Another training day for Iowa's offense

IOWA CITY — Drew Ott hammered his way through Boone Myers for a sack on the first play of Saturday's scrimmage. This happened again and again and again. And then some more again.

Kinnick Stadium had a decent crowd for its annual Kid's Day scrimmage, maybe around 10,000. The crowd thinned in the 90-plus degree heat. About midway through, the stadium PA cut in and out with its barrage of light country music. This made it fairly easy to hear some of the things coaches said on the field.

After Ott pushed through Myers for sacks on two of three plays, the 'BOOOOOOONE' that offensive line coach Brian Ferentz belted out could clearly be heard echoing through the south end zone.

And maybe it traveled all the way to Kalona. It was that kind of day for Iowa's offense.

In the No. 1s vs. No. 1s, the defense, unofficially, had nine sacks four pass breakups and held the offense to a single field goal during a goal-line drill. Quarterback C.J. Beathard completed 11 of 20 passes for 115 yards, but the offense mostly was pinned by the defense.

Video: No. 1 Offense vs. No. 1 Defense

This wasn't a surprise for head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa is 12 practices into the 2015 season. He expected the defense to put the offense in a headlock. Remember, there aren't really any secrets between Iowa's offense and Iowa's defense.

Iowa's top running backs LeShun Daniels and Jordan Canzeri combined for just five carries. Tight end George Kittle led receivers with three catches for 69 yards, including a 41-yarder from backup QB Tyler Wiegers. The defense returned two interceptions for TDs (corner Sean Draper and safety Isaiah Kramme). Reserve fullback Drake Kulick turned a pretty catch on a flat route into a 52-yard TD from Wiegers.

That was the only organic score for Iowa's offense. In goal-line drills, Marshall Koehn made a 30-yard field goal and running back Akrum Wadley scored on an 8-yard run.

'Our defense plays us every single day, so they're going to find a way,' wide receiver Tevaun Smith said with a laugh. 'They know our plays quite a bit, but it comes down to our execution. Today, they did what they had to do to win the day.'

After spring practice, it was clear Iowa's senior defensive ends Ott and Nate Meier had an advantage over Myers and Ike Boettger, Iowa's first-year sophomore starters. The senior DEs picked up where they left off. During the first tempo drill, they both recorded sacks.

On the second-to-last play of the day for the first-teamers, Meier knocked the ball out of Beathard's hand while Ott picked him up and swung him around before gently setting him down, like an antique vase. On the last play, Ott was somehow unblocked and he knew exactly what to do.

'It gets annoying sometimes,' said Beathard, who, on the bright side, has thrown just one interception during the 12 camp practices. 'Drew is a really good player. You're just glad to have him on your team. Obviously, our tackles are going to continue to get better. They're going to continue to do a better job, but I think overall, we all on offense need to keep getting better.'

Kirk Ferentz isn't panicking over his young offensive tackles. He harped on the idea of technique and how perfecting it could provide a swing to the positive, bringing up a breakthrough that former Hawkeye and Cleveland Brown guard Eric Steinbach had in 2001.

As for the continuing saga of Myers and Ott, Ferentz and others have seen some of Myers' victories. So, you know they do exist.

'Right now, it's a mental thing in my mind,' Ferentz said of Myers vs. Ott. 'It's a little bit of an older brother-younger brother deal. The other thing, it's technique. That's what it gets down to. When he uses it correctly, he's pretty good. He's a better football player than he thinks he is right now, but that's part of practice. That's what you learn through practice and getting banged around a little bit.'

To a man, the Hawkeyes called Saturday's scrimmage in favor of the defense. They also claimed that the offense has won its share during camp. What does that look like, because Saturday looked mostly like a physical mismatch?

'Bigger plays and not so many three-and-outs,' Beathard said. 'Our first tempo period, we went three-and-out a couple of times in a row and it's frustrating. . . . When we're getting the defense, we're not going three-and-out and we're converting third downs and progressing the ball downfield at a quicker pace.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com