Iowa football rewind: Lone touchdown drive serves as reminder of Erick All’s importance to offense’s success

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s offense was not a pretty sight for most of Saturday night. Most, but not all.

A five-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter gave Iowa fans an oasis from an otherwise-lackluster showing on that side of the football.

It was the offense’s only drive resulting in a touchdown in the 26-16 win over Michigan State. (The other 19 points were a result of four field goals and a special teams touchdown.)

Iowa averaged 13 yards per play on the touchdown drive (which excludes the 15 penalty yards gained). On all other drives, the Hawkeyes averaged 2.9 yards per play.

A closer look at the drive illustrates how important tight end Erick All’s success is for the Hawkeyes’ overall offensive success.

The three big plays of the drive were all completions from quarterback Deacon Hill, who took over for the injured Cade McNamara, to All.

On the first play, All slipped before quickly recovering on the play-action bootleg. As he ran the cross route, whoever was supposed to cover him was nowhere near him. All caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and then picked up 32 yards with plenty of “green grass” ahead of him.

“As I was running, I was thinking about cutting back, but then in my head I was just, ‘Man, just get these yards and get out,’” All said.

A roughing-the-passer penalty turned All’s 32-yard reception into essentially a 47-yard play instead.

After a two-yard run by true freshman Kamari Moulton, Hill connected with All again on a play-action bootleg play. All artfully hauled in the pass in a spot only he could reach and got one foot in bounds.

“I was worried about getting out on the release and just selling the run,” All said. “They all bit. … (My route) was like a corner or something. I don't even think I ran the corner. I just ran straight to the spot, and Deac was ready and threw me the ball and put it on the money.”

Then All’s third play — this time following a one-yard Moulton run — was on a screen. Four Michigan State defenders were between All and the nearest blocker, but the Michigan transfer somehow stayed on his feet for 13 yards to score a touchdown.

“I just hit the hole and somehow stayed on my feet,” All said. “Like halfway through, I was like, ‘oh snaps,’ I had to secure the ball because obviously I had a terrible fumble last week.”

When he saw the goal line nearby, All decided to “screw it” and “reached out and put the ball over the goal line.”

All had 62 of his 67 receiving yards on the touchdown drive.

The lack of offense on the other 14 drives was not necessarily due to a lack of trying to get All involved. Iowa targeted All another five times on other drives, but he caught only one of those passes.

QB sneak is back

With McNamara coming back from a quad injury, the quarterback sneak is “really not on the menu right now,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said earlier this season.

With Hill under center, quarterback sneaks seem to be back on Ferentz’s menu. Listed at 258 pounds, Hill’s size is an obvious asset on sneak plays.

Hill had two sneaks. The first one was a gain of four a third-and-11 that gave punter Tory Taylor more space to punt. The second was a two-yard gain to convert on third-and-1.

Two plays totaling six yards obviously is not be the difference between whether Iowa’s offense will be successful, but it is at least one consolation for the McNamara-less Hawkeyes.

Costly drops

Hill, as one might expect from a quarterback who was playing the most substantial snaps of his college career, was not perfect as he completed just 40.7 percent of his passes.

But the Wisconsin transfer did not gain many favors from his receiving corps, which dropped a season-high six passes in Saturday’s game.

Five of the six drops were while Hill was at quarterback. Had all five of those passes been caught — a big “if” considering some drops are an inevitability in college football — Hill’s completion percentage would have been a more respectable 59.3 percent.

Hill’s high-power throws may have taken the receivers some time to adjust to — “He throws that thing hard,” All said — although Ferentz did not use that as an excuse for the drops.

“There might have been a little touch issue on some of the underneath stuff maybe, I don't know,” Ferentz said. “I still think the receivers catch the ball, that's just me. I'm a line coach.”

The drops were especially prevalent among the wide receivers.

Diante Vines had almost as many drops (two) as he had catches (three). Kaleb Brown and Nico Ragaini also dropped passes.

Iowa’s quarterbacks targeted wide receivers 18 times on Saturday, with six completions and four drops. That translates to 22.2 percent of throws to wideouts resulting in drops.

Wide receiver production and targets were low through the first four games. Saturday’s drops did not seem to help the case for getting wide receivers more involved.

"If you want the ball, catch the ball,“ Ferentz said after the game.

Inside the fourth-and-1 field goal decision

Ferentz faced a key decision in the fourth quarter. It was fourth-and-1 on the Michigan State 18-yard line. The Spartans had a three-point lead.

A field goal with Stevens, who had been 2-for-2 at that point, would have tied it. Iowa’s alternative would have been to go for it in hopes of a touchdown drive that would take the lead.

“Emotionally, I wanted to go for it,” Ferentz said. “That was my first instinct.”

But a stoppage in play for two injured Michigan State players gave Ferentz some more time to evaluate the situation, including the exact distance needed for a first down.

“It was a little further than I thought,” Ferentz said. “Emotion is one thing, but doing the smart thing was the other. And I felt like it was best to tie the game, and let’s keep playing.”

Ferentz’s decision worked out well. Stevens made the 36-yard field goal to tie the game. Fewer than two minutes later, Cooper DeJean had his 70-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Big Ten West standings

Wisconsin, which is coming off its idle week, is the only Big Ten West team without an in-conference loss yet. Iowa’s next opponent, Purdue, is coming off an impressive win.

1. Wisconsin (1-0)

T-2. Iowa (1-1)

T-2. Minnesota (1-1)

T-2. Purdue (1-1)

5. Northwestern (1-2)

T-6. Illinois (0-2)

T-6. Nebraska (0-2)

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com