 Mike HlasHi, I'm Gazette/TheGazette.com sports columnist Mike Hlas. This is the Hlog. We will meet here, discuss things, and then go [...] |
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Hlas column: It’s no help, but Hawkeyes were just one lemon in Big Ten’s sour Saturday
Iowa fans, the problems of your team don’t add up to a hill of beans in this crazy college football world.
That 9-6 late-afternoon loss to Iowa State didn’t register a blip compared to the pratfalls some of your Big Ten neighbors took on Saturday night.
How about going to southern California in a Big Red caravan, only to see your Blackshirts defense get treated like a mountain bike on an L.A. freeway? Unranked UCLA ran up 665 yards on Nebraska in pulling a 36-30 upset.
Where were the Huskers? (AP photo)
Illinois made an ESPN appearance Saturday night, only to wish it hadn’t. How about the national exposure of getting exposed at Arizona State, 45-14?
Earlier in the day, Wisconsin’s normally bruising offense managed a measly 201 yards in a 10-7 loss to unranked Oregon State. It’s easier to replace offensive linemen or running backs than it is a quarterbacking talent like Russell Wilson.
But none of that is much of a feel-good medication in Iowa City, is it? The following statistic won’t help:
Saturday marked the first time a Kirk Ferentz-coached Iowa team failed to score a touchdown at home. It was only the second time the Hawkeyes were held to single-digits at home since the start of the 2001 season.
Iowa scored in double-digits every game from Oct. 27, 2007 to Oct. 8, 2011. But t has hit single-digits three times in its last 11 games, at Penn State and Nebraska last year, and now Iowa State at home.
Before Saturday, Iowa hadn’t been held to one touchdown in a two-game stretch since 2007, when it went 6-6.
Northern Illinois and Iowa State have defenses laden with talented players, and they gave fine performances against Iowa. But do you think at the end of November you’ll look back and say the two best defenses Iowa played were those belonging to the Huskies and Cyclones?
Lost in the flood of negativity about Iowa’s offense was proper credit to how well Iowa’s defense is playing. The defense was supposed to be dicey, at least up front. But it gave the Hawkeyes two winning efforts.
It is why all is far from lost. If you have defense, you can compete.
Two games are just two games, but new Hawkeyes defensive coordinator Phil Parker has already shown he can make shrewd halftime corrections.
The number of Iowa touchdowns this season
“They gave us different looks,” Iowa State quarterback Steele Jantz said. “You could just tell they were making adjustments for us and they did a great job in the second half.
“I felt like a lot of times they had an understanding of what we were trying to do and they did a great job stopping it. That’s why they have such a good defense, because they’re smart.”
Iowa’s special-teams play, for the most part, has also been good. But it takes three to tango in football, and the offense is lagging way behind the ‘D’ and the kick teams.
The last time the Hawkeyes lost at home to Iowa State before Saturday was 2002. The tale of what happened next has been told and told. Iowa went on to go 8-0 in the Big Ten.
But that Hawkeyes squad overflowed with offense, playmakers at every skill position and tight end playing with an offensive line as good as the program has ever seen.
Who from the 2012 Iowa offense is better than the Hawkeyes’ 2002 version? So far, I’d say no one.
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You are right. It is no help.
Big Ten is lousy. That’s the only thing that’s making me think Iowa can maybe get to 6 wins.
It certainly does not help me to know that Iowa is a bad team in a bad conference. The defense was certainly opportunistic on Saturday, but I think we have to be honest with ourselves. We could have easily have been looking at a 35-6 ISU win. I thnk Lee Barfknect in his Omaha World Herald article this morning said it all, “ISU is now the better program in the state of Iowa”. I never thought I would see that happen, but it is clear that our $4 million plus per year for a coach is not getting us anywhere near the return we should expect,.
The sad thing is, Mike and Bob are correct: the B1G is so bad that Iowa still may make a run at a bowl game. Then folks will talk about how “bright” the future is, how “brilliant” Kirk is for having the “courage” to bring in fresh staff (3-4 years late) and ideas, and how “neat” it is to have an OL made up of all Iowa boys. However, the B1G will improve next year Iowa will be starting ANOTHER new QB – so the excuses will start again.
I wouldn’t go that far. They’re the better team this year no doubt but let’s let some things play out over time before we start calling them the better program. ISU could very well still go 5-7.
I thought that article was pretty knee-jerky to be honest. If Iowa scores on that final drive and wins 13-9 do you think that article would’ve been written? The talent level is equal at this point.
I think the Omaha World-Herald need look west and wonder how an unranked team could put up nearly 700 yards of offense on the mighty huskers of corn.
Then he might want to wait until mid-afternoon next Saturday before he claims to know what’s going on in the state often confused with heaven. That’s because it may well turn out that UNI is the best football team in Iowa, proving yet again that you don’t always get what your pay for.
Oh, and if we’re playing the “easily could have been” game, then let me play too. If Iowa had taken advantage of the ISU turnovers, “we could have easily been looking at a 27-9 Iowa win” over Iowa State. See, it’s a fun game, and anyone can play.
Must agree with Bob above. But not completely with the World Herald writer, I’ve long felt that UNI is the best college football program in Iowa.
@Bob..Sadly the Hawkeye nation has settled for having medicore teams…If you question Ferentz, your not a true fan or so they say. Ferentz is handled with kid gloves by the fans and the media. Other schools wouldn’t have waited this long to make a change.
I still support the Iowa fb program and our coach. We played a pretty good ISU team Saturday and held them to 9 ponts. Our young D team is starting to look pretty good and is improving. Don’t give up on the Hawks yet loyal fans.