Oct. 26, 2011
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Kirk Ferentz may be thinking hard about a few things this week as he prepares the Iowa Hawkeyes for the battle for Floyd of Rosedale Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis. However, his team’s performance in the red zone – both offensively and defensively – isn’t on the list.
The Hawkeyes are tied for third place in red zone offense with a success rate of 96 percent, a product of 26 scores in 27 attempts. Defensively, Iowa is tied for ninth-best in the country with a success rate of 71 percent. In addition, the Hawkeyes and Southern Miss each have held their opponents scoreless on nine different red zone visits, marks that rank No. 1 among the team’s that are ranked in the Top 10 in red zone defense.
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“I don’t know if there’s any secret. We’ve done a good job of executing on both sides of the ball.”
Kirk Ferentz on Iowa’s red zone success both offensively and defensively thus far this season
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“I don’t know if there’s any secret. We’ve done a good job of executing on both sides of the ball. Defensively we’re fortunate there. They’ve been moving the ball up and down the field pretty readily on us. We have to continue to be good there,” Ferentz said Tuesday afternoon during his weekly visit with the media.
“Offensively, it’s pretty good, too. Especially if you’re scoring touchdowns. That helps,” he added.
Iowa has scored touchdowns on 17 of its trips inside its opponent’s 20-yard line. Three of those touchdowns came last Saturday when Hawkeyes went a perfect 4-for-4 against the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hawkeyes have had more success on the ground than through the air when inside the 20, scoring 11 touchdowns via the ground game compared to six through the air.
Iowa has scored on its last 22 red zone trips – the Hawkeyes’ last and only non-scoring red zone possession this season came at the very end of the 34-7 opening win over Tennessee Tech – and 132 of the last 143 (92 percent) red zone possessions (87 touchdowns and 45 field goals), dating back to the Michigan State game in 2008. Iowa is 113-124 (91 percent) combined inside the red zone its last 36 games.
Click HERE to watch this week’s Case IH Red Zone highlights package inside Hawkeye All-Access, the multi-media portal of hawkeyesports.com and a part of the Big Ten Digital Network.