The Iowa Hawkeyes‘ 2022 season was a fascinating one to say the least. Talk about peaks and valleys.
For all of the jokes and complaints about Iowa’s offense, the Hawkeye defense was just the opposite. Anchored by the Butkus Award winner in Jack Campbell, Iowa boasted arguably the greatest defense in program history.
The Hawkeyes finished with the nation’s No. 2 total defense (270.8 yards surrendered per game) and scoring defense (13.31 points allowed per game). Campbell and co. limited opponents to two touchdowns or less in 10 of 13 contests. Iowa also tied for the national lead with six defensive scores.
With the Iowa defense doing what it did in 2022 as compared to what the Hawkeye offense did, plenty of folks understandably assigned the lion’s share of the credit for the eight in Iowa’s win column to Phil Parker’s bunch.
After this incredible stat that Ben Stevens of Sports Grid shared, that belief won’t be slowing down any time soon.
Iowa had an 8-5 record in 2022.
If the Hawkeyes’ offense failed to score a single TD last year, they would have still posted a 4-7-2 record:
• 2 ties – PUR, WISC
• 2 add. L’s – NW, MINNAnd the two new losses are by a combined five points.
Mind-boggling.
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) June 14, 2023
As Ben Stevens points out, Iowa would have still won four games and finished with a 4-7-2 overall mark if the Hawkeyes failed to score a single offensive touchdown in 2022.
A pair of games—the trip to Purdue and Iowa’s home win over Wisconsin—would have wound up as ties instead of victories. One of the Hawkeyes’ most productive offensive days last season came in West Lafayette, Ind., as tight end Sam LaPorta, wide receiver Nico Ragaini and running back Kaleb Johnson all had touchdowns against the Boilermakers.
Instead, Iowa’s 24-3 win would have been a 3-3 tie with the two teams exchanging field goals. What about Wisconsin? The Cooper DeJean game goes all for naught? I think not. But, just for the sake of this exercise, the Hawkeyes do still come away with a 10-10 tie in the battle for the Heartland Trophy.
Only a pair of games turn into losses: Iowa’s 33-13 win over Northwestern turns into a 13-12 loss against the Wildcats and the Hawkeyes’ 13-10 win over Minnesota morphs into a 10-6 loss. No more Floyd of Rosedale is a bitter pill to swallow.
So, which four games would still be wins for Iowa then? Hawkeye fans know all too well that Iowa won its 2022 season opener by virtue of a pair of safeties and a field goal over eventual FCS national champion South Dakota State, 7-3.
Incredibly, Iowa still would have also beaten Nevada, Rutgers and Kentucky. Drew Stevens’ 43-yard field goal would have netted a 3-0 win over the Wolf Pack, DeJean and Kaevon Merriweather’s defensive scores would have headlined a 20-10 win over the Scarlet Knights and Iowa still would’ve blanked Kentucky, 14-0, behind pick-sixes from DeJean and safety Xavier Nwankpa.
The fact that Iowa still wins four games minus an offensive touchdown last season might be the best illustration of the Hawkeyes’ defensive dominance yet. Or, put another way, Iowa would have matched three Big Ten teams’ win totals in 2022 without an offensive touchdown.
Sorry Indiana, Nebraska, and Rutgers. Iowa matches your 2022 win totals without an offensive touchdown. Northwestern…okay, you probably already know. You’re off the hook.
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