Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz: “Didn't Give Ourselves Much of a Chance, Credit Our Opponent Also on That”

You know things aren't going well for your program when your postgame press conference answers repeatedly refer to your past, deflecting from your present.

Such was the case for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz as his Iowa offense, led by his son and offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, laid another egg. This time, it was 10 total points and six turnovers in a 54-10 loss to Ohio State.

After hanging in early, not much went right for Iowa after that as Ferentz summarized Iowa's struggles.

“Obviously disappointed to lose the football game today. We knew coming in we were playing a top-ranked team, and very talented team. We knew we would have to play flawlessly, execute, take advantage of any opportunities that might be there, do a good job with ball security, excel on special teams, and do well on penalties. Really didn’t do much to check any of those boxes today, unfortunately so. Didn’t give ourselves much of a chance, credit our opponent also on that."

Asked why his offense has seven touchdowns in seven games, Ferentz lamented his team's struggles but also complimented the Buckeyes.

"Part of the credit goes to our opponent. They're a really good defensive football team. Much improved statistically, so we felt that coming in watching their tape and feel that way now after seeing them in person.

On what happened after Iowa's defense had successfully forced Ohio State to kick field goals in the first half, Ferentz offered, "You play so long against a very talented offensive team, you've probably noticed they've got some good players out there. It's hard to find a weakness and keep them short of the end zone was a positive certainly. But it doesn't matter if you can't match points with them at some point. They're tough to defend. They've got four really outstanding receivers. They had one rejoin today and two outstanding running backs. And just one person's opinion, I think their offensive line is playing at a really high level too and the quarterback is an outstanding player. So, it's a tough team to defense against and I thought our guys really competed well but you know, too high of a hill for us."

Of course, the ongoing story for Iowa's program is its anemic offense led by Ferentz's son. The head coach was asked a few times about how he evaluates his son's performance and if a change is warranted in the middle of the season.

"I answered that question two weeks ago. I've never done that (replaced an OC midseason) in my career and I don't plan on starting right now. Our approach has always been to address what's out there and see what we can do to improve and its been pretty consistent for almost 24 years now. That's the plan moving forward. It's been fairly successful.

Is his son doing what the head coach is looking for?

"Nobody does everything perfect. I've never been in that situation. Certainly you don't always play perfect or coach perfect but I think we have a good offensive staff, we've got good leadership and we're going to keep pushing forward."

Pushed on why he would be willing to change quarterbacks midseason but not on his coaching staff, Ferentz didn't feel those situations were comparable.

"I think you're talking about two separate job descriptions and two separate areas of responsibility. And I know people do it, I know it's been done, it's been done this year. Again, it's just not my preference. My preference has been to play it out and there's evidence to show it has worked pretty well in the past so we'll let it play out and do our assessments and evaluations when everything's over.

Pressed harder, asked if he was putting the Iowa football program in a bad spot by having poor offensive production driven by one of his family members running the show, Ferentz kept his composure but was clearly tired of the line of questioning.

"It's got no bearing on who the person is. It's just a matter of who is coaching our football team, the guys on our staff are guys that I feel have demonstrated success, they're good people and we're going to keep pushing forward. I don't feel like we're doing anything wrong."