Ferentz in 2002 "being aggressive"

M

MrTHawk

Well-Known Member
I was watching highlights of
Iowa v. Michigan (2002), of my favorite games ever. When asked by the ABC sideline reporter what he needed to do in the second half, Kirk said we need to keep being aggressive.

So my questions is, what the hell happened to that young man? What was the turning point and why? Even as recently as 2004 we put up high numbers against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Was there a change in philosophy?
 


I blame the 2004 PSU game that Iowa won 6-4. Iowa had a great defense that year that created a lot of turnovers and shut teams down in the 4Q. KF put that to the test against PSU by intentionally taking a safety in the 4Q, almost mocking the Penn State offense that they could not drive 30 yards to get a game winning FG. If that would have backfired against Iowa, KF would have drawn a whole different lesson that day.




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guffus said:
I blame the 2004 PSU game that Iowa won 6-4. Iowa had a great defense that year that created a lot of turnovers and shut teams down in the 4Q. KF put that to the test against PSU by intentionally taking a safety in the 4Q, almost mocking the Penn State offense that they could not drive 30 yards to get a game winning FG. If that would have backfired against Iowa, KF would have drawn a whole different lesson that day.


This is a stretch. Not what I recall that game. I don't think they were "mocking" Penn St. Ferentz did his usual calculation & thought taking the safety I kicking the ball to Penn State to make them drive the field to beat them was the best chance to win.

I don't think any coach would mock an opposing team when they themselves only have 6 pts on the board. It was a chess match, IMO.
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Of course he was "mocking" Penn State. What else would you call it. By taking the safety, that closed the gap from 6-2 to 6-4. Plus Iowa had to kick from the 20 after the safety, meaning PSU was going to get the ball probably around its own 40. Meaning they would only need 30+ yards for the game winning FG.

KF had so much confidence that PSU could not move the ball, he decided it was worth giving up 2 points rather than punt from Iowa's endzone.

It was not like there was 15 seconds left in the game either. There was still plenty of time for PSU to try to score.
 


guffus said:
Of course he was "mocking" Penn State. What else would you call it. By taking the safety, that closed the gap from 6-2 to 6-4. Plus Iowa had to kick from the 20 after the safety, meaning PSU was going to get the ball probably around its own 40. Meaning they would only need 30+ yards for the game winning FG.

KF had so much confidence that PSU could not move the ball, he decided it was worth giving up 2 points rather than punt from Iowa's endzone.

It was not like there was 15 seconds left in the game either. There was still plenty of time for PSU to try to score.
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I think you might be mis remembering. Either that or I am. The way I remember is we had to punt with almost no time left in the game and it was safer to run out of the back of the endzone than it was to punt from inside our own 5. I think we did the free kick and they maybe had time for 1 play. Again I might be wrong, there's a first time for everything.
 


guffus said:
Of course he was "mocking" Penn State. What else would you call it. By taking the safety, that closed the gap from 6-2 to 6-4. Plus Iowa had to kick from the 20 after the safety, meaning PSU was going to get the ball probably around its own 40. Meaning they would only need 30+ yards for the game winning FG.

KF had so much confidence that PSU could not move the ball, he decided it was worth giving up 2 points rather than punt from Iowa's endzone.

It was not like there was 15 seconds left in the game either. There was still plenty of time for PSU to try to score.
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This is not "mocking". You said it above. Ferentz thought the best chance to win was not attempting a punt & taking a safety. It was strategy. I don't think Ferentz was mocking Penn St in Beaver Stadium.
 


PCHawk said:
I think you might be mis remembering. Either that or I am. The way I remember is we had to punt with almost no time left in the game and it was safer to run out of the back of the endzone than it was to punt from inside our own 5. I think we did the free kick and they maybe had time for 1 play. Again I might be wrong, there's a first time for everything.
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Exactly!
 


PCHawk said:
I think you might be mis remembering. Either that or I am. The way I remember is we had to punt with almost no time left in the game and it was safer to run out of the back of the endzone than it was to punt from inside our own 5. I think we did the free kick and they maybe had time for 1 play. Again I might be wrong, there's a first time for everything.
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Iowa took the safety with just under 8 minutes to go to make the score 6-4. Penn State got the ball back and threw an INT on the 1st play. Iowa ran about 5 minutes off the clock and then punted. 2 more plays by Penn State (sack and fumble). Iowa runs out the clock. See play by play below.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=242970213&period=4
 




Robowe said:
Iowa took the safety with just under 8 minutes to go to make the score 6-4. Penn State got the ball back and threw an INT on the 1st play. Iowa ran about 5 minutes off the clock and then punted. 2 more plays by Penn State (sack and fumble). Iowa runs out the clock. See play by play below.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=242970213&period=4
Click to expand...

Thank you. Thats why the safety after all these years stood out to me. Because KF took the safety with 8 minutes left. I remember thinking what is he doing? All PSU needs now is a FG to win and PSU was going to get at least 2 more possessions.

KF quote was interesting after the game, treating the safety as a no brainer. He said punting from the endzone was a sure 3 points for the other team, so instead he gave them a sure 2 points and the ball back. The "strategy" makes no sense unless he has 100% confidence PSU can not move the ball which is why I originally said it was like he was mocking PSU.

I guess 1 thing I did forget is how much problems the Iowa punting game had prior to the last safety. Knowing that, I guess it made more sense to take the safety rather than a block.




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Not kicking from inside your own 5 yard line late in a game fearing the blocked punt for a TD or very short distance punt is or used to be SOP. It can backfire but even it you get just a decent kick off with full punt block protection on the receiving team can start from inside your own 40 yard line.

It was a 60-40 proposition that KF won
 




That was not mocking, it is the smartest decision in that situation, that shouldn't even be up for discussion. He did a great job that game. At that time I wouldn't have traded him for any coach in the nation.

I just wish he still made smart decisions. Unless he had assistants who were calling the shots, I seriously think he has some sort of dementia, because the last few years he has changed and hasn't been making those decisions. For quite a few years it's been obvious that this is not a well coached team anymore.
 


MrTHawk said:
I was watching highlights of
Iowa v. Michigan (2002), of my favorite games ever. When asked by the ABC sideline reporter what he needed to do in the second half, Kirk said we need to keep being aggressive.

So my questions is, what the hell happened to that young man? What was the turning point and why? Even as recently as 2004 we put up high numbers against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Was there a change in philosophy?
Click to expand...

[video=youtube;eukaQpnTrf0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eukaQpnTrf0[/video]
 


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