Iowa football’s in-game adjustments helping confidence slowly grow

IOWA CITY — Redshirt freshman receiver KJ Parker watched the Hawkeyes on TV as a kid. He’s spent the last three games watching them on the sidelines, trying to soak in every morsel of information possible.

Study the game. Watch the veterans and analyze their adjustments.

“I'm learning every day as we go on,” Parker said. “And just seeing them be able to pick up on little things like that makes it like a difference, because now I know what to look out for when I'm in their position.”

Those adjustments, in particular, have been playing a key role in Iowa football’s offensive development. The Hawkeyes have their strengths and flaws, but since the start of the season Iowa’s had to rework its offense mid-game.

Studying film is a huge part of preparing for an opponent. Knowing what their tendencies are, how to exploit any weaknesses and seeing which one-on-one matchups work best are all part of weekly film breakdowns. The Hawkeyes work through different plays based on what defensive scheme their opponent shows on tape.

Normally it’s a very cut-and-dry process. This season, however, Iowa’s seen curve balls every week.

“Everything that we're kind of been expecting, teams have been kind of throwing almost pretty much something completely different at us,” quarterback Mark Gronowski said. “So being able to kind of adjust on the fly, we add plays throughout the game — maybe that we even haven't practiced throughout the week — but we've practiced them so much throughout fall camp that it's almost second nature for us.”

Sometimes it happens in football. Teams have all week to prepare for just one game, and with a growing number of game film to work through, opponents can test out some new covers just for that week.

Can it get frustrating? Probably. It’s also part of football, and it’s an element of the game the Hawkeyes have to work through. They’ve done that through three games, doing things like incorporating a slow mesh and finding time to take shots downfield.

“It almost feels like historically that's been the case with us,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “You think you're going to get one thing and then you get something else, for whatever reason.”

Flexibility, Ferentz added, also is a huge aspect of the game. Not just knowing when to switch the game plan, but doing so in a timely manner. That’s where the maturity of Gronowski’s six years as a college QB comes into the picture.

There’s parts of the offense that still needs work, even beyond just making adjustments. The vertical pass hasn’t been perfected — but there’s been signs of growing improvement every week.

Iowa’s opening drive against UMass last week was the best example, but the Hawkeyes still have dropped balls and overthrown passes.

“I always joke with the guys, that's why they call it wide receivers, not wide droppers,” Ferentz said jokingly. “There's a name, why you call them wide receivers. The objective is to catch the football.”

The imperfect connection between Gronowski and his weapons mid-game has made it difficult for the receivers to demonstrate the improvement Ferentz and company have spoken about all offseason.

However, the Hawkeyes’ game against UMass proved it can be done. Despite the on-the-fly adjustments to defensive covers, the dropped balls and the missing players from injury — it is possible to see the ball fly.

“It was just nice just to get it done and execute like that,” receiver Seth Anderson said. “So being able to get out there and do that, what we did the first couple drives, was nice. And I just want to see us keep doing it.”

The Hawkeyes offense was confident on the field against the Minutemen, and they’ll need it against Rutgers in a short week. Big Ten play presents a much stronger challenge compared to Iowa’s nonconference schedule, but the timing of last week’s boost helps.

“We're always gonna come out trying to execute what we’ve got planned and what we got drawn up,” Anderson said. “We’ve just got to be able to do that against Big Ten play.”

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