Hawkeyes Have Been Good At Controlling The Turnovers

Iowa has just one fumble and zero interceptions in the first four games.

Nate Stanley thought he had made an accurate pass to Tyrone Tracy Jr.

And then Middle Tennessee State safety Reed Blankenship appeared in the path of the throw.

“I think the first thing that flashes into your mind is, ‘Oh, crap, I better start running,’” Stanley laughed. “Go try to make a tackle.”

The ball, though, went through Blankenship’s hands and was caught by Tracy.

It’s the way things have gone for the 4-0 Hawkeyes this season, who have been virtually turnover-free.

The Hawkeyes have just one turnover this season — a fumble by fullback Brady Ross in the season opener against Miami (Ohio) — tied for least in FBS play with Oregon State.

“The little things help you win games,” running back Mekhi Sargent said. “Just taking care of the football is one of those things.”

“Protecting the ball is paramount,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “To me it's no different than tackling well on defense. If you don't do those things consistently then you'd better be more talented than every opponent you play, and that's hard to do.”

It’s something the Hawkeyes have been working on since the beginning of fall camp.

“It’s really a testament to the work we put in in practice,” running back Toren Young said. “We work ball security. We work on it every day in camp. And camp goes for a long time.”

Young talked about one of the daily drills which has an assistant coach slapping at the ball different ways as a running back walks 10 yards.

“It definitely prepares you,” Young said.

He laughed.

“It’s annoying, but it prepares you,” Young said.

Young said it’s constant work during different drills. Everybody, it seems, wants to knock the ball out.

“The scout team, the defensive players, they make sure you’re keeping the ball,” Young said. “They try to knock it out. That’s the one thing they do well — getting us to focus on ball security.”

“It starts every week on Monday,” wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette said. “We’re very detailed. We harp on keeping the ball on every possession. We harp on holding the ball.

“It’s just an effort of during-the-week stuff.”

Ferentz said his team has a good formula.

“Part of it's experience and then part of it is concentration, too,” Ferentz said. “I think those two things help us. For the most part guys touching the football have some experience, the guys that are in those positions, and then concentration is something everybody is capable of, but it's all those things have to go together, and fundamentals on top of it. But that's concentration, too.”

Stanley has completed 64.4 percent of his passes this season, and doesn’t have a turnover in 118 throws.

“He’s very on-target. He’s killing it right now,” Smith-Marsette said. “He’s not throwing it to the other team. That’s pretty accurate to me. When you’re not throwing it to the other team, when you’re hitting your colors, shoot, that’s accurate to me.”

“It’s huge for us to play complementary football,” Stanley said. “The less turnovers, the longer we’re sustaining drives, that enables the defense to play even harder, get three-and-outs. It’s huge for us to hold on to the ball and allow our defense to rest, but then also establishing longer drives to wear out (the opposing) defense.”

There’s a nice streak going, and you don’t want to jinx it.

But early on, the mistakes have been limited, and it’s something the Hawkeyes want.

“It’s just controlling the game,” Sargent said.

“I remember Coach (Hayden) Fry. He said, before you're going to win, you can't lose games, and Ted Marchibroda said more games are lost than won,” Ferentz said. “Those old axioms are really true.”