So, there's a FireKirkFerentz blog somewhere . . .

Saw that during the live blog we had going during the game.

Oh, here it is: http://firekirkferentznow.blogspot.com/

Pretty fancy. Anonymity makes people really mean. It's sad, but I'm not admonishing. It's a free world, Kirk Ferentz is a public figure and his football team isn't winning. The vocal minority beats down the silent majority. It's just a toothless website, giving vehicle to what a lot of you are saying anyway.

Anyways, offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe was requested for interviews after the game. He didn't accept. That's his call. He'd be walking into a buzzsaw. He'd be asked to defend his playcalling and his only defense would be -- following Ferentz's lead -- to say his team isn't executing, which is coach shorthand for putting the failure at the players' feet.

 Clearly, QB is a problem. Ricky Stanzi moves the team, but doesn't finish. Jake Christensen didn't move the team, but didn't turn the ball over. It was a hole in Iowa's recruiting and now they're living with it.

The defense has lapses and doesn't put enough pressure on the QB, but this is a unit capable of the heroic any given series. Holding MSU to a field goal after being on the field for 7:32 the series before and then marching right back out after Stanzi's second fumble, that was a brilliant effort, lost in the swirl.

Iowa has a future NFLer in Greene. When? That's the next question. Here's an excerpt from the story I wrote for Saturday's paper, quoting the NFL Network's Mike Mayock, the networks main draft guy.

________________________

So there's no NFL book on Greene, at least not yet, but his size and skill set - 5-foot-11 and 235 pounds with quick feet and good speed - are what a lot of NFL teams covet, Mayock said. Most running backs come in the 5-9, 210-pound range. The 225-pounders-and-up are a scarce commodity.

"If you get a bigger guy who can push the pile and who has quick feet and has demonstrated an ability to carry a heavy load," Mayock said, "then you have somebody who's going to catch some attention."

_____________________________

I'm running on fumes. I just wanted to get some thoughts out.

This is a great running team that is great at stopping the run. Everything else is hit and miss. It doesn't have enough trusty playmakers. The secondary is prone to the big play. And special teams are flaky.

The playcalling? It all goes together, doesn't it?

(Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Michigan State's Chris Rucker celebrates after stopping Iowa's Derrell Johnson-Koulianos short on fourth down, giving the ball back to the Spartans during the fourth quarter Saturday in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won, 16-13.