How Iowa’s offensive scheme allows Hawkeyes to ‘control tempo’ in new way

Shanahan West Coast offense is ‘really great system,’ but Iowa still needs to be ‘technically and fundamentally sound’

IOWA CITY — Abdul Hodge sees plenty of upside in Iowa football’s new offensive scheme.

“The Shanahan West Coast system is a really great system,” the Iowa tight ends coach said on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast. “Has a lot of flexibility in the run game, in the passing game. Has a lot of answers that’s already built into it, whether it be hots or different variations in terms of the formations, various personnel groupings.”

Of course, there’s the motion, too — something Iowa fans saw a heavy dose of during the spring open practice. But Hodge also has especially taken note of the scheme providing “another way to control tempo.”

As Hodge sees it, there are “three ways you can control tempo.”

One way is what fans saw during this year’s Citrus Bowl between Iowa and Tennessee. Another way resembles what Kansas did last year on its way to averaging a Big 12-best 7.2 yards per play.

“They’ll align in the huddle, they’ll explode out as fast as possible and try to snap the football as fast as possible before the defense can actually see what’s going on and make adjustments and communicate,” Hodge said.

The third method is what Hodge sees Iowa doing with its Shanahan-style offense to “keep the defense off balance.”

“We will still huddle,” Hodge said. “We’ll get to the line of scrimmage. But at the last second, we can change that picture. We can go from a 3-by-1 formation to a 2-by-2 formation or 2-by-2 formation to 3-by-1 formation. … Or we can change the picture post-snap, when that ball is snapped.”

For those not as fluent in football schematics, the Green Bay Packers’ system offers a facsimile of what the Hawkeyes’ system will look like. (Lester was an analyst there before taking the Hawkeyes’ offensive coordinator job.)

“Being able to see those pictures, being able to see the examples, being able to pull up Green Bay’s tape and seeing some of those same concepts, I think, is very, very helpful,” Hodge said. “Because it can give you a visualization of what it’s supposed to look like.”

In fact, Iowa coaches traveled to Green Bay earlier in the offseason to meet with the Packers’ staff and watch practice. (That contingent included Hodge, who was the Packers’ third-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.)

As much as Iowa’s new scheme can help the offense in many facets, Hodge is quick to remind his players that schematics are “not the only thing that we’re going to have to hang our hat on to win football games.”

“At the end of the day, we still at Iowa are going to have to be technically and fundamentally sound,” Hodge said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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