Hawkeyes bottom out ... at least until next week

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The pound of flesh wasn't coming Saturday night. No one was fired. No one was benched. No one was shot into space.

Maybe something extreme happens after the season, maybe it doesn't. Still, it sure felt like a head should've rolled, just for sacrificial points if nothing else.

It was that bad.

The Hawkeyes (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) were plowed under at No. 12 Penn State (7-2, 5-1), 41-14, Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. Penn State put up 599 yards total offense. That's the second-most against Iowa in head coach Kirk Ferentz's 18-plus seasons. The most? It was 604 at Wisconsin in 1999, when Iowa was the ultimate party favor for UW running back Ron Dayne to set the FBS career rushing record and the Badgers to clinch a Rose Bowl berth.

For the third time this season, Iowa's offense was held to 14 points. It's kind of amazing that the Hawkeyes got away with that twice, beating Rutgers and Minnesota. The Hawkeyes rushed 26 times for 30 yards, their lowest rushing output since being held to 23 against Michigan State in 2013. On the flip side, Penn State's 359 rushing yards were the third-most Iowa has allowed under Ferentz (433 at Indiana in 2000 and 420 at Wisconsin in 1999).

It was bad. It was really bad.

The immediate aftermath left everyone Iowa stunned. Ferentz reassured that this isn't what they're shooting for. You already knew that, but it had to be said. Something had to be said.

'This is not acceptable, this is not what we're looking for,' Ferentz said. 'This has never been the standard. It will never be the standard. We're going to have to find a way to move forward. It's all about our response tomorrow and work until the end of the season. That's what it's all about, that's how you measure anything, really.'

Iowa's offense has now been held to back-to-back season lows. Against Wisconsin two weeks ago, Iowa generated 236 yards of total offense. Penn State held Iowa to 234 yards, a season-low and the Hawkeyes' worst output since 221 last season against the Badgers.

'I trust our coaches and everything they're doing,' said Beathard, who passed for more than 200 yards (204) for just the third time this season. 'There are execution things. We should execute and we should convert on those third downs. For whatever reason, we didn't execution-wise.'

Talking Iowa's offense with Ferentz right now is a pinata full of dead horse. It's a sore topic. There are no quick fixes or easy answers. Yet, everyone is lining up with a bat and taking their swing.

During the postgame, Ferentz was asked about total offense, the futile use of 22 personnel (two backs, two tight ends) on third and short, wide receivers and lack of performance, pass protection and lack thereof and if there's anything else the staff can squeeze out of this offense.

'We're going to keep looking,' Ferentz said. 'I don't know when the answer is going to come or when the improvement will come or show. We just have to keep working, keep looking for better solutions, better ways to use the players we have, what they can do.

' ... We're not changing players in the next three weeks, it's a matter of what we can do best with the players we have and get them playing a little better.'

You want the fiery speech where someone throws a garbage can into a white board? You want the helmet flung across a locker room? You want a meaty confrontation with a reporter? If those nerve endings exist with this team, it feels as if they've been cauterized.

Iowa tradition under Ferentz has been to speak with the play and not make bold statements. In that case, Penn State did all of the talking.

'We felt really prepared throughout the week,' cornerback Desmond King said. 'We had a good week, a bye week, everything like that. Penn State just came out with the win.'

Ferentz and his teams have rarely made their frustrations and emotions public. Tight end George Kittle, who's playing on a sprained right foot and will be less than 100 percent for the rest of the regular season, deleted that email. He's hurting.

'Tonight was very frustrating, just didn't show up,' Kittle said. 'I don't know how you don't show up. You get 12 shots and ...

'I fully believe every game I go into, I have since I was a little kid, that I'm going to win the game. I don't care who I'm playing. Next week, we play Michigan, I fully believe I'm going to win that game. It's hard for me, it's really hard for this team to not show up. I don't really have the words to explain it.'

Everyone is human. Ferentz was asked if he has some of the same frustrations you guys have. Does he feel like firing anyone after seeing what we all saw Saturday night?

Ferentz even made reference to 1999, when Iowa finished 1-10 and, yes, you could see these blowouts coming. It was that bad, 1999 bad.

You knew Ferentz wouldn't go there, but still, it was that bad and so the firing question was asked.

'We'll take a look at everything, obviously, look at everything,' Ferentz said. 'Right now, our focus is more so on our players, what can we do to help them and get them prepared to compete next week. That's where my focus is right now.'

This might not be the best time to remind everyone that this week is under the lights at Kinnick Stadium against No. 3 Michigan.