One eye on bowl, other eye on '12

LINCOLN, Neb. -- They were not in the mood for assessment.

They still had the red scratches on their necks and the burn of a 20-7 loss Friday at No. 22 Nebraska in their hearts. They didn't want to reflect on the "might've beens" or the "could've should'ves." They listened to these questions and gave answers with blank stares and barely concealed rage.

"I'm not ready to answer that question right now," linebacker James Morris said when asked what he would say about his sophomore year. "I've got this taste in my mouth from this Nebraska loss."

It's been that kind of season.

The Hawkeyes thudded to 7-5 (4-4 Big Ten) with an uninspired performance in the first Big Ten meeting of Iowa and Nebraska, which is scheduled as a season finale through 2014.

As for the bowl, Iowa could know its destination today, but Michigan (10-2), with its victory over Ohio State, will be held for BCS consideration and thus freezing the rest of the Big Ten teams. Iowa's bowls range from the Insight/Gator to the Texas pair of the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas or the TicketCity.

Iowa's bowl status is shaky. There's no automatic plug-in. The only bowl that showed up at Memorial Stadium was the Outback, which was there to cover a base just in case Nebraska (9-3) is there.

This reflects the Hawkeyes' wildly inconsistent 2011. Iowa's longest winning streaks this season were two games, which happened twice. Each time it had a chance to take the streak to three, something bad happened.

The Hawkeyes won two in a row heading into their Big Ten opener at Penn State, but the offense generated just three points in defeat, its lowest output since a 31-6 loss at Purdue in '07. Then, after wins over Northwestern and Indiana, the Hawkeyes dropped the ball at Minnesota, losing 22-21 after the Gophers stole the fourth quarter with a brilliantly executed onside kick.

The last four games went win, loss, win and then Friday's punchless effort in Lincoln.

"You can do that in any game," quarterback James Vandenberg said of missed chances in games. "If you go 11-1, I think all those 11-1 teams would look at it and do the same thing.

"You've got to live with what happens and it's all about moving forward. It's how you respond. There's nothing we can change about any throw, any run, any turnover we've had all year. We know that and we're going to push forward."

The one theme that has run through Iowa's five losses is a porous rush defense. Nebraska became the third team this season to top 200 yards against the Hawkeyes, the most 200-yard games against Iowa in the last five seasons. In its five defeats, Iowa has allowed an average of 196 rushing yards on 47.8 attempts.

The Huskers rushed 61 times, put together three scoring drives of 80-plus yards and controlled the game behind I-back Rex Burkhead's record 38-carry performance for 160 yards.

"That's as old as time," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "If they rush well and you don't, you better get some turnovers and they played a perfect game that way."

That's getting beat physically. That's blame that can be spread around a program. And that's as frustrating as it gets for players, coaches and fans.

"When they keep running the ball and running the ball and get that many yards, it kind of drives you nuts," linebacker Tyler Nielsen said.

So, given those numbers, when assessment begins, it should start with a look at the front seven, where Iowa will say goodbye to seniors Nielsen, ends Broderick Binns and Lebron Daniel and tackles Mike Daniels and Tom Nardo.

This begins with a team meeting Tuesday, but bowl preparation with be with one eye on whichever bowl opponent the Hawkeyes draw and fixing this.