Hlas column - Ferentz: Can't let one loss beat you twice

IOWA CITY -- As enduring in the memory as his three Big Ten titles and folksy sayings are Hayden Fry's set-your-calendar-by-it press conference blowups.

Ninety percent of the time -- he is now the first to admit it  -- Fry would latch onto something the mean old media said, and act angry and hurt at his Tuesday press gathering. It diverted attention from his players when the team was struggling.

It often made for lively theater. Fry laughs about it now, the ways he puts his psychology degree from Baylor to work.

Coaches react in different ways after disappointing and, yes, heartbreaking losses. Fry's successor as the Iowa football head coach, Kirk Ferentz, wasn't atop many media pedestals after Iowa's 31-30 loss to Wisconsin.

Wrote Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger: The next time the words “Kirk Ferentz” and “genius” enter a conversation, there better be someone with a Mensa card in the room. The lofty reputation of Iowa's head coach took a major hit in Saturday's 31-30 home loss to Wisconsin because of the way he and his team butchered the end-game time management, with the clock expiring before they could even attempt a winning field goal.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel: *Kirk Ferentz shouldn't take lessons from Les Miles. The Iowa coach chose to use his team's final timeout instead of running a play with the Hawkeyes trailing by a point and in position to kick a game-winning field goal. On the next play, Iowa's Adam Robinson couldn't get out of bounds and Wisconsin won 31-30. The 55-year-old coach said he intended to use the timeout all along. "We wanted to burn the timeout and just go from there. I guess we could have gone the other way. Might have saved us 2 seconds," Ferentz said.

ABC's game announcers, Sean McDonough and Matt Millen, didn't second-guess Ferentz. They first-guessed him for not having quarterback Ricky Stanzi spike the ball with 12 seconds left instead of calling Iowa's final timeout from the Wisconsin 39. It was strong, fair commentary.

After Saturday's game, Ferentz offered a weak explanation for using a timeout instead of spiking the ball following Stanzi's 3-yard sneak for a first down. Three days later, he did  the smartest thing he could do. Rather than try to defend strategy that seemed indefensible to many, he shouldered the blame for it.

"In retrospect, I wish we had clocked it quite frankly," Ferentz said. "... For whatever (reason), the sneak took one second, I'm not so sure that happened. We thought the clock was going to be down under 10 ... after the sneak. That was kind of our thinking.

"Retrospect, I wish I had done it over, could do over. I can't. So, live with it. Cost us one play."

What would have happened had Iowa used those 12 seconds better than it did, who knows? You still have to gain a chunk of yards and probably have freshman walk-on Michael Meyer kick his longest college field goal. Had Iowa bottled a Wisconsin fake punt on the Badgers' final drive, time-management wouldn't have been a postgame topic.

With 6:24 left and the Hawkeyes ahead 30-24, Wisconsin had a 4th-and-4 at its 26. It then executed perhaps the most-haunting fake punt in Iowa football history, as punter Brad Nortman chugged 17 yards untouched. The Badgers used 11 more plays to get the touchdown and PAT for the game-deciding points.

It sure looked like a fake wasn't viewed as a possibility to any Hawkeye player or coach.

"Had we gone punt safe," Ferentz said Tuesday, "it would not have been an issue. Put it down, we blew that one. That's my job."

The coach's eyes were a little wider than usual when he was asked about those fateful moments. Nobody likes to be reminded of errors, especially those seen and reviewed by so many.

But his answers were forward-thinking. You make excuses or a loud defense for last Saturday's mistakes, you take focus from this week's task. Which merely is beating 8-0, fifth-ranked Michigan State.

"That old thing about you can't let one loss beat you twice, it's so true," Ferentz said. "You just can't dwell on those things. You feel sick about it in the out-of-season. You go back and reflect and say 'Ouch!' But you can't do that right now. That's what Saturday night is for, through the night and all that. On Sunday you can mope, but you've got to move on."

Iowa lost by a field goal at Illinois in November 2008, but beat No. 3 Penn State the following week. The Hawkeyes had a spirit-crushing home loss to Northwestern last year and were expected to get plastered at Ohio State the following week with freshman quarterback James Vandenberg making his first start. They pushed the Buckeyes to overtime before falling.

"We were there last year," said Ferentz. "We have been there every year. We have not gone through a season undefeated. And unless you can do that, then that's part of the terrain that you have to deal with. And if you can't deal with it, you're not going to be successful."

It's very difficult, yet it's just that simple. You've got to move on.