2010 Iowa Football: What Happened?

[seepig]

Excellent post. Summed it up quite nicely. But as for saying undefeated was not a good prediction to make, I would not be too hard on yourself.

09/18 a 6 point loss in a game to which Iowa gave up a pick 6, a punt block that led to a TD and a kickoff return. That game should not have turned out differently?

10/23 a 1 point loss with a botched field goal attempt and a missed XP.

11/13 a 4 point loss to Northwestern

11/20 a 3 point loss to Ohio St.

11/27 a 3 point loss to Minnesota.


ALL of these games easily could have been won, and in most of them I believe Iowa had a lead in the 4th quarter. So in my honest opinion I don't feel undefeated was too bold a prediction. You like a lot of us, bought into the defensive line being spectacular, and not knowing the linebackers would fail in coverage situations and the defense in general cough up leads late in the game.

Good points Hellboy and I agree with many that suggest injuries hurt us. My biggest issue is with the way we handled those injuries. In coaching it's about how you adjust based on who is available to play. Why we believed that we could continue time after time and play a soft zone asking our LBs to cover WRs is beyond me. Especially when we had 3rd and long etc. Look at the ASU game last night for the better part of that game when AZ tried to dink and dunk the ASU secondary was right up in their faces. Additionally our ability to know what the hell we are doing in a 2minute drill is beyond reason.

 

[seepig]

I think the other thing I'd like to point out is that in our 5 losses we were absolutely abyssmal in holding an opposing QB under his average....even Cousins in a landslide completed 64-65% of his passes. So, explain to me why we believe we could win those games when we did nothing to try and disrupt the offense of the other team. We defended soft and played like kittens in alot of those games. While I am disappointed in the D I've had it with KOK...if offensive genius was dynamite KOK wouldn't have enough to blow his nose.

 

[MoseSchrute]

I will never, ever again, worry about having too many running backs. In August there was a lot of chatter about what we were going to do with 3 good running backs. Lots and lots of talk about how to use them. All things considered we are lucky Coker turned out as well as he did because early in the season he was #4. And actually, injuries hurt us a lot more at other positions than running back.

You got that right; and it has been a recurring problem.

 

[seepig]

Here are some stats that will boggle the mind:

OFFENSE: 120 D1 Teams
Total Offense 61st----Thanks KOK great job!
Scoring Offense 49th-----Nuff Said (just rehashing what we already know!)

DEFENSE: 120 Teams...and REALLY disappointing
Pass Efficiency (Below the mid-point probably about 60 or so)
Tackles for Loss--112th (ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!)
Sacks--81st
First Downs Allowed--36th (Tied with KENT STATE OMG)
3rd Down Conv. %---54th (Again recipe for mediocrity)
4th Down Conv. %---79th (Recipe for being lucky your record is mediocre)
INTs---9th (Really good...guys caught the ball when mistakes were made)
Passing Def.----58th, 58th, 58th (ties in nicely with lack of TFLs and Sacks)

 

[HawkPhreek]

It's tough for me to hang the first two years of the Ferentz era on anything other than a massive rebuilding project he inherited.

Since then, Iowa is 50-30 in Big Ten play. Just one team in the league has more Big Ten wins than Iowa over the last decade, and that is Ohio State.

Type out all the wins?
How many does Ohio St have ? How many does the third place team have? How many of them have had same coaches ? Can you throw out every teams first two years of the new coach? How about the last five years where does Iowa rank?

 

[HawkPhreek]

53-43 B10 record under Kirk.

That's an average record of 4.4-3.5. Bascially 5-3/4-4 B10 record each season.

21-19 in the last 5 seasons.

6 seasons since last B10 title.

Zero outright titles

3+ million a year.

All facts that need to be considered

If you think I enjoyed typing that, think again. I'm sick to my stomach. That's not a joke.

+10000000... Man this even makes the kool aid taste funny.

 

[StatelineHawk]

I didn't make a prediction before season because I never want to put down a game as a loss. Heart said 12-0. Head said 9-3. Lost 6 players to draft and at least 3 others were in NFL camps. Thats a big loss. Now that the season is over, there is no way Iowa should have been worse than 10-2. Az. goes 4-5 in their conf. not exactly a powerhouse. Losses to NW and Minny are inexcusable. Iowa accounted for 40% of those schools conf. wins. OSU abd Wisky were 11-1 teams. Though both were at home and Wisky may go down as one of the worst coached games in Iowa history. I like how Hawk players and KF handle themselves, but there are times I wonder if KF isn't the most arrogant coach in college football.

 

[Imlivingthedream]

when discussing Kirks conference record it needs to be pointed out hes missed OSU 4 times. Hayden missed them 4 times in his entire career.

 

[hawkeyemark]

I've enjoyed reading this thread and think Jon gave an excellent summary of the unusual amount of adversity that contributed to throwing this season out of kilter. I would agree with the poster who wrote that the coaching staff did not do a good job of adjusting to the injuries that piled up in key positions and playing to put the personnel we had in the best position to succeed. I also think we don't have answers to why this team seemed to quit and check out mentally after the Michigan State game. The lack of senior leadership on both sides of the ball aggravated rather than helped mitigate the adversity. I have the sense that this team had some internal issues that we don't know about and don't really have a need to know about.