{"id":17910,"date":"2023-09-27T15:30:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T20:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=17910"},"modified":"2023-09-27T15:30:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T20:30:08","slug":"harlon-barnett-taking-iowas-offense-seriously-despite-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/harlon-barnett-taking-iowas-offense-seriously-despite-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlon Barnett taking Iowa\u2019s offense seriously despite criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that Iowa<\/a><\/strong>, as a football team, is offensively challenged. But Michigan State<\/a><\/strong> interim head coach Harlon Barnett<\/a><\/strong> isn\u2019t overlooking the Hawkeyes as his squad prepares for a trip to Kinnick Stadium.<\/p>\n

Barnett, who played for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz<\/a><\/strong> when the two were a player and coach in the NFL in Cleveland, respectively, has the utmost respect for the Hawkeyes offensive staff, including offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz<\/a><\/strong>, Kirk\u2019s son. And Barnett would rather not be the coach of a team that Iowa uses to get right on offense following a shutout.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we know they\u2019re a tough team, especially at home. And don\u2019t pay attention to what you see in the past. Each game is a new game that has a life of its own, so we\u2019re taking them very, very seriously,\u201d Barnett said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He made reference to Michigan State\u2019s last trip to Iowa City: A 49-7 loss, the largest margin of victory for Iowa ever against the Spartans.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast time we were up there, we got our butts kicked, so we\u2019re taking them very seriously,\u201d Barnett said.<\/p>\n

Right now, though, the prospect of Iowa scoring 49 points seems a fantasy. Coming off a 31-0 shutout at the hands of Penn State<\/a><\/strong>, the Hawkeyes have are averaging 21.2 points per game \u2014\u00a0below the 25 per game Ferentz needs as OC \u2014\u00a0Iowa ranks No. 105 nationally in scoring offense. <\/p>\n

In total offense, Iowa ranks second to last nationally, and is one of two teams to have played four games but failed to gain 1000 total yards. Currently, the Hawkeyes are averaging 4.5 yards per play. The rushing offense, which Barnett noted is a point of pride, is No. 104 and averaging fewer than four yards a carry.<\/p>\n

Barnett thinks if he and his staff can cook up a plan to stymy the run, it could go a long way for a controlling defensive performance. Erasing what the Hawkeyes hope to do in the run game can unwind the entire offensive plan, Barnett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeriously, coach Ferentz, who I know from back in Cleveland Brown days is a great dude, great coach, great offensive line coach,\u201d Barnett said. \u201cAnd they pride themselves on running the football. And so we\u2019re going to have to be able to stop the run. This is every week. Stop the run. And also control the passing game. We\u2019re going to put together a plan that we hope will allow us to do just that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Harlon Barnett taking Iowa\u2019s offense seriously despite criticism<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that Iowa, as a football team, is offensively challenged. But Michigan State…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}