Iowa football rewind: Offense ‘not really built’ for second-and-long, third-and-long

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Desmond Howard was half-right.

“There’s no way Penn State is going to lose this game,” Howard said on ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning. “I think it’s going to be close, low-scoring ballgame.”

He was right about the first part. The second part? Not so much. Hours later, Penn State was dominant in a 31-0 Big Ten football shutout of Iowa.

Here are some observations after taking another look at the Hawkeyes’ first shutout since 2000.

First downs: Bad. Later downs: Even worse

Penn State Coach James Franklin and the Nittany Lions made a point to stop Iowa on first down.

“The biggest thing is they get their most success when they're efficient on first down,” Franklin said on the CBS broadcast at the end of the first half. “We've been able to keep them off schedule a little bit and they're not really built for the third-and-long situations and second-and long.”

The Nittany Lions held the Hawkeyes to 4.36 yards per play on first downs. (To put that in perspective, if an offense was averaging 4.36 yards per play through the first four weeks, it would rank 131st out of 133 FBS teams.)

The Hawkeyes seemed to then prove Franklin’s point about being “not really built for the third-and-long situations and second-and-long.”

Iowa’s 4.36 yards per play on first down looks rosy compared to what happened on later downs. Iowa averaged an astonishingly-low 0.79 yards per play on second and third downs.

Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara was 2-for-11 on passes on second or third down compared to 3-for-3 on first down.

Death by 97 cuts

Iowa gave up 397 yards against Penn State — more yards than Iowa gave up to then-No. 2 Ohio State and then-No. 4 Michigan last year.

Yet the Hawkeyes did not give up any big plays in Saturday’s 31-0 loss.

Penn State’s longest play of the day — a Nick Singleton run on the opening drive of the third quarter — went for only 19 yards. (Ironically, Iowa actually had the longest play of the day when McNamara connected with tight end Erick All for a 20-yard gain in the first quarter.)

Penn State’s knack for extending drives, coupled with Iowa’s nonexistent offense, led to Iowa’s defense having to be on the field for 97 plays. (For perspective, FBS offenses are averaging 67 plays per game through four weeks.)

Penn State’s first two drives of the second half — the ones that removed any inkling of a comeback bid — took 15 and 12 plays, respectively, to reach the end zone.

Fourth down was a critical shortcoming for the Hawkeye defense. Penn State’s 9-of-20 third-down conversion rate would not necessarily jump off the page, but add its four fourth-down conversions, and 9-of-20 becomes 13-of-20.

Quarterback sneaks by Drew Allar on fourth-and-1 kept both of the Nittany Lions’ first-half scoring drives alive. Allar’s six-yard rush on the first fourth-and-1 likely will not make the cut on any highlight reels, but Penn State’s outmuscling of Iowa’s defensive front while in 12 personnel did not help matters for the Hawkeyes.

Allar also took advantage of opportunities for short, quick passes. The average depth of his targets was 4.4 yards out, which is shorter than any other starting quarterback the Hawkeyes have faced this season.

McNamara frequently under pressure

Iowa’s offensive line did not do McNamara many favors in Saturday’s loss.

McNamara was under pressure on 47 percent of his dropbacks, according to PFF. That’s higher than any other game this season and the highest for an Iowa quarterback since last November’s win over Wisconsin.

McNamara averaged 2.76 seconds to throw, per PFF. It was the fastest release for the Michigan transfer this season (although still slower than some of the quarterbacks Iowa has faced this season).

Not just bad protection plaguing passing game

However, blocking was not the only problem keeping Iowa from having an effective aerial attack.

Even on the nine dropbacks where PFF deemed McNamara as “kept clean,” the results were not perfect. He was 3-of-8 although there also was his 18-yard scramble.

Those five misses include some self-inflicted wounds, either from the receiver, quarterback, playcaller or a combination of the three.

On a second-and-9 screen play in the first quarter, for example, McNamara’s pass was in the right spot, but All tripped.

McNamara had true freshman running back Terrell Washington with space against zone coverage on the subsequent play, but the throw was well behind Washington. Even if the pass to Washington was on target, the route was not going to give Iowa a first down on third-and-9.

There also was a near-interception in the second quarter when McNamara overthrew wide receiver Nico Ragaini. Safety Jaylen Reed was deep in a Cover 2 defense. McNamara’s pass hit Reed in the numbers, but he could not haul in the pick before the ball hit the ground.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com