Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, lower left, celebrates with Iowa players and fans after his team's 30-27 win over Michigan, Saturday Oct. 4, 2003, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Three minutes in, Dolph is talking hoops. The man knows what you want.

There will be no Hawk Talk with Kirk Ferentz next week. A bowl show is pending, of course. If no bowl, this is the season finale.

With that, we’re off . . .

Dolph was the PA announcer for the Bears on Sunday night, BTW. He worked with the Bears years ago.

Caller: Benching Hitchens . . . poor tackling . . . is the defense tired. Basketball question.

Dolph: Basketball question answered. Poor tackling, part is mental and part of it is technique. It was a lot of guys who had issues last week.

Caller: Wants the first team to sit and play the No. 2s. Believes there are hidden gems out there. Wants the backups to play the whole game.

Dolph: Probably not a good idea. Doesn’t like it when the players say they weren’t ready to play. He doesn’t buy it. Players say anything to get the heck out of the lockerroom.

Dolph mentions getting pressure on the QB. That’s a big miss for this year’s team. I’ll wait a week before I ask if it’ll be a problem for next season.

Dolph: It’s not just James Vandenberg.

Dolph is correct.

Dolph going into reasons for the “pothole.” Attrition, injuries, lack of execution.

Dolph is correct.

Caller: Why pass short of the sticks on third down? It’s football 101.

Dolph: I’d like to see a copy of football 101.

Me: Me too!

KF: Not intentionally trying to throw 1-yard completion on 4th-and-3. Lots of moving parts. Depends on what the defense shows.

KF: Biggest disappointment is five very close losses. Winnable games, but came up short in all of them. Need to learn from them. Will be in close games again. Disappointing, but continuing to work toward it.

Changing QBs vs. PSU . . . KF: There was, but wanted to keep the starters out there and keep working them. Wanted to get a little something going. At that point, it was early in there. We weren’t thinking about next year, but was thinking about this year.

Caller: Iowa plays “old man football.” Going to go down the field a little more? Change up things? Hearing we’re a little predictable.

KF: It comes down to winning and losing, it’s as simple as that. When not winning, not in vogue. Winning, people don’t care how you do it. In ’82, played Illinois vs. David Wilson and Mike White. They passed for 400-plus yards and we [Iowa] won 13-10. They had some success [Illinois], but I think some of the stereotypes of conferences can get overplayed. The SEC, Alabama, they play “old man football.” They play it really well and that’s the key.

Dolph: Tackling? One game?

KF: We’ve worked on it more this year than any year. I think the reason we did that is because we’ve felt we’ve needed it.

Caller: Premier OC, premier TE, I don’t think coach has a reverse or counter play in his repertoire. All he wants to do is pound Bullock up the middle.

Hang up and listen.

KF: Talks Greg Davis. Highly recommended. Davis tremendous coach, tremendous person. Doing an excellent job. I think I recognize a good coach and teacher when I see it, and I think we’ve got that in Greg Davis. There’s no debating we want to move the ball and score points. I can’t say enough good things about Greg. I just wanted to say that publicly. ”Tremendous coach, tremendous person, does outstanding job.”

Canzeri question.

Canzeri answer from KF: Comeback has been amazing [torn ACL in March]. Gradual process, trying to hold out. Treading water because of redshirt year.

Sounds like he’s going to complete the redshirt season.

Caller: Wants play-action in short yardage.

KF: Vandenberg boot from the 1. We run plays like that. It’s in the offense and they try to mix it in.

Paul from Rhodes, Iowa (not the Paul Rhoads, the Iowa State football coach): Hang in there, good luck. Don’t sell out to Husker nation.

And that’s it for this week.

Will there be another show? A bowl show? It’s not over yet. Win two to get one. It’s a long shot, no doubt.

Still no line on Saturday’s game because of the uncertainty at Michigan quarterback.