Three weeks into the season the Iowa Hawkeyes rank 92nd in the country in rushing and are tied for 89th in total offense. While those numbers may seem alarming for an offense that returned a number of starters from last year, they apparently aren’t to head coach Kirk Ferentz, who told the weekly Big Ten teleconference that he is not surprised by his teams lackluster start. The Hawkeyes are 2-1 as they get set to visit Pitt and Ferentz says the offense is trying to find the right rhythm and right mix.

Ferentz defended third year offensive coordinator Greg Davis who has been heavily criticized for his love of the horizontal passing game. Ferentz says there is no obvious solutions to fixing the offensive woes. Since beating Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl after the 2009 season the slide to mediocrity has been steep. In the last four plus seasons the Hawkeyes are 29-25 overall and just 15-17 in the Big Ten and while the negativity has grown even louder in the wake of another loss to Iowa State Ferentz says it is something they need to put behind them.

The challenge this week is preparing for their first road test at 3-0 Pitt. Pitt’s James Conner ranks second in the nation with 544 yards of rushing. In his third year at the helm Paul Chryst has developed the Pitt offense into one of the best running attacks in the nation. The Panthers have averaged 344 yards on the ground in their 3-0 start, which ranks fourth in the country. Despite the gaudy numbers Chryst says there is plenty of room for improvement.

Chryst says the run game will get a challenge from an Iowa defense that has always prided itself on stopping the run under Kirk Ferentz.

(Learfield Sports)