The Current Status of the Iowa Offense

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 In a Twitter thread, I provide my thoughts on the current state of the Iowa Offense in the 2022 season


The Offense Today

The system itself is still sound, in the year 2022. While the Ferentz way of running outside zone differs a bit from others, you see outside zone (OZ) based systems proliferating throughout the NFL with the Rams, 49ers, and Packers (though, we should note, those systems are starting to use more gap schemes too).  The boot action, the flood concepts, the vertical shots off the run action, all of that is still, in this day, great. With the shift to a lot of man/zone match principles on defense, this sort of run pass conflict and threatening both sides of the formation is very hard to defend.


Brian Ferentz over the offseason talked some updates. While the talk was probably more than the bite, based on the 2 games I watched, there has been an overall shift in the pass offense, one that I think in general is good. Iowa's drop back pass offense is fairly rudimentary, it looks like a 90s era simplified college WCO. But Iowa is running much less of a quick 3-step drop stuff that has largely been phased out of CFB. The routes themselves are more dynamic (less sit routes) to help with YAC.

So while it isn't an overhaul (were we really expecting that?), it's a move in the direction of goodness.


So what's the issue and why is the Iowa offense mostly inept?

The primary issue, in my mind, is that the offense is fairly rigid. And right now, the offense just doesn't have the horses to make it go with that level of rigidity.

At it's heart, it's OZ based. The inside zone (IZ) really works off the stretch element. The play action (PAP), the windback, the counter, all work off that. Well, while the OZ is blocked better than the other schemes, it's still way too inconsistent. Too many stuffs, too much penetration, too many TFL. The offense can't believe in that run to get them 4-5 yards when they dial it up on standard downs. If the OZ no go, the offense no go.

The other runs aren't blocked well enough to stand alone, they can't be with how much they dedicate to OZ. So now you start PAP earlier. Mixing it up on 1st down is good. However, the pass protection combined with a QB that isn't mobile leaves you susceptible to sacks, QB hurries, throw aways, incompletions, and now you're behind the sticks and stuck.

Why are you stuck once off schedule? The QB himself has a strong arm. Can throw a great deep out or deep in route, but any coverage complexity causes him to mentally freeze. Suddenly his feet and drop don't match his timing, and the pass breaks down, not to talk again of the pass protection. And man coverage almost kills the pure drop back because you don't have the athletes on the outside to get separation and the route structures themselves are pretty rudimentary.


Way Forward

Either a consistent QB or an improved OL would see a pretty drastic improvement. We saw it as recently as 2020 with consistency at the tackle spot helping drive an efficient run offense. In 2021 they had to move to their Center powering the system as the rest of the OL caught up. Now absent the best center, the OL isn't performing. A consistent QB keeps some run/pass balance while keeping the offense on schedule. But absent those things, the way the system is structured, there really just is no way to make it work consistently well. And that's the downfall.

Whether recruiting, development, whatever, it just can't work as it is this year. It can work going forward. It can improve. But right now, the horses aren't there and I don't see it drastically improving within the season. Overall, I still think you can make it work. I'd take more influence on the Rams/49ers offense. I'd add some complexity to the route structure. I'd try to add some read element to make it more flexible going forward. But, will that happen...

I know a lot of fans are pushing for the more mobile backup QB. While there is some benefit to having a mobile QB to escape some of the pass protection issues and maybe add an element to the run game, that alone isn't necessarily enough to warrant going to him. Is he more or less efficient in the pass game with his decision making and accuracy. Does he help a young OL that is already struggling to get the blocking and pass protection set? Does he escape the pocket in an appropriate way or do his eyes come down against the rush and therefore make the risk higher within a pressure environment? These are all things the coaches must consider.

And I know other systems make it "look so easy." Certainly you can simplify some things for the QB more than Iowa does, but that can come with draw backs too (too simple, and the defense is licking their chops). You can go to a more diverse run offense rather than pounding home execution in stretch, but that's not really the philosophy that makes your program tick and that's at least another offseason in the making to make a reality, not in-season. 

I was also asked a good question: "How much better would a pretty typical 11/12 personnel + formationing + RPO counter/split zone O do with this personnel?" My response: "I think the personnel is going to limit anything you do. So I don't think playbook improvements are going to make this a high powered offense. But it's possible that doing that gives them enough explosiveness to get a few more points, rather than being so efficiency reliant." There isn't a magic bullet for inconsistent OL and QB play. 

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