the strong safety in zone.

Vines also had a key block downfield.

Jones was right there with Williams to block although there was not any blocking necessary as Williams went untouched until the goal line.

Leshon Williams’ other (really) big play

Williams led the Hawkeyes with 145 rushing yards on 12 attempts. He picked up 53 of those yards on a carry early in the second quarter.

Iowa was in 13 personnel — one running back, three tight ends and one wide receiver — on the second-and-5 play on the Iowa 39-yard line. As usual for Western Michigan, the Broncos were blitzing.

Jones delivered the key block in the zone-run scheme, stopping slanting 270-pound defensive lineman Tyson Lee long enough to create a crease for Williams.

Western Michigan’s blitzing tendency worked to Williams’ advantage once he was a few yards past the line of scrimmage.

With no defenders in the second level, it essentially turned into a foot race with the Broncos’ defensive backs on the 53-yard gain.

It was not the only time Williams thrived in the rushing attack against the blitz-heavy Broncos. He had five rushes of 11-plus yards in Saturday’s win.

The junior from Chicago was quick to share the credit with the offensive line.

“Any of you could have run through those holes,” Williams told reporters after the win. “They were dialed in today.”

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Cade McNamara’s misses

McNamara’s numbers were not picturesque against Western Michigan.

The Michigan transfer was 9-of-19 for 103 yards. He had two touchdowns and two interceptions.

It was McNamara’s second multi-interception game of his career, with the first being Michigan’s 34-11 loss to Georgia in the 2021 College Football Playoff.

Only three of McNamara’s 10 misses were on target, and two of those three would have required the intended receiver to withstand a lot of contact during the catch.

McNamara’s 2023 completion percentage is now down to 53.5 percent.

“He'll be OK,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I'm totally confident in that. … When you miss time, it's just not the same. I don't care what position you play, it's just not the same.”

Ferentz compared McNamara’s current situation to a golfer needing to relax.

“I quit golf a million years ago and did everybody a favor,” Ferentz said. “But I do know you've got to let the club do the work in golf. That's one thing you've got to learn, and I never quite got that concept down."

McNamara said last week he was “fully back” in practice and “participating in everything.”

“The good news is he did more last week than he's done any time since the injury back in camp,” Ferentz said after Saturday’s game. “To me it's just a matter of time.”

Early Big Ten West favorites?

As Iowa approaches its Big Ten opener Saturday at Penn State, it seems to be the front-runner in its division.

Iowa’s six Big Ten West peers are a combined 8-10 through the first three weeks of the season, including 0-4 against ranked opponents.

The preseason Big Ten media poll organized by Cleveland.com had Wisconsin as a slight favorite over Iowa. But since then, the Badgers lost to Washington State — a Pac-12 program with one 10-win season and two bowl wins in the last 19 years.

ESPN’s Football Power Index, which previously favored Wisconsin, gives Iowa a division-best 38 percent chance of going to Indianapolis.

Wisconsin trails the Hawkeyes at 31.9 percent, followed by Minnesota at 11.8 percent, Illinois at 9 percent, Purdue at 4.9 percent, Nebraska at 2.5 percent and Northwestern at 1.9 percent.

Iowa is the last Big Ten West team to have an undefeated record after Minnesota suffered a 31-13 loss to No. 20 North Carolina on Saturday. Ferentz is not one to make a big deal out of being the only team in the division with a zero in the overall loss column, though.

“We're 0-0 in the West,” Ferentz said. “But I'd much rather be 3-0 right now. Believe me, I'm not minimizing that.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com