Iowa’s offense won’t play in Peoria, or Champaign, or anywhere

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras had a nice 16-yard run on third-and-2 from his team’s 10-yard line late in the third quarter of a 6-6 game, then things got weird.

Illinois safety Sydney Brown was called for a targeting penalty that was changed to a late-hit. It was negated by two unsportsmanlike conduct calls against Iowa. The officials said one was on tight end Luke Lachey and the other on an unidentified Hawkeye coach.

When reporters asked Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz who the coach was after the Hawkeyes’ 9-6 loss to the Illini at Memorial Stadium, he wouldn’t supply the answer. Penalized players are identified on the public-address.

Asked how his offense got to this point, in which it can’t score a touchdown or top 221 yards at Illinois, in which it has four touchdowns in four games against Power Five conference teams this year, in which it has scored in single-digits six times since it beat Penn State at midseason in 2021?

Got to play better, got to keep working, keep pushing. And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby.

This is football, not string theory. There’s never been a No. 131 offense at midseason that was the greatest show on turf by Thanksgiving. This team has slid back into 131st and last in the nation in total offense. It isn’t a one-off. The Hawkeyes were 120th last season when they won 10 games.

Sensational defense and special teams hung that “10.” The defense is sensational again this year, the punter is again sensational, and the Hawkeyes are lucky to be 3-3.

Iowa has its built-in goodwill with fans under Ferentz, and should. Put this offense in a pro city, and it wouldn’t matter if you were a combination of Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. People would say it’s broken and changes are needed. Yesterday.

What they wouldn’t do in those places is accept the kind of offense Iowa has had for much of the last two years under Brian Ferentz, the offensive coordinator.

They also wouldn’t accept these replies:

“We won 10 games last year. … We’ve won a lot of games since 2015.”

“I thought (former Iowa OC) Greg Davis was good in ’14, he got killed. We ended up having a pretty good year the next year. … We’ve had pretty good coordinators now in my opinion, and we’ve got to play better.”

This isn’t a Petras thing. It isn’t a players thing. They haven’t quit on their coaches and they won’t.

You’ve heard the football phrase “It’s not the X’s and O’s, it’s the Johnnys and Joes.” It’s actually both, and the coaches are responsible for both. If there’s a talent drop-off because of too many recruiting whiffs a few years ago, that’s on the coaches.

Let’s not shrug off all the good times, some that were very recent. Many has been the season when Ferentz and his assistants got enough out of ordinary offenses to create memorable wins and years.

But this season is an injustice to Iowa’s defense, which has played well enough to be 5-1 instead of 3-3, no two ways about it. This defense is third in the nation in fewest points allowed per game, and punter Tory Taylor is a cult figure in Iowa for his game-changing excellence.

You knock out the opponent’s starting quarterback to greatly reduce its chances of winning, you force three turnovers including a Quinn Schulte pick at the 1-yard line like Iowa’s defense did Saturday? You have to win.

You keep a team out of the end zone in its own stadium, hold it to 9 points? You’re a major-college program. You have to win.

It’s all just different words each week to keep describing the same thing.

Such as: In the last calendar year, Iowa has a 7 against Purdue, a 7 against Wisconsin, a 3 against Michigan, a 7 (with two safeties) against South Dakota State, a 7 against Iowa State, and a 6 against Illinois.

Five years ago, Iowa’s offense under Brian Ferentz racked up 55 points and 487 yards against Ohio State. It was an absolute masterpiece of preparation and play-calling from him, his Mona Lisa.

In Iowa’s next game, it plays the Buckeyes for the first time since that November day in 2017. Can you imagine the Hawkeyes approaching 55 points in Columbus? Or 44 … 33 … 22 …?

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com