.jpeg?1371057738)
 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
NU 28, Iowa 17: PC load letter for Ferentz 3.0
Simply, Iowa has to get better at everything if it wants to bowl
EVANSTON, Ill. — At some point, you might stop waiting for Ferentz 3.0.
Kirk Ferentz finished 1-10 in his first season as Iowa’s head coach in 1999. He built the Hawkeyes into an undefeated Big Ten juggernaut that enjoyed an Orange Bowl trip in 2002. Just two seasons ago, Iowa fell in overtime at Ohio State vying for a Rose Bowl berth, but rebounded to win the Orange Bowl, Iowa’s first major bowl victory since 1959.
Ferentz 1.0 was 8-0 in the Big Ten and won a share of another conference title in ’04. The 2.0 version put a trophy full of oranges in the lobby of the Iowa football offices.
And now, you wait for Ferentz 3.0. After the last two games, you wonder not so much when but if for a third revival.
Right here, right now in 2012, Ferentz 3.0 remains in development. And, judging by the coach’s call-in radio show, social media outlets and general edginess of the fan base, some of you are done waiting.
After Saturday’s 28-17 loss at Northwestern, which saw the Wildcats rush for 349 yards, the Hawkeyes (4-4, 2-2 Big Ten) only remain mathematically alive in the Legends Division. A team that allows 349 rushing yards, the most since 433 at Indiana in ’04, isn’t good at math and has serious football questions to answer.
After saying stuff about the same page and executing and all the things they’re programmed to say after losses — two in a row now by a collective score of 66-31, worst back-to-back losses since 2007 — quarterback James Vandenberg said all he needed to say.
“We’ve got to play better, that’s it,” said Vandenberg, who completed 24 of 38 for 214 yards and was sacked three times. “There’s nothing else to say.”
The Wildcats (7-2, 3-2) did all of the talking when it mattered and, pretty much, the entire day before 44,121 at Ryan Field.
Northwestern scored on its first drive and led 7-3 when running back Venric Mark broke through the line of scrimmage from NU’s 1 and went 72 yards before being chased down by Micah Hyde. NU quarterback Kain Colter finished the drive and the Cats led 14-3 at halftime.
Any hopes for a Hawkeye 2.0 were crushed in the opening sequence of the third quarter. After Iowa went three-and-out on its opening possession, Tyris Jones sprinted through the middle of the punt team, splitting sophomore safety John Lowdermilk and linebacker James Morris, and blocked Connor Kornbrath’s kick, giving NU a first down at Iowa’s 4. One play, a Colter TD and a 21-3 lead.
Iowa answered with a three-and-out. Four plays later, Colter found wide receiver Christian Jones for a 47-yard TD, beating linebacker Christian Kirksey and making it 28-3 with 10:43 left in the third quarter.
A week after the Cats fell by a point here to Nebraska, coach Pat Fitzgerald gave the keys to Colter, who rushed for three scores and completed 6 of 9 passes for 80 yards and the TD. Colter rushed for 166 yards, while Mark had 162. It was the first time since Minnesota’s Marion Barber (167) and Laurence Maroney (156) did it in 2004 that the Hawkeyes allowed two players to rush for more than 150 yards in a game.
“It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it,” said Morris, who injured an elbow early in the game and played with a heavily taped right arm. “We had some wrinkles and we had them stopped at times. It’s a breakdown here, it’s out of position here, it’s not understanding what your responsibility is in this particular defense.
“I have complete confidence in what we run, we just need to do it better.”
Iowa came back, but you can distill the effectiveness of that into the Hawkeyes getting hit with a delay of game penalty, its third of the game, while in the two-minute offense. Ferentz 3.0 is going to need a software upgrade with that kind of efficiency.
Running back Damon Bullock rushed for 107 yards after missing four games with a concussion. Running back Mark Weisman suffered a leg injury and didn’t return. Iowa’s rebuilt O-line — with tackle Brandon Scherff and guard Andrew Donnal knocked out for the season last week — had a hand in those three sacks.
“We just have to keep playing hard,” said senior Matt Tobin, who slid from guard to left tackle, “keep working hard and keep doing what the coaches tell us to.”
The Hawkeyes went for it on a fourth-and-13 at the end of the first half. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis called for a back-shoulder throw from Vandenberg to wide receiver Keenan Davis. This play hasn’t worked all season and it didn’t work Saturday.
Between the lack of communication, or whatever causes delay of game penalties, and the inability to complete a back-shoulder throw, it’s not any one thing. The dropped passes (five), NU’s dizzying 7.1 yards a carry on 42 rushes, Colter rushing for 39 yards on a third-and-5 to close out the game, it’s not any one thing.
It’s everything.
“The thing we have to work on is solutions,” Ferentz said. “It’s a matter of getting the right people in the right spot and just getting better at it.”
They’re still alive mathematically in the Big Ten. Realistically, they have four games to gain bowl eligibility.
And it’s everything.
Iowa City school district committee settles on two planning scenarios
Branstad seeking federal disaster status for 47 Counties
Police investigate Dayton-Evansdale abductions connection
DOT says pond-building effort is working for turtles
EPIC RESURGENCE: Five Years After the Flood
Time Machine section debuts on TheGazette.com
there are a lot of opinions, mine is either the QB has to change (this season is history, the hell with worrying about a bowl game) and work with a younger guy at QB for the future or the coach needs to go. I always thought KF was a good coach but sometimes you just burn out and watching him coach I don’t see any fire burning. The flame is gone and so is the thrill. Time to move forward.
i am sick and tired of hearing the same old song and dance from the coach..why is 6 wins a magic number..i think it it absurb that if you play 500 ball you get to go to a bowl…
they do not deserve to go anywhere, and it time for a change in qb and coach…playing calling is conservatively and losingly BAD…
Barta do something..as a supporter and fan and contributor I am tired of this…it is getting worse..and you are to blame for letting it continue..
There are so many things wrong here, but Kirk Ferentz has to be accountable. It is clear that we do not have the players to be relevant at the FBS level. That is ths coaches fault. But let’s be honest, that is the least of the woes of our coaching staff. We clearly don’t know what we are doing. To have a delay of game while we are trying to score late simply highlights the fact that we either have total communication breakdown, or more likely, complete incompentence from the coaching staff. This is a mess that will end at 4-8, and that is fair for what Iowa is doing on the field. I am confident that Ferentz would agree that the complete mess is his responsibility. It is time for Kirk to show the level of class that he known for and retire, because this program is in trouble, and Kirk does not seem to have the desire or energy or whatever to fix it.
Recruiting woes? Guys, we are who we are, we are not sexy, we just need to execute, we’re just a play (or ten) here or there from being good, we just need to be who we are – and be better at it…
Does that cover it?
That is the most ridiculous statement to say. What do you mean.? Because Iowa currently sucks we should just enjoy it and the team should just understand that they are just “Iowa” and accept poor play? That is you are down that you should never try and do better? There are teams out there currently that don’t have any better talent levels than Iowa does but would clean our plow, EASILY> Just like yesterday.
A team takes on the personality of its head coach. Therin lies the problem. There was never really any fire, just a smoulder. Now that is as cool as laughter at a funeral
I agree completely John. I was just re-loading the Excuse Express as Marc suggested we do each week for KF.
say good by say good by come on Kirk say good by
just watched KF interview after the game. wow how disappointing he never acted upset. He says “how disappointing that we did this an could not do this. wow did he just watch he’s kids pee wee game? Absolutely no fire from KF, he is completely burned out. Time to turn in your Captain badge and go home Kirk
You know, except for a couple of injuries to players, I completely enjoyed watching this game. The worst part will be listening to Haks bellyache about it all week.
“C.C”:
If you appreciate mediocrity you surely did enjoy the game. Can’t argue with you on that point.
team that allows 349 rushing yards, the most since 433 at Indiana in ’04, isn’t good at math and has serious football questions to answer.
They didn’t play Indiana in 2004. I assume that was supposed to be 2000?
This just in: Minnesota’s freshman QB, making his second start, threw 3 TD passes in leading the Gophers to 44 points in a demolition of Purdue yesterday, the same Purdue that recently lost in OT @ Ohio State. Hmmmmmmm. What’s it all mean?
Just this: As long as Grandpa Ferentz continues to draw his salary from the Iowa Athletic Department, we can count on annual battles between the Hawkeyes and the Illini for 12th place in the so-called BIG. If you loved the Lauterbur years, if you pine for the days of Ray Nagel and Bob Commings, if you thought Todd Lickliter got a raw deal, you’re gonna love how this all goes down.
What it means is that you can’t tell who will win each week, so throwing a temper tantrum won’t solve anything.
Oh, and really… Three delay of game penalties because Iowa’s 5th year senior QB didn’t know where the clocks were? Even in Iowa’s classic “2-min. offense”? C’mon, Grandpa Ferentz. We didn’t just fall off the turnip truck ya know. The least, and I mean the least, you could do is stop insulting the folks who make it possible for you to collect those 4 million smackers a year, no matter how deeply you embarrass yourself, the U of Iowa, and those of us crazy enough to be involved with the Hawkeyes.
It’s something different every week. This week it was the contain on defense and two critical delay of game penalties. Clock management has been a recurring theme. But in general if you are down 28-3 there are many problems. Seems this team is regressing week to week as well which is troubling.
It never ceases to amaze me to read these comments week after week here. “Fire Ferentz..blah blah blah” “Vandenberg sucks..blah blah blah”…
Is the Iowa Hawkeye fanbase that deluded to believe that we should be undefeated every year? That God forbid, we can’t have some down years?
Wake up people! This isn’t an XBox football game that you can take the Iowa Hawkeyes undefeated to the National Championship game.
Here’s the reality. The coaches can put in the best game plan possible. They can scheme for every type of play an opposing team may run. However, when it comes down to it–the players on the field have to execute.
If they don’t–then a team isn’t going to be successful–period.
I just love how people who have NEVER coached a day of football in their life, let alone ever play football…somehow think they know MORE than what the Iowa coaching staff does..than what the Iowa athletic director does.
Are we disappointed that Iowa isn’t doing better this season–of course. However, to sit there and act like you know better than what these coaches and players do–is absolutely asinine.
Hey Steve…since you seem to know so much, go submit your resume to Gary Barta for Ferentz’s job. I’m sure he’d love a good laugh right about now.
Todd:
Just as Kirk reloads his “message” for each press conference, you’re doing the same. The Kirk has been here FOURTEEN years. The program has no more stability now than it did in YEAR TWO. Why is that? How is that defensible?
Mr. Miller–This is college football–NOT the NFL. You only have 85 players on scholarship each year. You don’t get to trade players or sign “free agents” every year.
Stability in college football is a MYTH, Mr. Miller. You always have new players coming in every year, you always have players leaving every year.
Gone are the days in the 1970′s and 1980′s where the top college teams could stockpile the top talent in the country year after year. Parity is now the rule, not the exception–look at the rise of mid-major teams like Boise State, Louisiana Tech, etc.
Look at a team like Auburn–they’re just two years removed from winning a National Championship..and right now they’re 1-7. Or a team like Missouri–who were contenders for a Big 12 championship in recent years..to go to 4-4 this year in the SEC.
Tell me Mr. Miller–lets say you get your wish..and Iowa gets rid of Ferentz…then just WHAT do you think will happen? Will Iowa all of sudden win a national championship the following year because of a new coach? Get real.
The Iowa fanbase needs to grow up and understand that this isn’t NCAA Football 2K13 for their XBox.
Todd, you’re right when you say, “However, when it comes down to it–the players on the field have to execute.” You’re also right when you say, “You always have new players coming in every year, you always have players leaving every year.”
But the thing is that we’re always hearing that Iowa is a “developmental team”. The problem with that is, if you look back at the 2008 and 2009 recruiting classes (players that would now be upperclassmen), those classes have had an attrition rate of almost 50%. And the Hawks were in the SAME situation just a few years ago.
Here’s a breakdown of the present depth chart:
Seniors -12
Juniors – 13
Sophomores – 9
Freshmen – 11
When a “developmental team” is playing, basically, as many freshmen as they are seniors, it is in big trouble.
Todd:
1. Show me ONE place, including the archives, where I’ve called to fire Ferentz. Hint: You can’t, because I haven’t said it.
2. Your smug condescension about some Iowa fans needing to grow up and recognize this isn’t Xbox isn’t a contribution worth posting here – especially from someone who claims to want the best for Iowa but clearly can’t objectively look at the Iowa program.
3. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I don’t have to as a FAN. However, I am not petrified of change like so many fans are (and that does NOT mean necessarily firing KF) that follow the team.
4. Stop practically absolving KF and his staff of their poor recruiting. If they couldn’t build upon those 3 10-win seasons years ago they certainly cannot do it now – with just a single 10-win season out of 8. Yes, they’re kids; but again, your “we’re just Iowa, we can’t expect anything too good around here” attitude is maddening = especially when so many are willing to accept mediocrity year after year.
So please, explain to me how I’m way off base here.
Todd:
Just as Kirk reloads his “message” for each press conference, you’re doing the same. The Kirk has been here FOURTEEN years. The program has no more stability now than it did in YEAR TWO. Why is that? How is that defensible?
Also, NO ONE (outside Hlas’s prediction of 12-1, losing to USC in the National Title game) predicted an undefeated season this year. The last year ANYONE had even 10-win expectations was 2010, when they repeatedly gave away game after “competitive” game with all their “developed” NFL talent. So you can place that “undefeated Iowa” comment about “extremist” fans the same place people can put the “big salary” argument – it certainly doesn’t exist HERE. It’s lazy and uninformed
As for the “no one here has coached before” – so? Coaching the game hardly makes one an expert – and if you’ve watched KF’s teams over the years their shortcomings aren’t tough to spot, and they have happened repeatedly over the years. So there’s really no “coaching expertise” required to explain why/how Iowa has managed to stay a mostly mediocre program the past EIGHT seasons. You don’t have to be a coach to recognize the stupidity of a delay-of-game penalty during a hurry-up time in which yards are critical to GAIN, not lose; you don’t have to be a coach to see we are clearly outclassed defensively (talent-wise) now that we’re facing real offenses; you don’t have to be a coach to see that our 5th year senior QB (new system or not) is incapable of running this offense physically or mentally. Nope, not one bit of coaching expertise required there – no matter how much you want to throw it our there.
Feel free to keep Kirk up on the pedestal you regularly polish for him – he’s likely to be there 8 more seasons after this. CAN’T WAIT for the upcoming mediocre 5-8 win seasons (with maybe a 9-win season snuck in there = at which point you and others will declare the program as “back”).
Hey Todd, I’m sure you know a lot more about football then I do. No one expects Iowa to go undefeated matter of fact I might be wrong but I think there has been only 4 undefeated Iowa football teams ever. And you say we all say fire the coach, Vandenberg sucks but then you go on to say blame the players for not executing. I’m no expert I’m only 60 years old and I have only been going to Iowa games since I was 5. I’ve never coached football but I played until my 2nd year in college. The only reason I know what xbox is because I have Grandsons. Since you know so much more than me what is your answer to the Hawks problems? I would like to know. And for your info all that comment (including you) are entitled to our opinions. Instead of bad mouthing us fellow Hawkeye die hard fans just give your opinion on what is the answer to why this football team is so bad.
Thank you
Todd,
You sound like just another apologist for a guy who has apparently lost it. Look at what actually is:Kirk Ferenz has been here 14 years, and despite growing success the first four years, his recruiting has tailed off, and has not improved to match the good years we had from 2004 to 2009. We won a BCS bowl in 2009 with a group of two and three star athlete who developed into something special. However, recruiting stayed stagnant, and the apologists have blamed Iowa City’s remote, rural location for that failure, in a desperate attempt it make it something other than the responsibility of the man at the helm. Well, Tuscaloosa, Alabama is nobody’s idea of the heart of a happenin’ metropolis, and neither is Manhattan, Kansas. but Nick Saban and Bill Snyder do all right, don’t they? What has happened is that we have been losing all our major recruiting battles, even inside our own borders. Do the names Amara Darboh and Jake Campos ring a bell?
Whatever Ferentz was going to do in college football, he has done it. He has lost three feet off his fast ball, the NFL stopped calling years ago, and no school but Iowa would pay him insane amounts of money to be this mediocre, uninspired and stubbornly averse to learning from mistakes. Now we are stuck with him, with more 5-7 and 6-6 seasons yet to come. Thank God for the Northern Iowas, Northern Illinois’ and Missouri States of the world. Otherwise, we would never be bowl-eligible, and this year may not be yet. Maybe we are the idiotic rubes the rest of the world sees when they look at Iowa.
Certainly our approach to the football program give them reason. What a nightmare!
Okay, everyone here who is calling for Kirk Ferentz’s head when they KNOW what kind of buyout that would entail needs to remember that the day after blowing the largest lead in a bowl game in NCAA history to Mike Leach’s Texas Tech, Minnesota fired Mason. As the Star Tribune reported: “Mason will receive a $2.2 million buyout plus an additional $1.4 million in deferred compensation from his previous contract.”
Minnesota went on to hire Tim Brewster for the Division I Head Coach pittance of $400,000 per year, and watch the worst era of Gopher football ever unfold because the AD acted stupidly and could not afford to pay a decent coach.
So when you rant and rave about firing Kirk Ferentz, realize that you sound like the last person on Earth anyone should take advice from about running an organization. Now, if you want to blame Barta for that by all means have at it. But given how much it would cost, let’s give the man 3 years to turn the ship around.
Our team just isn’t very good this year. We don’t have the talent. Coaching could be compounding it, but I watched the GA-FL game yesterday and couldn’t see a lot of difference between their gameplans and Iowa’s (or the level of sloppiness for that matter). We’re starting 11 freshman right now. That’s the textbook definition of a developmental team. If you go through our roster, you’ll find a lot of players who are coming back next year who show a lot of promise.
Furthermore, our team is completely indicative of the Big Ten this year. Outside of OSU there is not a single team in the conference performing consistently or to expectations. Probably because of the complete coaching overhaul that’s hit the entire conference. And our solution is to overhaul our coaching AGAIN?
As for emotion. I think Ferentz is plenty emotional, he’s just in a lot more control of his emotions than most of the posters here. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never been motivated by a manager who was screaming at me all the time. I also don’t really want Ferentz rolling into press conferences like a churlish 3 year old (see: Kiffin, Dantonio, Saban, Gundy). I mean, what is the guy supposed to say? “Our players suck. My entire coaching staff is incompetent. I run a lousy program.” That’s supposed to make people want to work for you?
Let’s be clear that I find this season painful to watch. I hate that we seem completely incapable as a team to take care of our business against Northwestern. Our playcalling and execution drives me nuts. But everyone needs to calm the #%*! down. And I am not opposed to firing Ferentz. BUT it has to be for the best of the program, and right now firing Ferentz would destroy our program. Ferentz has shown that he can turn things around and compete for championships and he should have an opportunity to try one more time before we risk throwing the program into the poor house.
Yeah, the time management stuff is something that is just mind boggling. It’s been an issue even in good years. Ferentz and his staff just can’t seem to get a grasp on it. The Cap One Bowl amazing ending was only possible due to bungled clock management and LSU’s ineptitude. Remember the end of Wisconsin 2010? Holy God.
Not sure if Ferentz just doesn’t think it’s important to work on or he can’t grasp the fundamentals of it but it’s been bad for the entire duration of his coaching tenure it seems.
John H.;
Don’t tell me to calm down. I don’t take advice from a man who won’t put his whole name on the post.
Coaching makes all the difference at places like Iowa. But, the notion that Iowa does not possess unique resources and advantages is silly. This is not Kansas State, Boise, TCU or even Iowa State or Northwestern (two teams that are among the bottom 15 in all time wins). For example, Bill Snyder turned KSU from a wasteland to a juggernaut. Still, it is a program that has no business outperforming Iowa year in and year out as it has and is.
I think the loss of Bowlsby, as much as anything, is the issue. Barta works for Ferentz, not vice versa. Barta is measuring Ferentz based on revenue. In this measurement he’s successful. What, at this point, is unclear is whether we could have another coach that could satisfy this criteria and provide a better product on the field. I’d argue, yes.
I think the football program is starting to take on troubling elements of the Lickliter years. The program looks unprepared too often. It is boring to watch. The coach is system stubborn, to a fault. The coach has no interest in media relations and thus the program acts as if it is indifferent to the fans.
But, KF is on the winning side thanks mostly to scheduling — notice that Iowa in 4 years will have one of the two softest schedules in the conference (indiana the other). While Ohio State is scheduling Oregon and Texas, Iowa is scheduling North Dakota State and Central Michigan. Even Northwestern is scheduling Stanford and Notre Dame.
I see a program that is slipping into a mindset of excuse making and low bar setting.
I get tired of hearing how Iowa fans shouldn’t always expect a winning season…even Ferentz told us this a few years ago. Does he tell his recruits this too?
Let me ask the fan base this; Do you think Urban Meyer or Nick Saban would establish a regular, consistent winner if they were the coach at Iowa? Do you think they would tell us to expect NOT to win every now and then?
Exactly.
This is an easy question to answer because Nick Saban coached at a very similar program for 5 years in the late 1990s: Michigan State. His record was 34-24-1. He unceremoniously quit at the end of the 1999 season to take a job at LSU (right before his team got it’s first bowl win of his tenure, so technically he went winless in bowls). For the record, Ferentz is 1-0 against Saban. But technically it doesn’t count because Saban unceremoniously quit the LSU job right before the 2004 Capitol One Bowl to coach the Miami Dolphins. Mitch Albom wrote a good article summarizing Saban’s tenure at MSU if you’re inclined to google it.
Of course, then MSU went through the golden era of Bobby Williams and John L. Smith before finding Mark Dantonio (who also compares similarly to Ferentz, unless you count never winning or sharing a Big Ten title, never going to the the BCS, his awful bowl record, his unwillingness to hold his players accountable for their actions on or off the field, and his unpleasant demeanor).
As for Meyer, it’s hard to say how he’d fare since he quit Florida as soon as the cupboard started to go bare (8-5 in his last season, 7-6 under Muschamp in 2010). If a school like Florida with it’s salary, facilities, boosters and recruiting base can’t retain a guy like Meyer, I don’t know what hope a school like Iowa would. Oh, and Ferentz is 0-1 in games against Meyer but anyone who remembers the 2006 Outback Bowl does NOT want to get me started about it: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2006-01-04-outback-officials-mistake_x.htm
TL; DR version: there’s no compelling evidence to suggest Saban or Meyer would be consistent winners here. There’s a lot of evidence to say they wouldn’t stick around long enough to be called much of anything.
I don’t disagree with you JH (but I really don’t know what Saban and Meyer have to do with Iowa, unless we play them) I think most all that comment wants Ferentz to coach Iowa but he’s going to have to start bringing this program back. The Hawks should be a top tier team instead of where they are now but if he can’t then what?
John H well said! And it sounds to me that Paul Davis is a baby….just saying.
Ben, I always look at name-calling as a real superior contribution to a debate. It often occurs when facts and logic aren’t on one’s side of the debate and there’s nowhere else to go.