Scouting Iowa before Washington's second road game of season

Just as Iowa’s offense is beginning to lean into the RPO game, Washington has an opportunity to use those same concepts to their advantage against the Hawkeyes defense. Last week against Ohio State, Iowa began cheating a safety down towards the line of scrimmage earlier before the snap, showing their split safety alignment but also somewhat telegraphing that the shallower safety was going to come up to fit the run. Ohio State responded by running RPO “glance” – where the receiver on the side of that safety runs a slant or in-cutting route. With no safety there to defend the play, it’s an open gain. Washington has run a similar concept throughout this season, so expect Denzel Boston and Jeremiah Hunter to get a few targets over the middle as Iowa rolls safeties down.

That look will require an establishment of the run with Jonah Coleman, however. Coleman is a back well-suited to playing against a defense like Iowa’s, since the Hawkeyes will be focusing on gap integrity more than penetration. That will give the junior a head of steam when he hits the line of scrimmage, and his vision this season has been good enough that he should be able to find some holes to keep the offense moving with 4-6 yard gains consistently. Iowa is also prone to giving up big runs to the boundary, and Coleman has bounced a few runs to the outside to great effect this season.

As with many of these Big Ten contests, Washington has to be content with taking things as they come. Iowa’s defense is fundamentally sound and coached to the absolute letter, leaving little room for execution errors on offense. The Huskies will have to grind out first downs with short gains in the passing game and adequate rushing successes before they find an opportunity or two to hit a ball down the field, as they have with post routes against quarters this season.

If Washington trips over its own feet at all – whether that be penalties, turnovers, or bad decisions – Iowa will be poised to strike. They’re built to be a bend, not break, team that will let you beat yourself to get out of jams. For the Huskies, it means they have to bring the execution they showed last week against Michigan, a gameplan that was pressing but patient, jabbing not swinging.