Iowa football: Phil Parker’s secondary faces tough test vs Minnesota

When the Iowa football team takes the field Saturday vs Minnesota, they’ll need their secondary playing at a high level if they want to beat the #7 Gophers.

The Iowa football team has been putting together another great defensive showing this year (minus Jonathon Taylor gashing them in Madison), and that surprisingly includes their secondary.

The results that Phil Parker’s secondary has put together do not match what should actually have happened considering two of the Hawk’s original four starters in the secondary have missed time throughout the season, and both backup corners were/are injured as well. Additionally, starting corner Matt Hankins has been inconsistent (when not injured) to say the last resulting in him being benched multiples times this season.

Yet, here we are, nine games into the season and the secondary is allowing the 13th fewest yards per game and the 6th fewest yards per pass. And it’s not because of a lack of quality opponents as the Hawks have gone up against two top-20 passing offenses and the Big Ten’s leading passer Sean Clifford.

And although Minnesota isn’t lighting up the scoreboard with an aerial attack like Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers, they may present the toughest challenge yet for the Iowa football team’s battle-tested secondary.

Currently, Minnesota’s passing attack ranks 46th in passing yards per game, but they are wildly efficient as their attempted passes per game ranks 125th out of 130 teams in the nation, and their yards per pass (11.2) ranks 3rd in the nation.

Sophomore quarterback Tanner Morgan has thrown just 4 interceptions compared to 21 touchdowns for 2,100 yards, which is good for a 191.4 quarterback rating. That 191.4 rating happens to be the 4th best in the country behind the familiar names of Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow, and Jalen Hurts.

It certainly helps when he a trio of wide receivers that rivals any team in the Big Ten. Led by Tyler Johnson, who could be a day two pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, this trio is filled in by sophomores Rashod Bateman and Chris Autumn-Bell.

Johnson has 50 catches for 730 yards and 8 touchdowns. Bateman has 38 catches for 847 yards, which comes out to a ridiculous 22.3 yards per catch, and Autumn-Bell has 20 catches for 319 yards and 5 touchdowns.

That’s difficult for any team to match up against.

But if the Iowa football team wants to win, they’ll need their secondary to play lights out and show why they were considered one of the top secondaries by some measures in the country coming into this season.

And it also wouldn’t hurt if sleeper All-Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year Geno Stone had an outstanding game.