Breaking down the Gophers’ punt block vs. Iowa

One of the key plays in the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ 13-10 upset of the then No. 15-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday was a blocked punt after Iowa went three-and-out on their opening drive. It set up a 31-yard field goal by kicker Luke Drzewiecki to give Minnesota an early 3-0 lead.

So how were the Gophers able to get the better of a team that typically sets the standard for special teams?

First, let’s take a look at Iowa’s punt formation:

The Hawkeyes are lined up with two upbacks protecting the punter eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. What I find interesting about this is that Iowa punted four times in their previous game against Washington, and on all four of those punts, the Hawkeyes lined up with three upbacks. I even went back a week further to the Ohio State game and it was the same on all four of their punts against the Buckeyes.

So here, Iowa is in an unbalanced front, with the long snapper and three linemen to his left and one to his right. With only two upbacks, a wing is initially lined up on the left side before motioning across to the right.

I don’t know why the Hawkeyes opted to go with two upbacks here, but motioning the wing could have served a couple different purposes. It could have been to reinforce the right side of the formation, where the offensive line has fewer blockers. Or it could have been intended to force a defensive adjustment.

Let’s watch how it plays out:

The motioning wing essentially becomes an extra gunner for Iowa and cornerback Simon Seidl runs with him, letting the gunner at the top of the screen run free down the sideline.

The Gophers have eight men up at the line of scrimmage, with four overloaded on the long snapper’s right. Mason Carrier and Mekhai Smith are lined up in the right A-gap, between the long snapper and the lone lineman to his right. Nate Cleveland is next to them to absorb the block from the single lineman, and John Nestor is rushing from the edge. Naiim Parrish is also rushing from the opposite side of the formation.

Let’s watch from another angle:

From this angle, it becomes clear based on the blocking and the motioning wing that Iowa is setting up a directional punt to the right. Punting from the left hash to the right sideline gives the ball a longer diagonal path across the field, and it allows the punter to kick away from where Javon Tracy is lined up as the returner.

Head coach P.J. Fleck mentioned in his postgame press conference Saturday that when the team ran this punt block formation in practice, special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato served as the punter and took “a lot of shots off that right foot with Naiim [Parrish] and [John] Nestor.”

So it’s interesting that Parrish and Nestor seem to have been the ones to make the play in practice, but in the actual game, it was Carrier who broke through and got a hand on the punt.

My theory: Iowa was very concerned about Tracy’s ability to make plays in the return game and were willing to sacrifice an upback in an effort to increase their coverage downfield. But by doing so, they inadvertently played right into Minnesota’s hand. The Gophers sent four rushers, expecting Iowa would line up with three upbacks and that they’d win the numbers game. Instead, they ended up with two upbacks trying to block four rushers.

The Hawkeyes punted six more times in the game.

Can you guess how many upbacks they lined up with on each one?

I’ll give you hint: It was more than two.