Iowa football sticks with same formula, gets same underwhelming results in passing game

IOWA CITY — After a 10-of-28 performance with three turnovers in Iowa’s 12-10 loss to Minnesota, there was no denying the Hawkeyes needed more production from quarterback Deacon Hill.

“We have to get him back on his feet and get him playing a little bit more decisively,” Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz said. “And we have find a way to get the running game going because that's obviously going to take some pressure off of him.”

One lever Ferentz has been reluctant to pull, though, is giving backup quarterback Joe Labas an opportunity in game action.

“Typically there's a clear one and clear two,” Ferentz said after Saturday’s loss. “I'm not saying that in a demeaning way to the guy that's two. But that's what it is, and you kind of go from there.”

Hill — the “clear one” so far — has put up numbers that are substandard for a Big Ten starting quarterback.

Hill has completed 37.8 percent of his passes, which is at pace to be the worst for an Iowa quarterback with at least 30 attempts in a season during the Ferentz era by a wide margin.

(The next-worst was when Kyle McCann completed 44.6 percent of his passes in four games in 1999 — Ferentz’s first season as Iowa head coach.)

Hill has made what Pro Football Focus defines as “turnover-worthy plays” on 8.9 percent of attempts — a higher rate than any other FBS quarterback in 2022 or 2023 with at least 75 dropbacks.

  Buy Photo

Labas, meanwhile, is in his third year in the program after arriving as a four-star recruit in 2021. He missed substantial time during this year’s fall camp with a soft-tissue injury, but has been medically available to play during the season.

His lone in-game opportunity at Iowa has been in the 2022 Music City Bowl against Kentucky.

Labas completed 58.3 percent of his passes, had one touchdown and did not throw any interceptions against a top-15 Kentucky defense. He did not have any PFF-defined turnover-worthy plays in his 24 passing attempts.

Comparing two quarterbacks’ statistics from different seasons comes with some caveats. Labas, for example, had the benefit of throwing to tight ends Sam LaPorta and Luke Lachey. Some of the factors outside Hill’s control this season would still be outside Labas’ control, too, whether it be dropped passes or offensive playcalling.

But considering the night-and-day difference between Hill and Labas’ statistics, the Hill-or-Labas question has unsurprisingly come up in Ferentz’s recent news conferences.

After Hill’s 6-of-21 showing against Purdue — his second game taking the bulk of the snaps at quarterback and first career start — Ferentz said making a change would have been “silly.”

“Deacon is our quarterback right now,” Ferentz said on Oct. 7.

Later in the month, Ferentz defended Hill’s 27-for-70 season stat line at the time — he was “not even aware of those stats, quite frankly” — by pointing to Hill’s lack of turnovers in the win over Wisconsin.

“We didn’t turn it over the other night,” Ferentz said on Oct. 17. “I know that. He had something to do with that. … First things first, don’t get us in trouble. Don’t make bad decisions. Don’t press.”

Four days later, Hill had two fumbles lost, one interception and a few passes that were dangerously close to being interceptions as well. After the turnover-ridden loss, Ferentz emphasized the importance of what happens in practice as well.

“For 25 years, we watch guys in practice and we evaluate what they do in practice, and moving forward, certainly game performance is a big part of it,” Ferentz said after Saturday’s turnover-ridden loss. “If it's close, neck-and-neck, that type of thing, then you rotate guys in and take a look at them.”

Ferentz also noted “no two situations are the same” and “no two players are the same.”

“You just do what you think is best for the team,” Ferentz said. “That's my No. 1 obligation.”

So far, that has not entailed changing quarterbacks. Time will tell whether that remains the case after the bye week.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com