Tuesday talk

-- DJK: Clarification on Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. Last Saturday's sit for the first half was practice/tardiness related. He didn't play a down in the first half of last week's 24-21 victory over Arkansas State. He caught the one pass thrown his way for 27 yards.

Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday that he's not concerned and everything is good. Just a couple little details, that's all.

"I think he's going to be fine," Ferentz said. "We've got a lot of confidence in him. He had a bump or two in the road last week, but he'll be fine."

I asked if DJK was a player who simply needed a wake-up call here and there.

"I don't know if it's a wakeup call," Ferentz said. "He might slip on a banana peel every now and then, but he's worked hard. He's had a good spring and a good camp. Talking about the websites and the fan perceptions, it sounds like everybody's got this thing about a doghouse.

"I remember Earl Weaver, he didn't have doghouses for players. A guy might get on my list for a while, but I'm not big on all that stuff. I'm all for helping guys improve, that's the business we're supposed to be in, teaching guys how to improve and do things. I think he's going to have a good season and we really feel good about him."

DJK is as close as Iowa has to a go-to receiver. He was a gametime decision against Iowa State, but caught three passes for 39 yards, including a very nice TD grab that he gathered in before hitting the deck hard. Against Penn State, he caught three passes for 50 yards. DJK missed Arizona because of the hamstring.

-- Real life offer: Hey remember this. It's from UM quarterback Tate Forcier's website, which you can view here. I wrote about this May 13, 2008.

Ferentz didn't remember this offer. Maybe he was being coy.

"We send a lot of letters out, I know that," Ferentz said. "Someone in our office probably looked at him and said, 'This guy is good.' At least, I hope they did."

Under Ferentz, Iowa has had less than a handful of players from California, Forcier's home state. Fullback Edgar Cervantes and WR Ramon Ochoa were the most prominent. Since Chuck Long, who played with the L.A. Rams, Iowa hasn't stepped foot in California for recruiting.

-- Mo a go: TE Tony Moeaki's high-ankle sprain will get a full-go test today. He's missed the last three games with the sprain that happened at Iowa State. He's warmed up the last two weeks, but hasn't seen the field. He's done some individual work during practice, but no group drills where someone might fall on him. "It's been weak and sore and you don't want to run that risk," Ferentz said.

But no red jersey for Tuesday and Saturday. The plan is to play him this week.

"We'll be smart about where he's at, where we'll put him," Ferentz said. "Our plan is to play him. So, unless something blows up on us this week, our plan is to play him."

Moeaki has 11 catches for 87 yards and a TD this year. Ten of his 11 catches came in the opener against UNI, when he was healthy. He's now missed 15 games in his career.

-- Black or Gold rush, coach: Ferentz was asked which one he prefers.

"I like them both; I'm good either way," Ferentz said. "Flip a coin on that one, but I just hope everybody jumps in with the spirit of things and that would be great. It will be a great environment. That's one thing, it's like we talked about going over to Penn State, we knew that was going to be a great environment, and this should be a great environment, too. And playing night games adds to the environment, there is no doubt about that. It will be nice to be on the home side this time, and we can hopefully make it work to our advantage."

-- On O-line: Well, looking at the quote now, I asked about O-line, Ferentz said offense. Either way, regressed.

"Our offense? I thought we regressed, quite honestly, not so much an effort thing but we had a lot of loose ends and it probably showed up on the scoreboard."

-- Thumbs up: LB Pat Angerer showed us his right thumb, the one with the torn ligament. It looked OK.

"It's good, it's fine, no big deal," Angerer said. "I'm good. I think I'll be back for one of these games."

-- Frank assessment: OK, you think you were being hard on the running game and O-line's performance against Arkansas State? You've got a long way to go to catch OL Bryan Bulaga, who, by the way, is just fine after playing his first game in four weeks because of a thyroid illness.

"It was ugly for the most part," he said. "We didn't do many things right the entire time. There were some good things, but there was a lot of bad, things we need to clean up."

He didn't think it was continuity, but more mental mistakes that he believes they can fix.

-- Working out the jitters: Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi is coming out of the lockerroom before warmups with an eye toward prefecting the throws he might make during a game. It might also be to work out some of the nervous energy that has shown up in the first half of games. Hey, give the guy credit for trying something new. He started doing this before Arizona.

"I wanted to get some of the throws out of the way that I'd be making in a game, so it wouldn't be the first time I'm making that pass in a game," Stanzi said. "You're kind of warmed up to it and you're more in the flow earlier."

-- No website for ARob: This is the "Website Bowl." Forcier has one still humming. Iowa freshman RB Brandon Wegher let "Wegher Football" expire. (Wrote about it here, with a link.)

Redshirt freshman running back Adam Robinson never saw Wegher's site and hasn't seen Forcier's. And no, he's not planning one for himself.

"I don't (think about it), and I'm not sure anyone else does," Robinson said. "I wouldn't put one together for myself, but I know some fans might put together sites for their favorite players." 

Coach Ferentz - 10 06 09 (2)