The First Half: The Offensive Line

Injuries have led to shuffling, which has led to protection issues.

A first-half breakdown of Iowa's position groups.

At first glance, the Iowa offensive line depth chart looks today almost the same as it did when fall camp started.

Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs are still at their tackle spots. Landan Paulsen is still No. 1 at left guard. Tyler Linderbaum is still the center.

The only difference is at right guard — Mark Kallenberger is the starter instead of Cole Banwart, who is injured and out for the season.

But it's been a season of injuries so far for the Hawkeyes up front.

Jackson hurt his knee in the season opener against Miami (Ohio) and didn't come back until the Oct. 5 game at Michigan. Banwart was hurt early in the season, tried to come back, and then was injured again. Kyler Schott emerged at guard until he was injured, and he won't be back until after the Hawkeyes' second bye week in early November.

The Hawkeyes survived all of the shuffling caused by those injuries until the Michigan game, when they surrendered eight sacks in the 10-3 loss.

Now, the hopes for the second half of the season rest on the offensive line.

"If we don't protect, that's going to be a problem any week of the season," coach Kirk Ferentz said on Tuesday. "It can happen this week, then be fine for a couple weeks. That's how football is sometimes. Your opponent, whatever it may be, schemes.

"Yeah, if we're not protecting the quarterback, it's going to be tough to operate the way we want to operate. That's certainly paramount. Just like running the football better, that's paramount on the list."

Kallenberger was the backup at left tackle, and now has moved inside. Kallenberger made his first start in Saturday's 17-12 loss to Penn State.

"I thought he played well, made a good representation of himself. It was his first start," Ferentz said. "I thought he handled that well. Then playing inside, which is not something he's done a lot of. He handled that well, too. A little bit different feel in that. Some guys can't handle that. Some do. He seemed to be unaffected by that.

"I saw a lot of positives. That's encouraging. A month ago I'm not going to say he was in a slump, but the month of August was OK with him. He didn't seem like he was really moving forward and progressing. The last four weeks I think we've seen good progress. I think he deserved the right to get in there and play and did a good job."

Redshirt freshman Cody Ince is No. 2 at left guard. True freshman Justin Britt is No. 2 at right guard. They may get more opportunities if the protection issues continue.

"I think we're keeping an open mind for everybody," Ferentz said. "We're not playing well enough on the line enough, not cohesively enough. We're working to get our best combination in there, get our best football being played up there.

"It's an open door right now. Opportunity for any one of the guys to jump up there, practice well this week. We'll base it off what we see this week in practice."

Best game — It would be easy to point to the Middle Tennessee State game, when the Hawkeyes rushed for 351 yards and had 644 yards of total offense, but you can make the case for the week before, when Iowa had the ball for almost 35 minutes and wore down Iowa State in an 18-17 win.

Worst game — Michigan, without any argument. 

Second-half outlook — If the Hawkeyes want a chance at the Big Ten West Division title, they have to a.) run the ball and b.) protect quarterback Nate Stanley. A lot of that falls on the line. Judging by Ferentz's comments this week, changes will be coming if there isn't production.