Kirk Ferentz keeping his Hawkeyes hungry after loss to Buckeyes

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Although the Buckeyes gave the Hawkeyes a reality check of where they stand among the nation’s elite, their head coach felt the 17-point home loss benefited his team.

Iowa is navigating through the Big Ten meat-grinder, and a hiccup along the way is not going to cause Kirk Ferentz to hit the panic button. What he wants his players to do is learn from the 31-14 loss, place it in the rearview mirror and shift their focus to a road trip at Washington on a short week.

After all, Ohio State exposed several areas that Ferentz must address in what should be an intense week of practice.

“I don’t know what to tell you other than we’re just going to keep playing, we’ll keep playing like we always do, and we’ll keep working on it, Ferentz said. “We work on every segment, run, pass, and things either go together or they don’t, so game situations have a lot to do with that to and dictate that.”

The Hawkeyes couldn’t handle the Buckeyes’ physicality at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The big boys up front were inconsistent, and didn’t get a good push, which led to Hank Brown’s fumble on Iowa’s initial drive of the game. Brown never looked comfortable in the pocket, turned the ball over twice and left the game with an apparent shoulder injury late in the second half.

Iowa (4-1) finally scored its’ only touchdown of the afternoon in the fourth quarter, and that was with backup signal-caller Jeremy Hecklinski behind center. He gave the offense a spark, completed all five of his passes and added a completion on the two-point conversion.

However, the No. 15 Hawkeyes finished with a season-low, 238 yards of total offense, which included 39 on the ground. Ferentz is the nation’s longest-tenured coach, and understands that type of ground production won’t get it done in Big Ten play. That’s why Ferentz is refusing to let his running backs keep their heads down, knowing what they’re capable of accomplishing on the gridiron.

“They have pride, they care, they have a good work ethic,” he said. “We’ll learn more about can we run the ball this year or not, can we do this or that, we’ll find out as the season goes on.”

Defensively, Iowa couldn’t do anything to stop Ohio State’s All-American wideout Jeremiah Smith. Quarterback Julian Sayin targeted Smith 15 times, and connected on 11 of those passes. It didn’t matter if Phil Parker used single, double or triple coverage on Smith, he still made some acrobatic receptions, finished with 211 yards, and 77 of those came after the catch.

“We gave him everything we had, and he (Smith) was still pretty effective, and the same thing today,” the 71-year old said. He’s got great size, great competitiveness, and just great ability for a receiver.”

Despite surrendering 484 yards to Ohio State, Ferentz is focusing on the positive aspects of Iowa’s performance on defense. Take away Smith’s numbers in the Buckeyes’ aerial attack, and they only averaged 3.4 yards per rush. The Hawkeyes also sacked Sayin four times, which was the most the Buckeyes allowed all season.

Iowa also suffered a couple of injuries to defensive backs Zach Lutmer and Deshaun Lee, but Ferentz doesn’t believe none of those will be long term. Ferentz hopes he’ll have everyone healthy by the time they make their trip out to Seattle, which will be their longest of the season. There are challenges that come with the territory of operating on a short week, and a long flight, especially after a loss, but Ferentz remains confident in his players ability to respond to adversity.

“What makes me feel good about our team is I’ve had a chance to work with these guys pretty intimately now since mid-January, these guys are working hard, they’re trying to please, and they are pleasing for the most part,” the Michigan native said. “They improved in one area this week during the week, which was impressive, so at least they’re hearing and they’re trying to get better, and that’s all you can ask an athlete to do or anybody to do.”

Ferentz will have a decision on his hands on which quarterback he’ll start against the Huskies, or if the Hawkeyes will play both Brown and Hecklinski. It’s always beneficial to keep the opposition guessing though, and make Washington prepare for both guys, who have different skill sets.

Above all, Ferentz trusts that leaders will emerge during this time of adversity, and help the team rebound. There’s a lot of room for improvement as the Hawkeyes approach the midpoint of the season, but the team’s goals are still intact. Which is why Ferentz isn’t feeling any pressure, considering he knows the Big Ten like the back of his hand.

“If it’s a panic situation, I’ll let you know, but right now we’re not where we want to be, I’m not denying that at all.”