ANN ARBOR, MICH. – Apparently, Iowa left its defense in East Lansing, Mich. It hasn’t shown up much the past five weeks and wasn’t there on Saturday in a 42-17 loss to No. 23 Michigan. “Defensively, we didn’t have any answers to their attacks,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That became pretty apparent, pretty quickly.” [...]
Iowa City, Ia. – A swifter pace of recruiting throughout the country has Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz thinking about possibly changing staff assignments. Ferentz said during Tuesday’s press conference that he will consider having a staff member dedicated only to recruiting. Now that job falls on Eric Johnson, who also helps coach the Hawkeyes’ [...]
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – One week, Penn State amasses 504 yards, and a week later it’s Northwestern totaling 433. That’s consecutive Iowa football losses in which opponents combine for over 900 yards — and that’s a problem heading into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game against an Indiana team with a Big Ten Conference passing attack second to [...]
EVANSTON, Ill. – At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, the Iowa football team is getting worse as the season drags on. It’s still premature to call Iowa a bad team, but things are certainly pointing in that direction based on Saturday’s 28-17 loss to Northwestern. Good teams find different ways to prevail, whereas [...]
EVANSTON, ILL. The “Bullies of the Big Ten” were pinned down all afternoon by the nerds from Northwestern, suffering a 3-hour wedgie and wet willy in a 28-17 loss at Ryan Stadium. The Wildcats dominated the Hawkeyes at the line of scrimmage, and pummeled them for 349 rushing yards. And it was week after Iowa [...]
EVANSTON, Ill. Eight games into the season, and Iowa still hasn’t figured out the formula for consistent football. The offense sputtered through most of Saturday’s 28-17 loss at Northwestern, and the Wildcats rushed for 349 yards – the most rushing yards against the Hawkeyes since Indiana got 433 in 2000. Bowl bust? “We’re 2/3 the [...]
Iowa City, Ia. – They attended meetings and traveled together – Bill O’Brien, the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and Brian Ferentz, his tight ends coach. They plotted strategy for ways Tom Brady to get Rob Gronkowski the football, and they did it during a 2011 National Football League season that would [...]
East Lansing, Mich. – For nearly four quarters, the Iowa offense just kept spinning its wheels in the East Lansing mud. Despite 7 of its first 11 drives ending with a three-and-out, the Hawkeyes never lost the faith. “That’s football, that’s playing in the Big Ten, that’s playing at Michigan State in a downpour,” Iowa [...]
Junior linebacker James Morris had seen enough of the empty trophy cases the last two years. The Iowa coaches moved them everywhere — the locker room, the weight room, on the path to the practice field. “I just wanted to take a sledgehammer to them,” Morris said. “Thank God we beat Minnesota so we can [...]
