Iowa football’s field-flipping ability extends beyond Rhys Dakin’s booming punts

IOWA CITY — When Iowa gave up a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown earlier this month against Troy, LeVar Woods was “a little bit shocked.”

“I’ve never seen that here,” the Iowa special teams coordinator said on Tuesday. “We haven’t given one up like that. I had to look it up.”

Iowa’s punt unit “responded well,” though, as evident in Iowa’s Week 4 Big Ten football win over rival Minnesota. While Iowa’s dominant rushing game understandably caught headlines, the Hawkeyes also showcased their multifaceted ability to win the field position battle in the Floyd of Rosedale game.

The Gophers’ average drive starting spot was their own 24-yard line (versus Iowa’s average starting spot of its own 33-yard line).

Punter Rhys Dakin had averaged 49.6 yards on his five punts, with the first three punts landing inside the Minnesota 20-yard line. None of Dakin’s five punts were returnable, as one went out of bounds and the other four resulted in fair catches. It is no surprise Dakin was named the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week after the performance.

“There’s no question that he, along with his teammates on the punt unit, were a factor in the game in controlling field position,” Woods said. “I thought he had an excellent game, his best game to date. That’s more like what we’ve seen in practice.”

Punting was not the only reason for Iowa’s advantage in field position, though.

Two interceptions — one by Jay Higgins and the other by Quinn Schulte — certainly helped, too. Higgins’ pick set up the Hawkeyes at the opposing 38-yard line, and Schulte’s pick set up the Hawkeyes at their own 41-yard line.

Drew Stevens is “kicking off very well right now too,” Woods said, which “doesn’t always get noticed or seen.”

Pro Football Focus has Stevens’ kickoff hang time at 4.02 seconds this season, which is up from 3.88 in 2023 and 3.78 in 2022. While PFF’s kickoff hang time numbers are not perfect — “we have to go back and retime them,” Woods said — the eighth-year special teams coordinator confirmed Stevens’ hang time is up by his measure as well.

At the same time, teams have attempted returns on a much higher share of Stevens’ kickoffs this year.

In 2023, opponents returned eight of Stevens’ 54 kickoffs — 14.8 percent of the time. In 2024, opponents have already returned nine of Stevens’ 26 kickoffs — 34.6 percent of the time.

“Guys are returning it, and they’ve been paying for it,” Woods said.

To Woods’ point, seven of opponents’ nine kickoff returns ended short of the 25-yard line. (The two exceptions were both in Week 1 and only went to the 30-yard line.)

Minnesota attempted four returns against Iowa, and the farthest ended at the 21-yard line. Iowa State’s one kickoff return was pushed back to its own 10-yard line after a holding penalty.

Iowa has won the field position battle in all four games this season, and it’s certainly not a new formula for success in Iowa City. Last year, for example, Iowa had the advantage in average starting field position in 10 of 14 games.

Since the start of the 2023 season, Iowa is 12-2 when winning the field position battle. Without the advantage in field position, the Hawkeyes are 1-3.

“You guys all know special teams and field position turns into points for us,” Woods told reporters. “That’s part of our game plan each week.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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