If it has been said once, it has been said 1,000 times: the Iowa offense is not getting the job done. Over the past few seasons, particularly under former offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, the Hawkeye offense has consistently been inefficient and unable to support the defense or special teams units.
During the final two years under Ferentz (2022 and 2023), the Hawkeyes' offense declined, reaching its lowest point in several years.
Last season, the Hawkeyes started a new offensive regime under offensive coordinator Tim Lester, but were forced to use all their healthy quarterbacks, and still had a subpar passing attack.
Since 2022, the Hawkeyes' passing attack has ranked No. 128 in passing yards and No. 130 in passing touchdowns, but showed improvement last season.
The Hawkeyes ranked No. 73 in the country on offense, which may not sound impressive, but was significantly better than their performance in the previous few seasons.
In year two under Tim Lester, the Hawkeyes aim to improve their offense and are relying on new transfer quarterback Mark Gronowski to carry them forward.
Gronowski transferred to Iowa following a dominating four-year career at FCS powerhouse South Dakota State. After transferring, he had surgery to repair a shoulder injury he suffered during his last season with the Jackrabbits, but is now fully healthy and ready to lead the Iowa offense.
With Gronowski under center, one preseason prediction favors the Iowa passing attack to take a big step forward.
Bjorn Bergstrom from Pro Football and Sports Network (PFSN) predicts Gronowski will lead an "above-average" passing attack for the Hawkeyes next season.
In his "One Bold Prediction For All 18 Big Ten Teams," Bergstrom predicts Gronowski will awaken a dormant Iowa offense.
He stated that with his experience and track record (93 passing touchdowns to 20 interceptions), the Hawkeyes will have one of the top signal-callers in the Big Ten.
If the Hawkeyes can improve on a normally subpar offense and have one of the better passing attacks in the Big Ten, they will make some noise in the conference and nationally.