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Hlas column: Believe it — Hawkeyes simply aren’t special this season
EVANSTON, Ill. — You can’t always believe what you believe.
You believed Iowa’s defense was pretty, pretty good entering this season. Last week’s NCAA statistics supported that.
The Hawkeyes were sixth nationally in scoring defense, eight in total defense, 14th in pass efficiency defense. Those are good statistics. What they meant, though, may not have been much.
Because three times this year now, Iowa’s opponent has driven 72 yards or more for late, game-winning touchdowns. Saturday, in Iowa’s 21-17 loss to the Northwestern Wildcats here, it was a 91-yard charge.
Northwestern's Demetrius Fields after his game-deciding touchdown catch (Jim Slosiarek/SourceMedia Group)
You believed conditioning was a Hawkeyes asset, that the fourth-quarter was Iowa Time. It sure was last season.
But the Hawkeyes were left dog-tired by ‘Cats quarterback Dan Persa and his crew in the fourth quarter, and looked it.
Some have said Persa resembles the actor who plays Harry Potter in the movies. He’s more like Harry Houdini, the escape-artist of yesteryear. Persa ran the Hawkeyes into the ground. An enduring image is from Saturday is one of Iowa defenders with their hands on their hips during play-stoppages on NU’s hurry-up final possession.
Hands on hips on a field of play means you’re gassed. Key defensive linemen spending plays on the sideline because of fatigue? That’s not good.
I don’t know if Adrian Clayborn is 100 percent healthy or somewhat less than that. It’s mid-November and a lot of players are playing hurt, and no one I know questions Clayborn’s desire and will. But he sure seemed to have stamina issues Saturday.
You believed this was the year Iowa stopped being the Wildcats’ victim, the year it put its throat on purple throats and rode home triumphantly to prepare for a monster showdown with Ohio State in Kinnick Stadium.
Nope. Northwestern doesn’t hate you, Hawkeyes. It owns you.
You believed this Iowa team could win the Big Ten title, could join the 2009 team as one that finished the season in the Top Ten, could be a truly special Hawkeyes squad that would do things matched by just a few of its predecessors in school history.
You believed wrong.
Some 7-3 records after 10 games feel good, feel uplifting. Iowa’s smells like a rotten egg. Great expectations often lead to great voids.
Ricky Stanzi came into Ryan Field ranked third in the nation in passing efficiency. He added to that in the third quarter with two touchdown passes to up his season-total to 22, with just three interceptions.
Iowa's Keenan Davis after the game's final play (Jim Slosiarek/SourceMedia Group)
But Stanzi’s most-remembered pass of this season to date was a horrible long throw here with 10:56 left in the game. It was headed toward nobody but Wildcats, and was picked off by Northwestern safety Brian Peters at the NU 5.
“Just an awful pass, an awful decision,” Stanzi said. “Cost us big-time.”
Iowa led 17-7 at the time, and had moved into Wildcat territory thanks to a sensational 18-yard grab by tight end Allen Reisner. Take that drive to the end zone instead of the turnover column, and it’s game over, bring on the Buckeyes, play for a share of the Big Ten crown.
Persa got it done in the fourth quarter, Stanzi and Iowa’s offense didn’t. Northwestern’s defense got it done in the fourth quarter, Iowa’s didn’t.
Iowa’s final possession was 15 plays long, yet covered only 35 yards. It was balky at best, a drive that definitely won’t be used as how-to footage for coaches wanting to get wise in the ways of running a two-minute offense against a prevent defense.
It was a stark contrast to the efficient way Northwestern moved the ball for its two fourth-quarter scores. You can’t say enough about Persa, directing an 85-yard TD march before the 91-yard possession that put the Wildcats ahead for keeps.
It doesn’t matter now, since he ruptured an Achilles tendon on the last pass he’ll throw this season, the perfect 20-yard scoring strike to Demetius Fields. But someone should really check to see if Persa has eyes in the sides and back of his head.
“Give him the credit,” said Iowa safety Tyler Sash. “He’s a heck of a competitor. I know I’d want that kid on my team if I was picking teams.”
That wasn’t a Persa-over-Stanzi comment, so hold the murmurs. Sash simply said it’s better to have Persa with you than against you. So would NU Coach Pat Fitzgerald, he of the .800 winning percentage (4-1) against Iowa.
“The year that Danny’s had has been absolutely spectacular,” Fitzgerald said. It’s a shame he won’t get to play out the final two regular-season games and Northwestern’s bowl.
It wasn’t just Persa who shined on Saturday, though. The Wildcats, who coughed up double-digit leads in losing to Michigan State and Penn State, were the comeback kids this time.
“Tough football team,” said Iowa defensive tackle Mike Daniels. “They just came out and played. Just came out and played hard. Didn’t give up.
“They came to play every snap. Very, very tough kids over there.”
But where was Iowa at the start of a game for the second-straight week? The Hawkeyes danced cheek-to-cheek with danger at Indiana before slipping away with an 18-13 win. They again looked logey in the first-half here. This time, it bit them.
Where was the zip, the zest at the kickoff of a highly meaningful game? Where was the clearly noticeable recognition that Northwestern is always pumped up for this matchup and you have to counter that with your own sharpness and enthusiasm? Even the most biased of Wildcat fans fully expected Iowa to snort fire here.
Fire? There wasn’t even smoke until the second-half began.
Kirk Ferentz held his shortest postgame press conference of the year. Stanzi and Clayborn had a few terse answers to reporters. Nothing nasty, mind you, just understandably sour reactions to a sour result and team goals that no longer seem attainable.
You can put a lot of salve on these wounds by popping Ohio State, but those two teams’ elevators are going in different directions right now.
Sure, Michigan State and Wisconsin could both still lose a Big Ten game, Iowa could beat the Buckeyes, and the Hawkeyes could finish in a four-way tie for the league title. And maybe more people will eat turkey pastrami than roast turkey on Thanksgiving.
Wisconsin scored 83 points Saturday against an Indiana team that the Hawkeyes labored to beat a week earlier. Say what you will about the Badgers’ sense of sportsmanship, but they certainly don’t lack for a killer instinct.
Meanwhile, preseason Top Ten team Iowa has become a face in the national crowd just two weeks after it decimated Michigan State in Kinnick to raise its profile.
You believed this Ohio State-Iowa event would be a league title-decider. At least you were half-right on that one.
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Mark Twain said there were lies, damned lies, and statistics.
This not the defense of last year, despite losing only three starters.
This is not the team of last year, despite the grit of ARob, Reisner, McNutt and a few others.
Seniors and coaching came up short this year. The Sports Info office can sling around all the lame stats they want, but it’s the results that matter.
Excellent, candid column Mike. Not sure what the Hawks are missing this years as compared with last. It certainly isn’t playmakers or seniors or even talent for that matter. Sensed it first at Arizona back in September. Really can’t put my finger on it. Couldn’t be leadership or team chemistry one wouldn’t think. After the DJK TD he was sitting all by myself looking rather alone. No sense of fun or excitement from him or the team. Perhaps the expectations have become a drag for this team. Really have no idea.
The thing about this team is most honest fans wouldn’t have been surprised with 11-1 or 8-4. A few lucky bounces from last season are forgotten over the summer, and we think this team should be unbeatable. Well, the bounces are going the other way this year.
We’ve seen flashes of brillance and displays of mediocrity all in the last three weeks. And that’s what so frustrating to me.
This is college football. This is not the NFL. You can’t lose a few, make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. Every game actually matters. Having fun and playing with emotion is part of the college game, but not so much at Iowa under Coach Ferentz. Emotion is scorned. Fun? I haven’t seen much of it on the field this year, either. There was no emotion, no fun and no victory at Arizona. There was no emotion, no fun, and no victory against Wisconsin. Northwestern? Incredibly enough, ditto…
When a team should be 10-0 and is 7-3, there are reasons. Bottom line from here seems to be too much NFL and not enough college attitude for the Hawkeyes. The whole program’s underlying philosophy has to be questioned.
Why didn’t the Hawks come out with a NW-style no huddle on their opening series? Why not give them their own medicine? Why not have some fun and show some aggression on both sides of the ball?
Persa is a fine QB. Make no mistake. But MSU and PSU managed to contain him and to decimate a mediocre NW defense. Why not Iowa?
Yes, there have been dozens and dozens of seasons when 7-3, 4-2 would have been glorious for the Hawkeyes. This, unfortunately, is not one of those years. Now, instead of a game for the ages next week in Kinnick, it will just be the 11th game of the year. And that’s a shame.
Nice circular logic there. The team doesn’t have fun when they are losing, so they lose. No kidding. Nobody has fun losing.
But don’t say that they don’t have fun or emotion ever, that’s not true. Look at the video after the pick-and-lateral.
BTW, many of us long-time Hawkeye fans have been making the same observations throughout the Ferentz era, including last year. These critiques are not knee-jerk reactions to an inexplicable performance in Evanston yesterday. For all the great things that Coach Ferentz and staff have accomplished, they could learn an awfully lot from Hayden Fry and Forest Evashevski.
Evy, of course, irritated Ohio State’s Woody Hayes more than any coach in the country. Woody said he hated trying to prepare for Evy’s Iowa teams because he never knew what they were going to do…
In contrast, EVERYONE knows what Iowa will do under Coach Ferentz. That’s why the Hawkeyes have such a slim margin for error, a point Coach Ferentz seems to take a twisted pride in constantly pointing out.
And so I bid adieu with these immortal words from the great college football writer, John Greenleaf Whittier, who sums up this Hawkeye season perfectly: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been! …”
Mike, we talked a bit about the fun/emotion on our long drive home through the northern Chicago suburbs to Cedar Rapids. Everything goes under a microscope after a result like that. But I’ll say this: I’ve been around teams that seemed to have more fun and breathed more fire than this Iowa club of 2010.
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I’ve made that drive myself more than a few times, Mike. It’s always good for microscopic introspection. But it really is weird. Those intangibles are missing from this team and who knows why? How could ANY team come out so flat under the circumstances, as Iowa did at Evanston? Perhaps the weight of the preseason predictions has been too much for this staff and even this mostly veteran team to handle… In any event, to see what this season has come to is, in the context of college football, both perplexing and shocking.
NW’s play mirrors the personality of their coach. I have the feeling the same is true of the Iowa players.
IMO, the issue is one of a very PREDICTABLE offensive and defensive game plan by the FERENTZ-system. If you have the capability to overwhelm opponents phsycially week in and week out, okay, the system may be good in most cases. But, we do not have such a capability plus we do not adjust on the fly well at all. I assume there are at least 20 high school quarterbacks in Texas every year that can operate like the Northwestern quarterback; where, or where are our recruiters?? This year is frustrating, demoralizing and I’ll bet it is not going to help recruiting. I may have misssed them, but I saw on one bltiz by our linebacker; it resulted in a loss. We never blitz much with any of the back seven; again, very predicitable and easy to have offensive success against. This is not funny!
Isn’t blitzing all the time predictable, too? And are you saying we don’t recruit good quarterbacks? Are Rick’s 20-some wins not good enough?
Listening to WMT 600 AM Soundoff and the Hawkeye shills was great fun yesterday. Bob Bruce and his two sidekicks were actually very reasonable, to the chagrine of the Iowa fans calling in with this entitlement mentality, anger, bitterness about the game and the Iowa coaching staff. They were still demanding a national title from this team
Most Iowa alum I talked to back in august predicted a 9-3 season.
The media and the non-Iowa alum, non-college educated rubes were like : 13-0 !! 13-0!!!!
The latter are quite delusionnal. Note to the rubes: Your livelihood shouldn’t depend on a 20 yr-old playing a game. Get over it
I too am a long time college football observer………………………….
Here are some thoughts, every single team is predictable, period, nothing more needs said. When they lose fans say they were too “predictable” mostly because they can’t thin of anything else to say.
Fans of coaches that are fiery wish he wasn’t so emotional and vice a versa. More silliness after a loss, and I’ve been from board to board and fans contradict each other so much its comical.
We have 31 kids in the NFL, 2nd most in the Big 10, so yes we have enuff talent.
Sometimes you just don’t have it for 3 straight months. If you are feeling bad for yourselves head down to Florida or Texas’ boards. They’ll all be say the same unintelligible things.
I have more, but why bother. It is thoughts like these that drove me off the Iowa boards. People believe what they want regardless.
Chad
Lets notget so down. This is college football. These are 20 yr old kids. Every game has a winner and a loser. In the last few years the Hawkeyes have been winners more often than losers.
Also, Be glad the Hawkeyes do not have a coach like Texas does who thinks the fate of the free world hangs in the hands of his football team.
ed
Mike you mentioned the lack of fire and fun on this team and it has been incredibly apparent each week aside from the MSU game. It almost seems that this team already thought it accomplished enough by being mentioned in the pre-season BCS title talks and has been playing like W’s are just handed out. Why do you think this team is underacheiving and lacking so much passion when there WAS so much potential for another spectacular season? Are they underacheiving or were we fooled into thinking they were that good? Does the coaching staff understand that losses like this are unacceptable? possible 9-3 and 10-3 isn’t bad but the past 2 weeks put gigantic question marks out there…especially when seeing 83-20 by WI v IU and we can’t put up 20…
I’m going to soften this up a little………………….See I understand that we are all upset. I do, and quite frankly I get just as irritated by those who would say this is all Iowa should expect. I expected more, I did, but I’m not going to hang it on trite unimaginative things. My minister and I (A Mizzou fan) chatted before Sunday school about “the fans” and the things the say. I was commiserating the anxt I get from the fan bases and he said, yeah when Mizzou loses the fans complain because Pinkel isn’t demonstrative enough, yet oddly when they win it is because he is so even keeled and in control of his faculties!?!? Wishy-washy ……….
ISU fans used to pine for an in control coach when they had Danny Mac raging up & down the sidelines and I’ll wager if you head over to the Arizona board right now, their talking about how Stoops is too hot headed and emotional. Funny how that works isn’t it?
The predictable play calling and defense is the worst. This is the same team that went 11 and 2 last year. The same one, with the same schemes who are 2nd in the Big 10 in total wins since 2001. The same one who has now lost 3 games by 12 points, to a top-10 schedule. We are honestly one of the most stable, most affluent, most talented programs in the nation right now, and I’m ok with that.
Every game and every season is different and chemistry changes at a whim. If you want to look at what went wrong you start and stop at execution. 2 huge penalties killing the first two drives. A huge no-call Holding call on NW’s first TD drive. A poor decision to throw deep from the 50 when burning clock was at an essences. Those things are mostly on the players. Multiple times we had Persa trapped and he scrambled to make 2 and 20′s. On the TD to win we had him scrambling again. How is that coaching? Our guy was there, he didn’t make the play. The players know they have let themselves down.
Finally I truly don’t think people watch many other games at all. Persa and the Cats scored 27 with 385 total yards vs MSU. They had 21 and 369 vs PSU. So to suggest he was contained by them is silly. They won and we didn’t, it doesn’t have to be more that.
Heck we’ll probably lose to them again next year, but here is the deal. In a year in which we thought we would lose most of our D, we now will return 3 starters at Lber, and at crunch time against NW there was a time when Clayborn and Ballard were both on the bench. We returna lot of talent again next year. Lets hope we can hold this thing together, for a 10 and 3 season and will attack it all again then.
Chad
Thank you. (Also, this commenting system is a joke. Apparently, “thank you” is too short, so it won’t post)
Rupert … I appreciate your effort, and everyone else’s. I don’t know what’s left to say about the commenting system, and I’m better off not saying anything. But keep posting, anyhow.
One time, I simply wanted to reply ‘well said’ to a post, and the system would not let me. Too short, it said. Since when is economy of expression a bad thing?
Chad — I hear you. Your comments are measured and valid. I like what you said about Texas. We will just have to agree to disagree on 1) a team that can play like it did against MSU and then fail to show up for NW (IU I can understand), 2) schemes that other coaches have completely figured out and solved, whatever their success in the past. I, too, look forward to next season. Heck, I look forward to next week.Beat the Buckeyes!
Sometimes, posts magically disappear like Diet Cokes in select refrigerators at Memorial Stadium luxury boxes.