Iowa football: Five observations in win over Purdue

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 19: Fullback Brady Ross #36 of the Iowa Hawkeyes is tackled during the first half by defensive lineman Lawrence Johnson #90 and defensive end Semisi Fakasiieiki of the Purdue Boilermakers on October 19, 2019 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Third down issues continue

It’s honestly astonishing how bad the Iowa football team is at converting third downs, particularly third and short. Despite the interior offensive line identifying itself as the weak link of this unit, the Hawkeye’s offense is still lining up in 22 or 23 personnel on third and short and trying to ram the ball right at the defense with one of the three running backs.

Hey Brian, you know how that didn’t work the first 15 times you did it? Well, it probably isn’t going to work now either because everyone and their brother knows exactly what the Iowa football team is going to do in these situations.

If you look at the Hawks from a season perspective, they are doing good on third down, converting a healthy 43.6% of their third-down plays, good for 27th in the country. However, if you look a bit closer, this high percentage is held up by the Hawkeye’s early-season opponents.

In the last three games, all against real Big Ten teams (no, Rutgers doesn’t count), the Iowa football team is converting just 35.4% of its attempts, which would place them at 95th overall in the nation.

Good teams find ways to keep the chains moving.

Iowa doesn’t.

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