Monday Hawkeyes Reading Room -- Ferentz under fire

With 52 seconds left of a tie game at Ohio State, Iowa went conservative and played for overtime, which it lost.

America responded. My feelings on the subject are documented in the previous post here. But there's no right or wrong here (in my mind), so let's hear from some who think Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz did his team wrong, not right.

From Jason King, who covered the game here for Yahoo Sports.

Even more embarrassing was the decision by Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz on the Hawkeyes' ensuing possession. Iowa had the ball on its own 33-yard line with 52 seconds remaining. A few quick 10- or 20-yard passes from red-hot quarterback James Vandenberg and the Hawkeyes would've been in range for a game-winning field goal.

Instead, inexcusably, Ferentz ran out the clock. Rather than try to win the game, he played for overtime. What message does that send a player?

Darren Everson of the Wall Street Journal asked who would have guessed Ohio State would have finished off this season better than USC. He also posed this here:

Iowa's hesitance to go for the kill recalled the 2005 Ohio State-Michigan game, in which the Wolverines held a two-point lead and a 4th-and-4 at the Buckeyes' 35 with under five minutes remaining. Instead of going for it and potentially putting the game out of reach, former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr opted to punt and his team picked up 23 yards of field position. Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith promptly led the Buckeyes down the field for the winning score.

Dan Borst of Foxsports.com was one of several writers nationwide who was as critical of Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel's conservative play-calling down-stretch as Ferentz's. Borst wrote:

Say what you will about their shootouts, but Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State, and Arizona all play exciting and eventful football. And they always play to win.

That's how it works in an exciting conference like the Pac-10, which is coming down to a race as epic as Stanford's double-nickel at the L.A. Coliseum. . . .

But in the Big Ten, it's not like that. In the Big Ten, they go out there and "not lose one for the Gipper." Given the option, Jim Tressel would have fast-forwarded to penalty kicks. In Saturday's Big Ten championship showdown, Tressel and the Buckeyes did not lose better than the Iowa Hawkeyes did not lose.

But when the score was tied and the Hawkeyes were 35 yards from a championship-winning field goal attempt, Kirk Ferentz decided to go Tressel one better.

He was on the road, his team was a three-touchdown underdog, his quarterback had completed five consecutive passes for 61 yards to tie the score on their previous possession, yet Ferentz decided to not try to use the last minute of the game to try to win. Instead, he declared, we'll go into overtime and start over.

Jon Miller of Hawkeyenation.com makes it sound here like he thinks Ferentz would have been more aggressive had Ricky Stanzi quarterbacked that final Iowa possession of the fourth quarter.

(Vandenberg) still must get a better feel for intermediate range passes over the middle against zone coverage, but that only comes with time and film study.  It's one of the hardest throws for a young quarterback to learn how to make. Rick Stanzi has threaded that needle several times to his tight ends; loft the ball enough to get it over the heads of the dropping linebackers yet don't throw it far enough to where the safety help can get to it.  . . .

James had two such throws picked off underneath in this game, but only one that counted.  The other was a pick six that was wiped off by an offsides penalty.  He also had a pick on a throw that was too high on the back end that bounced off Tony Moeaki's hands.  He has four interceptions in two games and three of those four are in the intermediate middle area that I am talking about.  You can mentally add another pick that was wiped away underneath, and toss in another close one on Moeaki's miracle catch on Iowa's second to last possession in regulation that was thrown into triple coverage and should have been picked off. . . . JVB is not ready to attack in that situation given that the best way to matriculate the ball down the field is underneath like Rick Stanzi did against Michigan State.

Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer has perhaps the most level-headed response taking both sides of the coin into consideration in his Buckeye Blog.

Kirk Ferentz being worried about a turnover with a freshman quarterback there makes more sense to me. However, Iowa should have been playing with a nothing-to-lose attitude and taken at least one shot down the field. The fear there is a pick six or an interception return to set up a field goal. But an interception on a deep ball that's more like a punt probably isn't going to do you in.

And because this is getting monotonous, we'll finish this corner of the Reading Room with Gregg Doyel of CBSsports.com, who found Ohio State particularly odious Saturday.

Suggestion for the Big Ten banner: a white flag.

Because both teams -- but most egregiously Ohio State -- quit.

And I'll give a pass to Iowa for quitting late in regulation, although that's exactly what the Hawkeyes did. They had the ball at their 33 with 52 seconds and two timeouts left, and they were on the road, and they had a kicker who already had missed a 22-yard field goal and therefore was no sure thing to make a kick in overtime -- and still they didn't try to win in regulation. On first down Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz called a run up the middle, and when it went nowhere, he chose to run out the clock.

Disgusting, in most circumstances -- but again, I'll give Iowa a pass here. The Hawkeyes had come too far, rallying from a 24-10 deficit in the final 11 minutes, to risk a loss in regulation, especially with previously reliable fill-in quarterback James Vandenberg channeling his erratic inner Ricky Stanzi in the fourth quarter. After playing so solidly for three quarters, Vandenberg couldn't be trusted by his coaches, not even to move the team 35 or 40 yards to get Iowa into possible field-goal range. Iowa quit late in regulation, but I'm not offended by it.

Ohio State quit, and I'm disgusted by it.

Lesmerises gave grades after the Iowa-OSU game, and the Hawkeyes got the best one he gave.

B+ - Iowa

You need to win to earn an A, but that was one of the best losses a team could ask for. By adding to their comeback reputation, the Hawkeyes kept themselves in the hunt for an at-large BCS bid.

B - Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor

Just like last week, Pryor, for the most part, wasn't asked to win the game, just not to lose it. Against Penn State, he at least had a few shots at the big play, hitting DeVier Posey for that game-changing 62-yard touchdown.

C+ - Ohio State's defense

The Buckeyes got some pressure, but sacked Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg just once. Giving up a 70-yard, eight-play, game-tying drive in the final six minutes? That was reminiscent of the Navy and USC games early in the year, when Ohio State couldn't make a stop at the end.

But those late-game breakdowns is what might keep the 2009 Ohio State defense from being remembered as a truly, truly dominant group. Of course, the overtime, when the Buckeyes pushed the Hawkeyes back 16 yards on their three offensive plays, made up for a lot.

C- - The Michigan game

With the Rose Bowl already in hand, the Michigan game might have an odd feel for the Buckeyes. Of course, Ohio State would love to make Jim Tressel 8-1 in that game. And send Rich Rodriguez to a second straight losing season. And keep Michigan out of a bowl game.

Ohio State didn't exactly wow Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated. He wrote:

Do you like third and 9 handoffs? Dumpoffs to the fullback? Punting? Get used to it. The Buckeyes are back in the BCS -- and unless someone else in this conference cares to rise up, they'll probably be returning for the foreseeable future.

Ray Stein of the Columbus Dispatch sent Iowa home with some flattering words.

Herky Hawkeye is all heart, and it would have been hard to grouse if Iowa had taken its valiant comeback all the way to Pasadena. Pinch-hit QB James Vandenberg was expected to crash like the Hindenburg, but he kept Iowa in it with his clutch throws. Says here you could find worse BCS at-large teams.

Tom Kakert does a great job running HawkeyeReport.com. The natives were restless on Tom's site Sunday night after Iowa's men's basketball team lost to Texas-San Antonio, 62-50, in the Hawkeyes' season-opener.

Some of the threads on HR's basketball forum Sunday night were entitled:

This may have been the worst performance I've ever seen

My worst nighmare has come true

Well folks who do we want as our new basketball coach?

Why waste the money on practice facility

Keep your heads up guys

I wondered how the last one snuck in there, so I opened it up. Some pretty good sarcasm.

Iowa's football loss may be just as bad for Todd Lickliter as Ferentz. Had the Hawkeyes won Saturday, Iowa fans would have felt way too good to stew over a basketball loss to the Roadrunners of the Southland Conference.

OK, some bowl projections:

At ESPN.com, Tim Griffin has Iowa State in the Independence Bowl and Adam Rittenberg puts Iowa in the Fiesta Bowl. Click here to see all the ESPN.com college football bloggers' picks.

Iowa-Boise State in the Fiesta has gained a lot of momentum with forecasters in the last day. CBSsports.com says that will be the matchup in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 4. It also has Iowa State in the Independence Bowl, against Arkansas.

But Dennis Dodd of that same Web site is going with Penn State against Boise State in the Fiesta. If the Nittany Lions win at Penn State, that is. Says Dodd:

Penn State is always a good bowl draw, especially in the desert. Who knows, this might be JoePa's last bowl game? The Nits still have some work to be done. It came into Sunday 19th in the BCS and still needs to win a season finale at Michigan State. Boise State is almost locked in here because it's not a good fit east of Glendale.

My take on all this: Nobody knows anything.