Doc's No. 4 -- 2009 vs. Ohio State

This post coincides with a series on Kirk Ferentz's top 10 games during his Iowa tenure. Mike Hlas and Marc Morehouse also blog on this topic.

Of the many on-edge games of the 2009 regular season, the overtime loss at Ohio State to me captures the best of a Kirk Ferentz coached team.

Iowa's 13-game winning streak ended one week earlier with a loss to Northwestern, and quarterback Rick Stanzi suffered a regular season-ending ankle injury in the same game. Iowa bounced back in the Big Ten's most intimidating environment with a freshman quarterback and a freshman running back returning from an ankle injury.

The team was completely prepared and of single focus. Iowa battled Ohio State on each possession. When the Hawkeyes fell behind by 14 points in the fourth quarter, Iowa rallied for a special teams touchdown and a last-minute touchdown drive to send the game into overtime. Ohio State won the game and the Big Ten title on an overtime field goal.

It's easy to point fingers in the game -- a couple of dropped passes, a missed chip-shot field goal and conservative late-game play-calling. In hindsight, you should appreciate how prepared Iowa was when nobody would have shrugged had Ohio State blown out the Hawkeyes that day.