Hlas column: It's been a failed 2-minute drill of a season for the Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - The “might-have-beens” are fading into the late November twilight, to be replaced by the “what-was” in the cold of the coming off-season.

Iowa's football team doesn't get to stew about coulda or woulda or shoulda. Not with four close losses that are so similar in key ways they might as well be quadruplets.

The Hawkeyes now surely know they aren't a group that can claim membership among Iowa's all-time best, or even better, teams. A fairly imposing collection of talented veteran players, yes. A team that knew how to stand up in fourth-quarter moments of truth? You know the answer to that.

Ohio State's 20-17 win over the Hawkeyes Saturday at Kinnick Stadium was a fine football game, terrific theater, and two very skilled teams. It was a thin line that separated winning from losing and losing from winning.

But that narrow difference was wider than just OSU's Devin Barclay making both of his field goal tries while Mike Meyer missed a 40-yarder for Iowa.

Hawkeyes Coach Kirk Ferentz didn't mince words about special teams after the game, saying “We're just not getting much out of our kicking game. ... I'm not sure what we're getting out of our kicking game right now to be able to win in a game like this.”

OK, true, but his defense and offense keep cranking out reruns of fourth-quarters no Iowa fans wanted to see over and over.

The defense ... couldn't stop a long drive late in the game ... etc., etc., etc.

The offense ... couldn't put things together in a two-minute offense ... yadda, yadda, yadda.

In the end, though, it was Ohio State. Iowa competing against the Buckeyes isn't quite a mom-and-pop store trying to outsell Walmart, but there are reasons the Buckeyes are a win over Michigan from their sixth-straight Big Ten title. There are reasons why when people name the select few truly elite programs in the nation, Ohio State is always listed without hesitation.

One such reason always has and always will be recruiting. When Saturday's game was truly on the line and things looked bleak for the Buckeyes, who picked it up and ran with it?

That was quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who would have been a six-star recruit as a Pennsylvania prep if the recruiting gurus didn't cap the stars-limit at five.

On 4th-and-10 from the 50-yard line in a do-or-probably-die drive for OSU, Pryor left the prearranged play and Hawkeye defenders behind. He used his freakish quickness for a 233-pounder to dart for 14 yards and keep hope alive.

When Pryor made that play - it may not be hyperbole to call it a career-definer - the die was cast. A 22-yard pass from Pryor to Dane Sanzenbacher then set up the 1-yard Dan Herron go-ahead touchdown run with 1:47 left.

Hey, 1:47, two timeouts to use - the Hawkeyes had time to land a winning counterpunch. When Paul Chaney Jr. brought the kickoff out to the Iowa 36, it wasn't as if Ricky Stanzi and company had 45, 50 yards to go to get in reasonable field goal range, 64 yards for a winning TD.

But Iowa in the two-minute offense isn't exactly the New England - sorry, Ricky - Patriots.

Ohio State never really recruited Ohioan Stanzi. The player has done a lot to wrap his arms around in the last three seasons. An unprecedented three wins as a starting QB against Joe Paterno's Penn State clubs. Wins in Madison and Ann Arbor. The last-second slant to Marvin McNutt at Michigan State. The resounding victories in the Outback and Orange bowls.

But Stanzi couldn't undo the damage Pryor did, just like he wasn't able to engineer late-game magic in losses to Wisconsin or Northwestern.

On Iowa's first play of its last drive, a short Stanzi pass got running back Adam Robinson pulverized by OSU defensive back Jermale Hines.

“I feel bad I led him into that hit,” Stanzi said. “I never want to do that as a quarterback. It kind of knocked him out with my stupid throw.”

His second-down pass was thrown behind Paul Chaney, then he got blindsided for an 11-yard sack on the next play.

On fourth-and-21, Stanzi-to-McNutt got 19 yards.

Zippo when their backs were against the wall. That's the story of the 2010 season.

“We had a good setup. We had plenty of time. But I couldn't execute and I let the offense down by not making throws that I could have made and moved the chains and got us in good field position. We had a great kick return and kind of blew it there.

“You've got to be able to make plays in the two-minute,” said Stanzi. “There's no excuses. I didn't do that. I've got to definitely improve in that area.”

Stanzi intentionally took too much of the blame. This is a team deal all the way, from the special teams to the defense to his offensive teammates to his coaches.

But we saw Nick Foles close the deal for Arizona in Tucson. We saw Scott Tolzien make huge plays down the stretch here for Wisconsin. We saw Northwestern's Dan Persa cut out the Hawkeyes' hearts in Evanston. And we saw Pryor stomp on them on Saturday.

Oh, the irony. Stanzi would have been known as Mr. Interception last year had he not been even better-known as Mr. Fourth Quarter. This year, he has 23 TD passes and a measly four picks.

But crunch time has belonged to someone else this year. Everyone else but the Hawkeyes, it seems.