As Iowa offense continues to struggle, Kirk Ferentz seemingly out of answers

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A group of fans walking around Ohio Stadium Saturday wore matching “Spencer Petras for Heisman” shirts, complete with art of the Iowa quarterback in the famous Heisman pose.

But what those fans then saw inside Ohio Stadium from Iowa’s offense — from Petras and fellow quarterback Alex Padilla or anyone else on the offense — was essentially the opposite of Heisman-level play.

Petras was 6-for-14 with two interceptions and a fumble before putting on the red hat in the second half. Padilla was 5-for-10 with one interception. The offense as a whole averaged 2.7 yards per play.

While going up against No. 2 Ohio State can quickly expose any unit’s weaknesses, the Hawkeyes have been one of the least productive offenses in many categories throughout the season.

“I’ve noticed,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said when a reporter brought the latter part of that up to him.

Iowa has not scored an offensive touchdown since Oct. 1. Iowa’s offense has scored only seven touchdowns, and Iowa’s defense has outscored the offense three times through seven games.

When asked why the execution hasn’t been there and why improvement hasn’t happened, Ferentz “can’t give you an answer.”

“If I had that answer, you probably would have seen something today,” Ferentz said.

While other Big Ten teams have made midseason changes to their staffs, Kirk Ferentz will not entertain the idea of firing his son as offensive coordinator during the season.

“I've never done that in my career,” the 24th-year head coach said about midseason coordinator changes in general. “I don't plan on starting right now.”

Kirk Ferentz said Brian Ferentz being his son has “no bearing” on the evaluation of Iowa’s sixth-year offensive coordinator.

“The guys on our staff are guys, I think, that have demonstrated success,” Kirk Ferentz said. “They’re good people, and we’re going to keep pushing forward.”

As Iowa sticks to the status quo amid its offensive troubles, patience is increasingly wearing thin outside of the Hansen Football Performance Center.

The “Fire Brian Ferentz” poster held by a fan at Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show was far from the only sign of frustration from the Iowa football community.

Some former Iowa players from the Kirk Ferentz era publicly criticized the offensive decision-making under coordinator Brian Ferentz’s leadership during Saturday’s 54-10 loss.

“Brian Ferentz simply does not care about winning football games,” former starting linebacker Djimon Colbert said in a tweet.

“All the other QBs are Lt. Dans without new legs?” former starting offensive lineman Rafael Eubanks said in a tweet referencing the movie “Forrest Gump” as Petras continued to struggle in the first half.

Eubanks also had a thread of tweets Sunday morning in which he said he hopes Kirk Ferentz “either has the courage to step down or the courage to understand that, if he is willing to give a bit of mindset and evolve in very small ways, that Iowa will be better than we've ever experienced.”

“With an offense, we can compete with any program in the nation,” said Jaleel Johnson, a former Iowa and current NFL defensive lineman, in a tweet. “It’s just that offense bro.“

It’s unclear which quarterback will take the reins when Iowa plays Northwestern next week.

“I'm not so sure it's real fair to assess that whole thing right now,” Kirk Ferentz said Saturday. “We’ll go about that tomorrow.”

Ferentz’s past reluctance to change quarterbacks may have cost the Hawkeyes on one play in Saturday’s game. Padilla botched the exchange with center Logan Jones on his first snap of the day, and Ohio State recovered the fumble.

Ferentz opted against putting Padilla in earlier in the season, including when Iowa had a comfortable 27-0 lead against Nevada, so it was his first snap since last year’s Big Ten title game came in front of 104,848 opposing fans.

“I haven’t ever been in a game with Logan before, so there’s obviously some new stuff with that,” Padilla said, “and then a little bit of nerves and stuff like that entering a game like this.”

Looking ahead, Ferentz declined to say what factors he’ll value when determining who will be QB1 moving forward.

“Let’s talk about that Tuesday,” Ferentz said. “We’ll just watch the film, like we always do, and try to make a smart evaluation.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com