 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
|
Email the author
Unorganized, undisciplined, undone
Central Michigan 32, Iowa 31 -- Paint it Black and wrap it up
IOWA CITY — Just after David Harman’s 47-yard field goal crawled over the south end zone crossbar, the Big Ten Network sideline reporter stared straight ahead and said everything you need to know.
“So, no interviews at all, right?”
No, no postgame interviews on the BTN. Not after this majestic meltdown. The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” blared on the Kinnick Stadium speakers. The scoreboard said Central Michigan 32, Iowa 31, but only briefly. That was quickly unplugged and erased, perhaps Iowa’s most coordinated effort Saturday during a time-stamped photo from the abyss.
Central Michigan Chippewas defensive back Jahleel Addae (4) looks skyward and kisses his hand after praying in celebration of the Chippewas' win over the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. Central Michigan won, 32-31. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)
Players mentioned details. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz talked about representative plays.
The bottom line is in week 4 the Hawkeyes (2-2) are unorganized, undisciplined and lucky to be .500. Some of you will choose to stay with a young team that has a lot of players learning on the job, including senior defensive end Joe Gaglione, whose personal foul penalty moved the Chippewas (2-1) into position for the game-winning field goal.
Some of you will want everyone associated with Iowa football fired. (By the way, Ferentz’s seat is more golden than it is hot, with a $21 million buyout on his contract that runs through 2020.)
Asked if this team was prepared, Ferentz said he didn’t see this coming, the Hawkeyes’ third loss to a Mid-American Conference team under Ferentz. It came with reserve free safety John Lowdermilk desperately trying a lateral after CMU kicked off with three seconds left.
“I don’t want to say the loss is surprising,” Ferentz said. “The way we played based on how we practiced, that’s a contradiction. So, if we had a bad week, I could say I could see this one coming. That wasn’t the case this time.”
Ferentz talked about the veterans CMU lined up across the board, including quarterback Ryan Radcliff, who gutted Iowa’s defense with 26 of 35 passing for 283 yards and two TDs. He said it wasn’t lost on him. That fact never seemed to make it to the defense.
The message was lost in the fourth quarter. First, Iowa was going for it on a fourth-and-6 from CMU’s 29. Then, the field goal unit ran in late. Then, Iowa called timeout. Kicker Mike Meyer bailed Iowa out with a 46-yarder into the wind that gave Iowa a 24-23 lead, but it was mental square dancing.
“I don’t really know what happened there,” said quarterback James Vandenberg, who completed just five passes for 72 yards in the second half. “I was told we were going for it and then I was told we were going to try it [the field goal]. I can’t tell you what really happened there.”
If the Iowa coaches talked about penalties, that message went in one earhole and out the other.
The Hawkeyes had nine penalties for 106 yards. These included six major penalties, four personal fouls and two pass interference calls. The 106 yards against Iowa was the most since 111 in a victory over Northwestern in 2007.
“It was just stupid, stupid football,” senior cornerback Micah Hyde. “We can’t give them easy yards. You can’t do that. You can’t win ballgames giving up 15 yards on any stupid play. Coach tries to prepare us for that. You can’t give up personal fouls. That’s horrible on our part.”
Message sent, message not received. They all wear the colors, but they are far from being in uniform.
“They’re a veteran team, too, and that wasn’t lost on me,” Ferentz said. “Their quarterback has played a lot, he’s done a good job. I think they had 17 or 18 starters back. The other part of the equation is we’ve been — and you can see why now — really focused on our improvement.
“I thought we took a real positive step a week ago. I thought we really improved as a team and then today, that wasn’t the case. It’s going to be like that all season. We’re focused on trying to get ready for an opponent, but also trying to get better as a team. This will be another busy week, for obvious reasons.”
The last time an Iowa running back rushed for more than 200 yards it was Marcus Coker last season in a loss at Minnesota (3-0), which comes into Kinnick next week. Sophomore Mark Weisman’s 217 yards and three TDs Saturday were equally weightless in a loss.
Iowa thought it could win the game with Weisman, Weisman, Weisman. Up eight points with 2:18 left, they had it won. And then they didn’t.
“I don’t think we’re one dimensional,” said Weisman, whose 12-yard run gave Iowa a 31-23 lead with 2:18 left. “I just think we were going with what was working. You’d have to ask the coaches that question.”
Weisman crashed in from the 12-yard and that’s where it all went wrong.
Radcliff drove CMU 64 yards and pulled within a 2-point conversion with a 13-yard TD pass to Titus Davis. The two-point conversion pass sailed into the Kinnick bleachers.
Iowa recovered the first onside kick, but the play was blown dead because of a delay of game penalty. The second skittered past reserve tight end Henry Krieger-Coble, who backed off the ball, and was recovered by CMU’s Jesse Kroll. First down CMU at the Chippewas’ 42.
On the onside kick, “There are guys assigned to blocking and other guys assigned to receiving,” Ferentz said. “We didn’t do a very good job with either one.”
On third-and-6, Gaglione shoved guard Darren Keyton and drew a 15-yard personal foul. CMU moved to Iowa’s 30, a couple of timeouts later and Harman weaved the dagger into Iowa’s chest.
Central Michigan 32, Iowa 31.
Paint it Black.
No BTN interview.
-u20042.png?1366232523)
Peeping trial of accused Iowa City landlord moved to July
Iowa Senate Republican leader refutes ex-employee’s harassment claims
Iowa House leader confident education reform consensus could be reached today
Cedar Rapids telethon today to aid in Oklahoma tornado recovery
Authorities investigating possible connection between abduction cases
21 Million $ will get us mediocre! Has brought us nothing but complacency! Just remember how bare the cupboards were when Hayden left. Coaches who were linemen in college seem to have a real problem recruiting skill position players. We have 1 QB and 1 RB in NFL. Speaks volumes!
I knew the buyout would be bad, but just how incompetent is Barta that he would sign off on such a lucrative extension? Who in the world was he competing against to keep KF anyway?
It’s pretty clear that Barta is nothing more than a gopher for KF and cheerleader on the fundraising scene. Whatever happened to AD’s that actually directed and governed their departments rather than take orders from their subordinates?
No offense Kirk, and Kirk-lovers, but the fact that our less-than-fully-talented-and-experienced players couldn’t beat a veteran MAC team AT HOME is a horrible road to travel on down. The absolute fact is that the past two years – and the way this is going – is that KF’s teams look MUCH closer to 1999-2000 than 02-04. If you drop 2009 (which we all enjoyed), you can easily say that he’s been a one-hit wonder the past 8 years.
But as it has been said elsewhere: until the old-timers stop writing checks and going to bowl games, there will be absolutely no hints of pressure on old KF, and the excuses will continue to roll. After all, only KF and Hayden could POSSIBLY win at “poor, cold, little Iowa”….and the oldtimers will continue to let the ghosts of Ray Nagel and Bob Cummings rule their football opinions over 30 years later….
This year: “new coordinators, new systems, give them time”…….(though the offensive change is immaterial considering the lack of talent and no imaginativity allowed by KF.
Next year: “new QB, more young guys starting, etc.”
See, I’ve already taken care of the excuses for the next two years. I’ll let others work on 2014 and beyond…
I’m kind of at a loss at this point. This is pretty inexcusable. This isn’t even a “good” MAC team.
Wow. Just. Wow.
Ummmmm, must be a rebuilding year !! seen that movie…what a disgrace, I dont care how good they are,,,,,,,,,we are a big 10 team/Division One school……First off, bench Vandenburg, I dont care what his stat’s where…..with 14 years of rebuilding, we should be able to beat any pro team………give me a break
If Kirk Ferentz is 1/2 the saint and human being he has been portrayed as, he will resign bright and early Monday morning and leave his buyout on the table so the University of Iowa can pursue a legitimate BCS level head coach.
I think most fans were reasonable about this team None of us were or are expecting a Rose Bowl out of this group but losing to a mediocre (at best) MAC team at home is just rock bottom and a pretty clear indication that this team isn’t just “young” but “bad”.
The team isn’t getting better. It seems to me they regressed big time this week. Bad. Bad sign.
I don’t see 2 more wins. Indiana? Maybe.
Pretty sad.
Four wins would be optimistic. This was a 3-9 MAC eam, and we quit against them. Panic and indiscipline are just as much a form of quitting as throwing up your hands and walking off the field. Personal foul penalties were inexcusale. Just what was Fiedorowicz thinking as he watched the ball go past him on the onside kick? Was he thinking at all? From the coaching staff to every player on the defense, this game as a monument to cowardice. We absolutely wasted Mark Weisman’s briliant performance. If I were him, I would be looking for a school where they care about what they are doing. He sure is not attending one now.
Veteran-schmeteran! You don’t lose at home to MAC teams. I don’t know which contract was worse: Alex Rodrigues getting 10 years from the Yankees, taking him to age 42, or KF getting 10 years to drag Iowa through the muck and mire of mediocrity. If the Hawks can barely eke out 2-2 against 4 mediocre non-conference teams, they are going to get buried in B10 play.
Should have been 1-3, easily 0-4.
Does calling the opponents mediocre make anyone feel better,…..or worse?
ARod is going straight to Cooperstown. The Cap’n can get in the HoF too. He has enough cash to buy the HoF.
What happened to 10-2? Still out there!
Pathetic that the sickly little hillbilly, jerry kill, has moved his mob of misfits ahead of the $4,000,000 man!
Then there is this backwoods doorknob at Purdue who has moved a joke of a Boilmaker program past the $4,000,000!
ISU?? ISU’s mear $million man, has lapped our $4,000,000 man multiple times and it only took him 2 seasons, 1/4 of the facilities, 1/2 the budget and top 80 to 100 recruiting classes!
I had the same sick feeling in the stands today that I had in Fry’s last year when Whisky fans were having a Rose Bowl party in Kinnick and I was being heckled by badger fans for sticking around in the fourth quarter. The crowd was good, the day windy (for both QB’s) but sunny, and Iowa got off to a good start. Only a true believer could come out of today’s game without feeling sick and skeptical of this QB and this coaching staff. If this is such a “young team” why play any seniors. Throw in the underclassmen and let them take their lumps to prepare for the future. Outside of one career day against Pitt, I have seen nothing to sell me on Vandenberg. If we’re going to lose let’s do it with a freshman.
I think you give JVB at least a chance to right the ship in a few conference games. But I’m with ya–if they lose to Minnesota then you work Rudock or someone else into the mix during the bye week.
At some point you have to start worrying about next year and it’s one of the sad facts about big time college football. It’s not all JVB’s fault, of course, but if you’re going to be bad, be bad with a young kid in at QB. It will pay dividends down the road.
If KF doesn’t replace JV then KF should be replaced and take his sons with him. We had one player on the field Saturday (Weisman), ok the line did open some holes but most of his yards came on his own. JV couldn’t hit a wide out or end if his life depended on it. Iowa couldn’t win the Mid Continent Conference and if the players are that bad and its not the coaching then let all the Sophs and Freshman play and bench the Seniors and Juniors
This is one of the problems with KF he values loyalty over wins. JV should sit. He cant hit receivers when open! We are truly one dimensional!
Reflecting last night on this game, I wondered how it is possible to run for 225, collecting three TDs rushing, and average 9 yards per carry, pass for 8.5 ypa with zero interceptions — and lose. How is it possible to be so efficient on offense and go 2-10 on third and fourth down? Then I realized that none of this is possible, just as it’s impossible to contemplate a hands team member on a last-gasp onside kick freeze and pull his hands *away* from the ball. (Thanks, coach, for explaining that some block and some receive on the onside kick hands team; I know at least guy who’s not sure which category he’s in.)
There is a grinding, soulless quality to these losses and the mind-numbing droning explanations about “getting better” and “executing” and “counting paperclips” and “polishing lavatory chrome” or whatever it is they do 22 hours per day in their Taj Mahal. And that’s a shame because it’s truly a thrill to watch some of the new coaching (how could anyone be disappointed with Brian, the D-Line, Hitchens, and even Davis), while Weisman is a Jack Armstrong fairy tale.
This was a very hard game to lose. To lose we had to collapse in the last two minutes and give up nine points, after shutting them out for the second half, and to do that we had to get a beyond-stupid penalty and then freeze like a deer on US218 on the onside kick. Quite honestly, if one were scripting a loss this kind of choke wouldn’t pass rewrite: it’s too absurd.
Until the last two minutes there actually were additional things to build on here — VDB got better for the third game in a row, Weisman looked like an All American for the second game in a row, the O-Line is better than I thought, the D-Line is better than I hoped, at least two of our linebackers will be in NFL camps, Donatell gets better every game, our tackling was better.
But I have better things to do than watch something like the last two minutes of this game. And way better things to do than listen to yet another blast of football coach-speak about counting blades of grass and getting better at walking to the locker room and sweeping the sand out of the reserved parking places and using All instead of Tide when executing uniform laundry procedures and getting the socks just a little bit cleaner next week. The NFL is a corporatiion, this is supposed to be something more joyful, more human, and (as a reward for Iowa’s largesse and patience) far more rewarding. I’m stunned.
We could go up by 30 in the first half next week and I won’t be celebrating because I will have no idea what corner we’ll coach ourselves into in the second half.
Morehouse’s headline pretty much says it all. No other comment needed.
If KF doesn’t right the ship watch the underclass men that are not getting playing time start transfering out and the 2013 recruits start changing their minds and going else where.
What the 2013 commits that we beat Boston College, Western Michigan, and UNI for? Perish the thought watch out Wartberg, Iowa is coming for your players.