Stat Pak: Red zone is Iowa’s

5 BULLET POINTS

1. Injury update

— I don't want to start with this every week, but I know you're thinking about it and I am, too. It is relevant, especially with what's at stake this week at Camp Randall Stadium (which is named after Randal from 'Clerks,' I know, crazy!).

Left tackle Boone Myers has a neck stinger. You heard Kirk Ferentz say yesterday that it's been ongoing. He clearly took a shot there on Jordan Canzeri's second TD run with six minutes left in the first quarter and that was it for the day.

He plays vs. Wisconsin.

You guys know I love Twitter. It's filled with information and who doesn't love information? One of the drawbacks, however, is the Saturday timeline, when I post something relevant pregame and that gets pushed down the TL by who won the coin flip and how full or empty Kinnick is.

Saturday, defensive backs Greg Mabin, Miles Taylor and Kevin Ward went through a pregame pregame with strength coach Chris Doyle. When this happens, it means the staff is closely monitoring the health of these players and it's probably about 60-40 that they play. It also means, more often than not, that they're dealing with some sort of low-level muscle injury or soreness or that they've been injured enough to miss a few practices and they want to make sure they're fully ready.

I'm not sure what the deal was with Mabin. He played most of the first half, but was taken out and replaced by Maurice Fleming in the third quarter. Taylor kept trying to stretch what looked like a hamstring. He played just two plays in the second half after his replacement, junior Anthony Gair, left the game with what looked like a sore hamstring. Ward played late in the game.

Ferentz said he thought everyone would be able to play this week.

On his sack/strip, senior DE Drew Ott held the left tackle off with his left arm, the one with the dislocated elbow. He's getting better, probably not all the way there. He'll play this week.

RB LeShun Daniels looked maybe a step slow coming off his ankle injury. He also got caught moving east-west a little too much for a 6-0, 225-pounder. When Iowa pulls the center, linebackers are reading outside run and flowing right on top of Daniels. When opposing color flashes in his vision, Daniels slows and chops his feet. TV also said he had a virus this week, so there was that, too.

Daniels did have a 16-yard run on a power call, when the O-line blocks straight on. He took the handoff and kept his feet moving, along with his forward lean. It was beautifully blocked (G Sean Welsh, C Austin Blythe and fullback Adam Cox need to take bows), but I think the power run fits him, at least right now with an ankle that's questionable. On the 16-yarder, Daniels had purpose and momentum. He wasn't reading blocks, but he was decisive.

2. Iowa is an 8.5-point underdog at Camp Randall (named after Randal)

— This is the line set by Vegas. This also is about Iowa's last five seasons of relative struggle against the backdrop of Wisconsin, which, since the last time the Hawkeyes visited Camp Randall, has seen three Rose Bowls and two Big Ten title games.

I've also noticed a slight grumble out there over the fact that the Hawkeyes haven't cracked the top 25. That's also about Iowa's relative struggles the last five seasons. (Iowa's last appearance in the AP top 25 was Week 13 in 2010, when the No. 24 Hawkeyes went into Minnesota and fell 27-24. The Hawkeyes haven't seen the rankings since and that's a span of, and my math might be a little off here, 75 rankings periods. I believe this is the longest span of unranked for Iowa since 1997 to 2002.)

Iowa is inching toward a three-point underdog role at Camp Randall. It's inching toward a top 25 ranking. It's not there yet.

The Hawkeyes aren't there yet. The path is pretty darn simple and totally right in front of them. Win in Camp Randall and get in the top 25.

It's that simple.

3. What's Derrick Mitchell?

— Right now, he's seven rushes for 52 yards in the second half of a blowout against a Conference USA team. That's it. Don't read anymore into it.

I know how you guys work. You sometimes become fixated on a kid, who, yeah, you think looks pretty good, who's done some nice things in the spring and August open practices and, oh, let's turn over all the rocks. There has to be the 'Pulp Fiction' suitcase full of that golden glow under one of these, right?

And, yes, I know part of this is my fault, too. Hey, you try to inject some simple analysis into those kid's day thingies!

OK, we understand each other, right? We're not going to read too much into Derrick Mitchell vs. North Texas? OK, let's talk Derrick Mitchell.

I'm not blaming him for the fumbled reverse. That ball was a little late on CJB's end. WR Matt VandeBerg came too quickly for a clean mesh. Not his bad.

What about that 45-yard run? Yeah, that was pretty OK. (You guys are missing the coolest part about this drive. It was an 83-yard inside drill that went for a TD. 10 plays, 83 yards, all runs. Also, this was the second-team OL. Another also, that really was the third-team left tackle, Ryan Ward, who moved up a notch when Myers left and junior Cole Croston replaced him. That was cool for Iowa.)

The play looked like an outside zone, but Mitchell's steps were straight toward the line of scrimmage. Iowa blockers herded the Mean Green to the left, and Mitchell made a quick cutback to the right. WR Jonathan Parker landed a really great block and Mitchell made a guy miss.

It was a nice play in the fourth quarter of a home blowout against a CUSA school. So, no I don't see him getting a lot of work vs. the Badgers. It's New Kirk, but it's not Trippy Kirk.

4. Still need to grow WR core

— I still think that Iowa might have a bill to pay for basically playing three WRs. It is a physical position, whether you're blocking or going over the middle (hey, Iowa does that now) and taking a shot. I think they'd be smart to grow this group, and so, they are trying (I think).

WR Riley McCarron saw three targets and three catches this week. Senior Andrew Stone saw the field (it's a start). Freshman Jerminic Smith saw the field (a regular occurrence). Still, a lot of bodies in dry dock here. Maybe it goes that way this season. Maybe the top trio of VandeBerg, Tevaun Smith and Jacob Hillyer (whom OC Greg Davis referred to as his 'Linus blanket' during TV production meetings) make it all the way through.

Or maybe . . . Hey, that was TE Jake Duzey out there. He didn't run routes, but he blocked in his first action since suffering a torn patellar tendon this spring. Let's see how his role evolves. I think between Duzey and George Kittle Iowa might have another kind-of receiver. At least a big receiver dressed up as a tight end.

5. The evolution of Josey Jewell

— The sophomore (something I think that gets lost, BTW) had a pick 6 that was legit. He read pass to the flat, undercut the route and showed terrific hands, waltzing untouched 34 yards for a TD that threw the game into hyper blowout.

Jewell is right place, right time this season, vs. the run (specifically any read option). There was one play Saturday that you could argue he got lucky on, but you also could argue that he, again, just enough right place, right time.

It was third-and-5 from UNT's 40 and Mean Green RB Jeffrey Wilson sprinted out of the backfield and up the seam, crossing Jewell's face in the process. So, Jewell got on his horse and, after he flipped his hips open, was in trail by a step and a half or so.

Wilson short of alligator arm'd the ball, but had a sure six points tap off his hands and onto the turf. Jewell was beat, yes, but he also was in the neighborhood, which was enough, just enough, on this play. Credit the read and recognition. Maybe worry about this matchup later.

Iowa's defense had lapses Saturday. You'll see some of what UNT did, spread to run, more this season. Probably.

THREE STARS

1. RB Jordan Canzeri

— Another 20-plus carry game (22 for 115 and four TDs to be exact) for the 190-pounder who doesn't play like it. Remember against Illinois State, when we all mentioned the 115 all-purpose yards Canzeri had? Here we are three weeks later talking about his rushing numbers. OK, Canzeri does average 115.3 all-purpose yards. A Hawkeye hasn't averaged that much since Damon Bullock had 112.3 in 2012. So, there's still that, too. I used to think that would be where Canzeri does his damage this year, but Daniels' health and such, I'm more starting to lean toward 900 rushing yards.

2. QB C.J. Beathard

— Through four games, Beathard has 962 passing yards. Let's focus on that number and give it some perspective (you know where I'm going, it's good, I'm not great at building suspense). Let's go back to Jake Rudock's 2013 season. Through four games, he had 743 passing yards. Probably about average for an Iowa QB (let's just say that, I only looked up three). Through four games in 2011, James Vandenberg had 1,095 passing yards (this included 399 vs. Pitt). In 2010, Ricky Stanzi had 999 passing yards (that's so Stanzi!) through four games. So, good company here for Beathard. (One last BTW, Vandenberg and Stanzi finished with more than 3,000 passing yards those seasons, the Nos. 4 and 5 in Iowa history.)

3. CB Desmond King

— The junior put up 180 returns yards against UNT (109 on four kick returns, 71 on two punt returns). What do you have for us here, smart guy? King is averaging 86.8 all-purpose yards (second on the team to Canzeri). He's done it with just 19 touches (interception returns count here, BTW). He averages 18.3 yards a touch, second only among regular touchers of the ball to Tevaun Smith (19.6). King is 13th in the nation in punt returns (18.71), 53rd in kick returns (22.78) and is 21st in the Big Ten in all-purpose (he would be second in yards per play, but King, and Maryland's William Likely, haven't seen enough touches to rate here).

FILM ROOM

I don't want to bang on the defense. I haven't really mentioned it, but . . . you saw it. It was shaky — scratch 'shaky' and use the word 'attackable' — at times vs. UNT.

You saw the Mean Green spread out the Hawkeyes (a few times in the second half, Iowa was outnumbered 7 to 5 in the box) and gain the edge through a simple numbers game. LB Cole Fisher showed blitz, dropped and then got blatantly picked to give up a third-and-20 conversion. Ott's aggressive upfield action was used against him. Too many times the Hawkeyes couldn't get off blocks (Iowa is going into Wisconsin, which is the Wisconsin Dells of blocking). Without linebacker and safety support because those positions were covering spread receivers, UNT worked a nice read option game and got Iowa for 183 rushing yards (Wisconsin has a read-option QB in Tanner McEvoy, who you remember from a 45-yard TD last season on a read option).

Of course, it didn't matter a ton against the Mean Green, which used a hyper-speed no huddle on the Hawkeyes. One fourth quarter drive where QB Andrew McNulty found rhythm and started hitting perimeter passes ended with Ott's strip/sack. That drive, however, reached Iowa's 40 after it started at UNT's 7.

'Attackable.'

'We have to get better at that,' Ferentz said about the hyper no-huddle. 'I thought the tempo affected us a little bit, particularly in the second half. It just didn't seem like we were crisp taking on the run the way we need to. We've done a really good job of that for three weeks, but today it looked like we were off our game a little bit.'

TWO PLAYS

1. First-and-10 from Iowa's 41

— OK, this is really a series of three plays, but did you notice Iowa's hurry-up? It hasn't been out there a lot this season, but it showed up vs. UNT and it was ever so subtle and totally, totally worked.

On first down, VandeBerg took a quick pass from CJB, broke a tackle and went 15 yards (notice, Iowa receivers this season have cushions of around 6 yards on these run-pass checks at the line of scrimmage). VandeBerg was eyes up on Iowa's sideline and saw something that told him to jog fairly quickly into place. Iowa was going no huddle.

2. And they were off

— The second play was just an outside zone to Canzeri for a 1-yard gain. He popped off the turf and jogged back into the huddle. Safety McClain did some talking to the UNT sideline and made it back to his spot just in time for the snap. No way he had a chance to see anything presnap.

It was second-and-9 from UNT's 43. TE Henry Krieger Coble crossed McClain's face and drew his coverage. Kittle beat a jam from the corner at the line of scrimmage. The corner released Kittle thinking, maybe, he had safety help. Nope. Safety went with HKC. Kittle was wide open on a wheel route.

Kittle caught the pass and tiptoed the sideline for his first career TD. And that was Iowa's hurry-up and maybe what it's after.

UP NEXT — NO. 19 WISCONSIN (3-1)

— Wisconsin is up to Wisconsin things. Mainly, it's using big dudes (two fullbacks in this case, including one named Watt) to move people to run the ball. Here's the school's official site on that.

— You know that Corey Clement, the heir to Melvin Gordon, has been unhealthy this season and will miss the next four or so weeks after sports hernia surgery. Wisconsin always has RBs. Hawaii got a big dose of redshirt freshman Taiwan Deal.

— The Badgers haven't allowed a touchdown in 188 minutes, 2 seconds dating to the fourth quarter of a 35-17 loss to Alabama in the opener on Sept. 5.

THE NUMBERS GAME

Touchdowns in the red zone

Iowa — 5 of 5

North Texas

— 1 of 3

Tracking the Hawkeyes

: Week 1 vs. ISU — 4 of 5 (off), 1 of 1 (def); Week 2 Iowa State — 2 of 3 (off), 1 of 2 (def); Week 3 vs. Pitt — 3 of 3 (off), 2 of 3 (def); Week 4 North Texas — 5 of 5 (off), 1 of 3 (def)

The takeaway

: Iowa has now scored on 93.75 percent of its red zone opportunities (15 of 16). That's No. 18 in the country. Iowa's 14 red zone TDs are tied for 15th in the country. Iowa's 87.50 red zone TD percentage (14 of 16) is No. 3 in the country (behind Georgia Tech and Army). Ferentz was asked Saturday if he thought his offense can score on any possession. I don't know who asked that, but that's a pretty darn good question.

3 and outs (forced by defense)

Iowa

— 6

North Texas

— 3

Tracking the Hawkeyes

: Week 1 vs. ISU — 3 (def), 2 (off); Week 2 vs. Iowa State — 4 (def), 4 (off); Week 3 vs. Pitt — 3 (def), 2 (off); Week 4 vs. North Texas — 6 (def), 3 (off)

The takeaway:

A season-high for Iowa's defense. While UNT was going three-and-out, three-and-out and five-and-punt to begin the game, the Hawkeyes went TD (7 plays, 70 yards), three-and-out and TD (2 plays, 26 yards). This week, the number is kind of meh. Against Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes' lives will depend on getting off the field on third down. Wisconsin's possession numbers don't jump off the page (44 percent third down conversions, 33:02.25 avg. time of possession), but against Hawaii, the Badgers' scoring drives were 16 plays for 97 yards, 9 plays for 73 yards, 11 plays for 80 yards and 8 plays for 67 yards. (Iowa leads the Big Ten with a 52 percent third-down conversion rate.)

Second half adjustments

Iowa

— 148 yards, 4.9 yards per play (30 plays)

North Texas

— 207 yards, 4.3 yards per play (48 plays)

Tracking the Hawkeyes

: Week 1 vs. ISU — 163 yards, 5.25 yards per play (31 offensive plays), 195 yards, 6.5 yards per play (30 plays on defense); Week 2 vs. Iowa State — 232 yards, 6.62 yards per play (35 offensive plays), 66 yards, 2.12 yards per play (31 defensive plays); Week 3 vs. Pitt — 165 yards, 5.5 yards per play (30 off plays), 124 yards, 5.1 yards per play (31 def plays); Week 4 vs. North Texas — 148 yards, 4.9 yards per play (30 offensive plays), 207 yards, 4.3 yards per play (48 defensive plays)

The takeaway

: If this were a competitive game, these numbers are a nail in the coffin. It wasn't. What deserves note is Iowa's first half — 340 yards on 35 plays (9.7 yards per play). That's putting the lid on the coffin before the second half mattered.

20-plus plays

Iowa

— 4

North Texas

— 4

Tracking the Hawkeyes

: Week 1 vs. ISU — 4 (off), 3 (allowed); Week 2 vs. Iowa State — 6 (off), 3 (allowed); Week 3 vs. Pitt — 4 (off), 3 (def); Week 4 vs. North Texas — 4 (off), 4 (def)

The takeaway

: A week after all three of Iowa's 20-plus were pass plays, two of the four this week were runs (Canzeri 29, Mitchell 45). The 81-yarder was Iowa's longest play in 22 games (Duzey 85 yards on a pass in 2013 at Ohio State). Three of UNT's 20-plus were pass plays.

The Iowa/Greg Davis definition of explosive (it's 12-plus runs and 16-plus passes)

: 10 (Illinois State 9, Iowa State 12, Pitt 6, North Texas 10)

Magic points (scores inside of two minutes)

Iowa

— 7

North Texas

— 0

Tracking the Hawkeyes

: Week 1 vs. ISU — 3 (off), 7 (allowed); Week 2 vs. Iowa State — 7 (off), 0 (def); Week 3 vs. Pitt — 10 (off), 7 (def); week 4 vs. North Texas — 7 (off), 0 (def)

The takeaway

: Four straight weeks with scores with less than 2 minutes left before half or the game. That's getting it done and does bring the 'do you feel your offense can score at anytime' question into play for Ferentz, for Beathard, for the whole crew, really. (Saturday's was Canzeri's 3-yard run with 1:56 left before half, capping an 11-play, 80-yard drive.)

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