Worst Iowa football games in Ferentz Era: First 3 of 9

OK, we had a two-week whoop-de-do of the best Iowa football games in the coaching era of Kirk Ferentz. And is anything better in life than a whoop-de-do?

Trust me, there were a lot of games from which to choose the 10 best.

But what would good games be if they didn't have bad games to help them stand out? And what would a picture of how far the Iowa program has come under Ferentz be without knowing that it was a process with bumps? Incomplete, that's what.

(Plus, this begins a week of undated material here as I take a vacation to a place with no blogging facilities. No, it isn't Leavenworth. While I'm gone, my house will be occupied by vigilantes, tough guys who make Clint Eastwood look like Clint Black.)

I won't go into full-blown mode for each of my nine worst games (Bad doesn't deserve a Top 10). We'll take three at a time in spoon-sized bites, and in chronological order, not in order of badness.

Today is solely devoted to the first season, 1999. A 1-10 record. Some bad beatings.

1. Nebraska 42, Iowa 7  at Kinnick Stadium

This was Game No. 1 of the Ferentz era. Iowa had more punts (12) than pass completions (11).

"Their offensive line is young," Nebraska defensive lineman Kyle Vanden Bosch said. "They had a lot of trouble picking up some of our inside stunts.

"They'll only get better as they go along, but we have a lot of talent on defense. We make things happen."

"Brute force," is how Iowa quarterback Kyle McCann described the advantage the Huskers' 'D' had over the Hawks' 'O.'

"It did happen, it wasn't any fun, and we're gonna live on," Ferentz said. "We have to play with who we have. We're not making any alibis. We have to improve up front, and I expect we will."

2. Michigan State 49, Iowa 3  at East Lansing

Iowa had 107 yards. Michigan State had 511. Iowa had six first-downs.

"We don't have a (Jared) DeVries on the field, we don't have a (Tavian) Banks on the field, where you can wait for a great player to make a great play," said Iowa defensive end Anthony Herron, who, like DeVries and Banks, went on to play in the NFL. "We don't have those types of players right now, so all 11 people that are playing have to know what they have to do."

Iowa's Ladell Betts, who has spent almost a decade playing running back in the NFL, had 11 carries for 15 yards. Betts, by the way, will always be one of the best running backs ever to play for the Hawkeyes. I think if he had been in his college prime for Iowa in 2008, he would have matched what Shonn Greene did that season. Anyhow ...

"This is as down as it gets, I hope," Iowa quarterback Randy Reiners said. "After today, we have nowhere to go but up."

3. Wisconsin 41, Iowa 3 at Madison

Ron Dayne needed 99 yards to become the NCAA's all-time leading rusher. Everyone knew he would get it in this mismatch pitting the Big Ten's best team and the club that was winless in league play. Dayne was bottled up early, with five of his first six totes going for either one yard or two. That bugged the Camp Randall Stadium crowd.

But Dayne finished with 216 yards and immortality in Madison. A few weeks later, he was awarded the Heisman Trophy. A few weeks after that, his Badgers won the Rose Bowl.

"This wasn't Michigan State all over again," freshman linebacker Fred Barr said. "We hung in there and fought today. Nobody thought we'd do a thing, but we fought."

Barr would be one of the ones pushing around Big Ten lesser-lights three years later when Iowa ran the table in the Big Ten.

"Ran the table." That's what we call a cliche in my business.

Iowa still had one game left in '99. It was at home against Minnesota, and the Hawkeyes were competitive in a 25-21 loss. Things would not get as bad as 1-10 again.