The Iowa Hawkeyes come in at No. 3 in the most recent Big Ten West football predictions from Athlon Sports. Although reigning champs of the Big Ten West, there seems to be some belief that the Hawkeyes are going to take a step backwards even though that is something they have rarely done with Kirk Ferentz at the helm.
The usual suspects are the cause of this dip in the prediction. The defense is expected to be reloaded, not rebuilt, with hard-nosed talent that will stonewall opposing offenses. Athlon Sports once again begs the question if the Iowa offense can find some more success than they saw in the 2021 season where they struggled in multiple areas.
A repeat of last year’s Big Ten West Division title will hinge on one thing for Iowa: Offensive improvement. In conference games last season, the Hawkeyes averaged only 4.5 yards per play and 23 points a game. Also, this unit struggled to generate big plays and ranked near the bottom of the league in third-down and red-zone offense. Adding to the challenges of generating improvement is the departure of running back Tyler Goodson and standout center Tyler Linderbaum, along with an ongoing quarterback battle between Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla. – Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports.
How much better the Iowa offense can be is the question everyone has been asking throughout this offseason. As Lassan noted, sorting out the Hawkeyes’ quarterback competition is priority No. 1 for Iowa.
There’s a hope that Petras can and will be a much-improved version of himself in 2022 if he wins the job. Petras’ quarterback trainer, Tony Racioppi, praised the 6-foot-5, 233 pound redshirt senior’s improvement with 247Sports recently.
“He’s the best he’s looked. He’s worked hard on his body, worked hard on his body fat, and he’s moving as quickly as he’s ever moved. Again, not that he’s ever going to be a dual-threat quarterback, but he’s going to have to get away from trouble, move quickly, get his feet set, and make a throw. He’s worked on that. I think he’s lost a good seven or eight pounds,” Racioppi told 247Sports.
“Mechanically, he’s worked on all of the stuff we did last year. He’s made some strides. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much we talk about this stuff, he has to play better on Saturdays. He knows that. At the end of the day, he’s going to be judged on how many games they won, his completion percentage, and his touchdown passes. That is the reality of playing quarterback.”
While Lassan pointed out the losses of both Goodson and Linderbaum, it doesn’t seem like his hang up with Iowa is necessarily due to lack of skill talent. However, he does want to see progression up front along the offensive line for the Hawkeyes.
Gavin Williams and Leshon Williams should be a capable one-two punch on the ground, and there are capable options in the receiving corps, including tight end Sam LaPorta and receivers Nico Ragaini and Keagan Johnson. Even with Linderbaum leading the way last season, Iowa’s line was not a strength in ’21 and needs to play a lot better this fall. – Lassan, Athlon Sports.
As has typified most of the offseason analysis of Iowa, Lassan is confident with what the Hawkeyes bring back defensively. Linebacker Jack Campbell led the nation with 143 total tackles last season and he anchors a defense that will have to plug in several new starters, particularly in the secondary where the Hawkeyes are replacing Dane Belton, Matt Hankins and Jack Koerner.
Despite a few departures, the Hawkeyes should have one of the top defenses in college football. Jack Campbell and Seth Benson lead a strong linebacker unit, while Riley Moss is one of the top cornerbacks returning in college football. Logan Lee, Noah Shannon and Lukas Van Ness are back to anchor one of the Big Ten’s top defensive lines. – Lassan, Athlon Sports.
There’s a couple other items that has Lassan looking a different direction at the top of the Big Ten West, too. The first is the reality that it’s asking a lot for the Hawkeyes to match their turnovers forced output from a season ago. Iowa led the nation with 25 interceptions and, again, that’s a spot where the Hawkeyes will be breaking in some fresh faces.
Beyond that, it’s the additions of Michigan and Ohio State to Iowa’s 2022 slate of games and the locations of several of the others.
Forcing 31 turnovers again is a tough ask for this defense, adding to the urgency of finding improvement on offense in preseason practices this fall. Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska come to Iowa City next year, but coach Kirk Ferentz’s squad gets Ohio State, Purdue and Minnesota away from home. – Lassan, Athlon Sports.
Ahead of Iowa at No. 1 is the Wisconsin Badgers and the Purdue Boilermakers are at No. 2. In all reality, the top three in the West could conceivably shake out in any order and it would not be a surprise to anyone.
Dropping Iowa below the two teams it beat out for the Big Ten West title last season is a little bit of disrespect, but also some bulletin board material to hang up in the locker room in Iowa City as they begin their preparation for the 2022 season.
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