Excellent column, Mike. You’re absolutely right, although perhaps you’re a bit too kind. Kirk should have stood up and taken the credit for this loss. It would have done his team and his fans good to see him publicly admit that he was out-coached.

I have not been alone in harping on Kirk’s refusal to gamble, but this game once again shows why it’s crazy to be so ultra-conservative. Had Kirk been in Wisconsin’s shoes with 4th and 4 on his own 26, trailing by 6, there’s NO WAY he runs a fake punt. And there’s no way he wins the game.

And let’s not forget that after Greenwood’s interception around the Wisconsin 30, all Iowa needed was a 30-yard TD drive to bury the Badgers. But what did we get? Two useless runs off tackle, a short dump-off pass and a FG.

Great teams make that interception and then go for the jugular with a toss into the end zone. And if it doesn’t work, they come back and do it again.
That situation killed Iowa’s momentum as well as failing to put another 4 points on the board.

And the time mismanagement at the end was sickening. Of course, we’ve seen it before, like at the Capital One Bowl, except this time there was no miracle finish to let the coaches off the hook.

There’s no excuse at all for losing to Wisconsin, and you’re right: Iowa should be 7-0 and playing MSU next week for the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. Instead, Iowa is playing to salvage its season. And that’s a shame.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that, at least from way over here in Saudi Arabia at 2 in the morning, I failed to detect a single Hawkeye blitz. Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Auburn — every team in the known universe — blitzes, at least occasionally. But not the Hawkeyes. If you can’t pressure the QB your pass defense is going to look more inept than it is. And no matter how good you think your D-line is, give ‘em some help now and then.

When? Well, how about on 4th down with a couple minutes to go? You blitz, you win. You don’t, you lose. Iowa, of course, didn’t blitz. You know the rest…

Very strong and truthful column. Hlas nails it. More than the trophy left Kinnick today. In many ways a brilliant, breathtaking college football game. Unless you are a Hawkeye fan. I don’t know if I am more upset at the inexplicable coaching decisions at minus 2 minutes than I am with Ferentz not owning it postgame. When your 22-year old QB articulates its better than you, while still covering for you, that’s a problem. Iowa’s deficiencies — uncorrected by the coaching staff — caught up to it today. I’ve criticized Bret Bielema, but today I tip my cap to him because he outcoached us and his players were better than us in this game. Congrats to Wisconsin. As for KF, it’s time for a little soul-searching.

True the special teams gaffes at this point in the season are inexcusible and true that what was thought to be one of the bright spots of this team, the defense, has been non existent two games in a row now…(although one must wonder how Norm Parker’s health issues are effecting them mentally.) These are not characteristics of championship teams in any sport…but, the burning question I have is this, you score four touchdowns on a defense that hadn’t been able to stop you and you can’t go for 2 once to make up for a blocked extra point? So right in saying this loss is the dissappointing result of an all to conservative coaching staff…like they say, no guts, no glory.

Spot on, Hlas. Thanks for being candid. And great supplements with the comments here.

Sure hope KF owns the clock management miscue after he looks at the tape. Not to belabor the point, but here is how I would approach it on Tuesday if I were asking the questions:

“Who called the timeout? Did you?”

“During the timeout before 4th down (after Marvin’s 3rd down catch 1 yard shy of first down), did you call two plays – one for 4th down and one for first down? If not, is that something you usually do in that situation? If so, why did you choose not to do it this time?

“After the final timeout was called before first down, it appeared that you said into your head set, “We needed to clock it.” If you had it to do over again would you have spiked the ball?”

“What action steps are being taken to assure that clock management is not an issue moving forward?”

Your article and the responses sum up the feelings I have after the game. I am a huge supporter of Kirk Ferentz. He and his staff have done a great job at Iowa. The record proves it out, however yesterday, (and last week) shows the coaching staff lacks the ability to take decisive action when the pressure is on. There is really no reason for the Hawks to have lost the game other than poor coaching and preparation. You would think going up against a team having one of the best offensive lines in the country, you would have a plan to rush more than four guys at critical moments in the game? I think the lack of decisiveness and confidence of the coaches has an effect on the players. I seriously thinking about skipping next weeks game as I cant take the frustration. I will read your column and get the truth about the outcome. Hang in there…you are doing a great job for the “FRUSTRATED FANS”!!

Didn’t I hear Ferentz in the post game say, “We were always going to take the timeout.” This to be sounds like Ferentz made this decision in advance of the 4th down QB sneak. So why Stanzi didn’t call the timeout right after the 4th down conversion? Why did Stanzi and Iowa appear to be disoriented and unsure about what to do if a timeout was going to be called after the 4th and 1? After listening to his post game comments on the way home, I figured Ferentz is covering for his and his staff’s incompetency in managing the clock, but then again this has been evident throughout his tenure at Iowa.

Those of us that have followed Hawkeye football for a long time know that these types of teams come along rarely – to be in a position with a defense this good, a QB this good, receivers this good, etc… By this stage of the game, we need to trust that our players are good enough, and more particularly, smart enough to do the right things in these situations. Stanzi is a senior with a lot of games under his belt. He knows that spiking the ball is the thing to do. You could tell he was frustrated when the time out was called, and rightfully so. I love Captain Kirk and trust his judgment greatly but was tremendously disappointed when in the post-game interview he said that their plan all along was the call a time-out. If that’s the case, then they need to come up with a new plan. Was the game won or lost there? Nope. But the things that transpired through the game made it the final pivotal turning point in the game that we failed on (no different than Wisconsin’s fake punt was when they called it).

The things that the Iowa coaching staff do over and over again that can make us pull our hair out – whether it be the “bend but don’t break” defense, unwillingness to blitz, over-conservative offensive play calling (even when we have weapons that should be having our foot on the throttle) and lack of a killer instinct have won a lot of games but will, unfortunately, keep us from ever taking the next step. In the meantime, we’ll sit and wait patiently for the talent and experience pool to get back to where it is right now and wonder about what could have been…