The 2022 Iowa offense is somehow the most unwatchable unit in college football and also perhaps the most entertaining. Saturday against Illinois, the Hawkeyes found a new way to stumble into some points.
Iowa started a drive in its own territory, was forced to punt, recovered a muff of said punt, moved backward again, punted again, forced another turnover, lost more yards and then kicked a field goal to tie Illinois 6-6. Iowa lost 21 total yards after starting in its own half of the field and still came away with points.
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OUR BALL. 😤@Jackcampbell133 x @HawkeyeFootball pic.twitter.com/pavkO2BPTy
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) October 9, 2022
How could such a sequence happen?
Well, on the first drive, the Hawkeyes had just one play for positive yardage and Spencer Petras was sacked on third-and-11 for a loss of 10. Tory Taylor’s 49-yard punt was muffed by Isaiah Williams and recovered by the charging Hawkeyes at the Illinois 35. Even for an offense that has been allergic to points, this had to set them up well, right?
Well, Petras was sacked immediately and then threw an incomplete pass. Luke Lachey was called for a false start and Petras threw another incomplete pass. That’s minus-6 yards and another punt by Taylor.
This time, Illinois didn’t have to worry about muffing the punt as the ball went out of bounds at the 14. Quarterback Artur Sitkowski threw an incompletion and then found Williams for 9 yards, but Williams fumbled, giving the Hawkeyes a first-and-goal at the Illini 5. Now Iowa had to come away with points.
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This time, it did, but it still was far from easy. Petras threw an incompletion to start the drive, and on the next play Beau Stephens was called for unsportsmanlike conduct that backed Iowa up 15 yards after a 3-yard run.
For just the second time in the sequence, the Hawkeyes gained yards when Petras found Arland Bruce for 9, but that just set up a fourth-and-goal from the Illinois 14. An offside penalty against Illinois moved the ball to the 9. Drew Stevens then connected for a 27-yard field goal.
Those turned out to be Iowa’s last points of the game. The Hawkeyes lost 9-6 to fall to 3-3 for the season (1-2 Big Ten).
This season has been full of puzzling Iowa offensive moments. The Hawkeyes didn’t score a touchdown until the second game of the season (a 10-7 loss to Iowa State), and they might have officially created the “Iowa touchdown” by scoring seven points on two safeties and a field goal in a 7-3 Week 1 win over South Dakota State.
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Iowa scored 27 points against Nevada and 27 more against Rutgers — though two of the three touchdowns were defensive — and added two offensive touchdowns against Michigan late in a 27-14 defeat.
No FBS team has averaged fewer than Iowa’s 242.2 yards per game, and Iowa ranks 122nd of 131 teams in points per game at 16.4. Given its performance against Illinois, it might be headed farther down that list.