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    • Tim Lester's Iowa football offense dominates in Hawkeyes vs. Wisconsin
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    Tim Lester's Iowa football offense dominates in Hawkeyes vs. Wisconsin

    Kathleen William Posted on

    IOWA CITY – With rain falling at Kinnick Stadium early in the second half, the Iowa football team needed nothing more than stellar offensive performance to put this game away.

    For much of the last decade, particularly the last three years, this concept has not been a success. Iowa gained 156 yards against Wisconsin in 2021, a measly 146 in 2022 and 237 in 2023. While two of those were ultimately Hawkeye victories, an elite performance from defense and special teams was basically the only path to victory.

    But now, folks, we can say with certainty: Iowa has an offense.

    And it feels just as safe to say this: Kirk Ferentz made an excellent hire of Tim Lester as his offensive coordinator.

    We will always wonder what could have been if Iowa had switched to Brendan Sullivan at quarterback sooner. But now that the change has been made, it's obvious that it was the right decision… and best fits what Lester wants to do as a play-caller and play designer.

    More: Iowa football: Hawkeyes crush Wisconsin behind dominant defense and outstanding rushing attack

    The Hawkeyes defeated Wisconsin in a multi-pronged running game on Saturday night, completing a 42-10 rout that certainly looked new, different and…exciting even. They managed 329 rushing yards against the Badgers, overwhelmed the line of scrimmage from the start and scored the most points for an Iowa team against Wisconsin since 1975.

    The encouraging win moved Iowa to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in Big Ten Conference play heading into Friday night's 8 p.m. CT game at UCLA (3-5, 2-4).

    The trip to Pasadena with the Hawkeyes will feature the Big Ten's No. 1 rushing offense, orchestrated by Lester, the first-year coordinator who was the head coach at Western Michigan for six years before playing a year with the Green Bay Packers , where he refined his NFL-style offense to bring to Iowa City. For all the praise Wisconsin received for hiring Luke Fickell as head coach two cycles ago, Iowa's acquisition of Lester had a more positive impact.

    One of Lester's trademarks at Western Michigan was his use of the run-pass option (RPOs), which he killed Saturday night with Sullivan at the helm.

    Iowa's lead was 14-3 at halftime, and Wisconsin's first drive of the second half showed it was hoping to run a field game and rely on the typically conservative Hawkeye offense to get the ball back. But Lester was a great second-half coordinator, and on Saturday he brought the RPOs to life on Iowa's first drive of the third quarter.

    On second-and-7 from Iowa's 30, Sullivan faked a handoff, held it to the right side and ran into open space for a slight 14-yard gain. Two snaps later, Sullivan hit a hard juke on a Wisconsin defender and darted downfield for a 19-yard pickup. Some Iowa fans could be forgiven for fainting in shock when they saw a mobile quarterback sent to Kinnick.

    Iowa would complete the 10-play, 86-yard drive without throwing a single pass. Kaleb Johnson's 9-yard touchdown run made the score 21-3 with 6:24 left in the third quarter. That was one of three touchdowns for Johnson and increased his season point total to 20, tying the school's single-season record of 120 points (tied with Shonn Greene in 2008 and Nate Kaeding in 2002).

    The Hawkeyes scored touchdowns on all four possessions in the second half, which has also become a staple under Lester this season. They were the second half warriors coming out of the locker room.

    Iowa gained 422 total yards Saturday night after averaging 179.7 per game in the last three meetings against Wisconsin under Brian Ferentz as coordinator. What a difference.

    Johnson's 24 carries for 135 yards led the way. Kamari Moulton added 74 yards on the ground and Sullivan had 58 (including 52 in the second half). Jaziun Patterson punctuated his 56-yard performance with a touchdown run with 1:15 left.

    It's fun to combine a strong offense with a normally great defense and special teams, isn't it? This is everything Hawkeye fans have wanted for years: a competent offense. And defeating a rival on Saturday was more than competent. It was dominant.

    An absurd number of penalties marred the course of the first half

    Wisconsin entered Saturday ranked No. 2 in the country with fewest penalty yards per game (27.6). Iowa ranked fourth in this category with 28.8.

    But the crew led by Jeffrey Servinski ensured an eventful first half with many strange decisions on Saturday evening. Wisconsin went into the locker room with six accepted penalties for 50 yards. Iowa was flagged seven times for 47 yards.

    There were five pre-snap penalties on Wisconsin's first possession alone. Three of them were false starts for the Badgers. Two of those looked like false starts, but the Iowa defense's delay in play was ruled due to what Servinski announced before the snap as an “abrupt shift.” That prompted boos from the 69,250 spectators at Kinnick Stadium and confusion on the sidelines for Iowa, including offensive lineman Yahya Black. Amusingly, Black recorded a 5-yard sack on the play immediately following his infraction.

    That drive also saw a questionable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Sebastian Castro, who had little to no contact with Wisconsin offensive lineman Riley Mahlman, who was laying on Iowa's Deontae Craig between plays. That turned a potential third-and-12 into an automatic first down for Wisconsin, which turned the flag into a 38-yard field goal by Nathanial Vakos for a 3-0 lead.

    The 13 flags in the first half for 97 yards included a chop block and a late score against Wisconsin. The most egregious thing, however, was a missed Wisconsin facemask calls for Kaden Wetjen's punt return. Instead, Iowa was flagged for a block in the back that was difficult to find on replay, and officials also did not release the offending Iowa player's number.

    Another flag that didn't officially fall into the penalty category was an intentional grounding call against Iowa's Brendan Sullivan. That (correct) decision resulted in a 14-yard sack.

    Essentially, 14 flags were thrown for 111 yards in the first half alone.

    All in all, it was a rocky start for Kinnick. But the good news for Iowa was that it went into halftime with a 14-3 lead.

    With Luke Lachey out, Zach Ortwerth takes his place

    The Hawkeyes lost their best tight end, Luke Lachey, on Saturday night. The senior injured his left quadriceps in a 40-14 win over Northwestern last week. He made an appearance but didn't play against the Badgers, so sophomore Zach Ortwerth got the start.

    Ortwerth was already used to throwing himself into difficult situations. When Lachey and Erick All Jr. were out for the season a year ago, Ortwerth became Iowa's No. 3 tight end (behind Addison Ostrenga and Steven Stilianos) and even caught a 54-yard pass against Rutgers.

    “He was ready,” tight ends coach Abdul Hodge said earlier this season. “He came in. I didn't know exactly how he would feel. But… I think he handled the situation. But fast forward to this year, he’s a guy I see as (No.) 1.”

    Hodge and the Iowa coaches believed in Ortwerth, a St. Louis-area product like former Hawkeye Sam LaPorta. Ortwerth received the first snap of the game, a 9-yard catch in the flat from Sullivan. He later caught a 52-yard pass from Sullivan that keyed Iowa's third touchdown drive of the second half, a beautiful catch-and-run over the middle. Ortwerth finished the game with three catches for 66 yards as Lachey looked on.

    The good news for Iowa fans is that Lachey is expected to return for Friday's game against UCLA.

    In addition to quarterback Cade McNamara (concussion), reserve quarterback Marco Lainez, who broke his left thumb during practice on Monday, was also out on Saturday. Lainez underwent surgery on Wednesday and is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. Lainez would have been Sullivan's backup on Saturday, but instead that award went to Jackson Stratton, who transferred from Colorado State in June. Saturday's emergency quarterback was Kyler Gerardy, a true freshman from North Scott High School who is listed as a defensive back.

    The hope is that McNamara will be released this week, but it's a short week. If not, Iowa travels to Pasadena for a Friday game with Sullivan and Stratton as the only viable QBs.

    Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has worked for The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network for 30 years. Chad is the 2023 INA Sports Columnist of the Year in Iowa and NSMA Co-Sports Writer of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad's texting group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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    Kathleen William
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