O'Keefe keeps the debate at a distance

IOWA CITY -- Ken O'Keefe walked the line of a man at the end and frustrated coach ready to dig in and fix.   

Of course, it's the "at the end" and "ready to dig" time of the year.   

The Hawkeyes (7-5) prepare for their Dec. 28 Insight Bowl matchup with Missouri (10-2). Iowa leaves tomorrow with simple quest ahead of it -- win game No. 8. Winning seemed so simple after Iowa drilled Michigan State 37-6 on Oct. 30, but Iowa is just 1-3 since and now plays for some sort of validation or sign in life in the desert.   

Since Oct. 30, Iowa's offense has averaged just 19 points a game. That only worked at Indiana, where a dropped pass let the Hawkeyes escape. During their three-game losing streak, the Hawkeyes missed touchdown opportunities in the red zone, looked discombobulated during two-minute drills and converted just 35 percent of third and fourth downs (14 of 40).   

And so, the blame the offensive coordinator game is in full swing.   

"It's a pretty old game," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I don't know. I've lost interest it. I'm sure Ken was a hero after the Michigan State game. I'm sure all of us were. It's been different since then. That's football."   

O'Keefe hears it. He said his mom hears it. His said his family has typed his name into the Google internet search engine a time or two.   

"I'm going to speak out of both sides of my mouth here," O'Keefe said. "Number one, I really think you need to stay on top of that stuff as best you can.   

"Number two, I never pay attention to any of it because I'm not a public relations guy, I'm a football coach. I don't need to be worried about my public relations. We need to be worried about making the next first down, finding a way for the team to get better offensively. Getting in that end zone, being better in the red zone, whatever it may be that particular week, go back at that, and not worry about everybody's opinion, including mom's." 

Without getting too specific, O'Keefe butted up against a few specifics on why the offense averaged just 19 points a game in November. Red zone (Iowa missed out on at least one TD in each of the last three games) and two-minute drill were front and center.  

"We made enough plays at certain points, but not enough in the end to get it done," O'Keefe said. "We certainly weren't very good in two-minute drills, by any means. As much as we tried to change it up, something always got in our way.  

"We always talk about, in every successful two-minute drive, you're going to face some adversity along the line. It could be a sack. It could be significant. You've got to just work through it like it never happened and overcome it and keep on marching. We never were able to do that."   

The tenor of Iowa's offense changed this season, largely because of running back. The Hawkeyes were down to Adam Robinson most of the season, so Iowa's passing attack had to go more vertical. If that didn't hit and if the Hawkeyes had a negative play, suddenly it was third-and-14 with a ton of pressure going toward quarterback Ricky Stanzi and Iowa's receivers.  

"This year more than ever we've taken a lot of shots down the field," O'Keefe said. "If it's working, it's great, you can get a big lead. In some of those other situations we talked about, the games we had at the end of the year, we didn't hit those shots down the field so it took us a longer time to get going. We had to do it the old-fashioned way with a drive or whatever it may be.  

"I think this year more than ever we took shots. We went into every game wanting to do that. I think the last two years especially. That's kind of who we are. But you've got to make those, otherwise it's second-and-10. That means it could be third-and-10. . . . It all factors in. But you just keep going at it, working for the next play is what you do." 

Right out of the chute this offseason, O'Keefe's name came up with the Indiana opening. Earlier this month, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson took the job. 

There was never a "no," but the general point of his answer was that he's happy where he is. 

"I think naturally that stuff will take care of itself if it happens or it doesn't happen," said O'Keefe, 57. "I think the guys that stay focused on trying to do the best job at the job they're at right now are the ones that end up being successful at what they're doing. That's really all we've tried to do, all I've ever tried to do here. 

At one point, yeah, I think I had been a head coach for 16 years. It's been so long now that I barely remember what it was like at this stage. That part of it, I was going to make some snide comment about calling plays off the Internet or whatever. But time flies. It's been 12 fast years. 

"A lot of that stuff doesn't even compute at this stage." 

What does compute is the "noise" coming in. O'Keefe acknowledged that he's heard it, or at least his mother and family have. It's an old game, blame the coordinator, but it's not going anywhere. 

 O'Keefe seems to be OK with it. Seems to be. 

"I'm not worried about the love factor, but I know it's tough on the quarterback because he's doing everything he can," O'Keefe said. "Those are tough situations to be in. We're counting on him to make all the correct decisions out there all the time. 

"I don't care if you're a coach or the quarterback, you're always wishing you had a few things back a lot of times. Even when you're winning games, you look at things, We could have done this or that different, wish we did this or that. 

"But you're not saying it the same way as when you lose a ballgame. It certainly feels a lot differently in those situations because it's just kind of how the whole thing is."