Iowa football faces sour reality check after third shutout loss to ranked team in Citrus Bowl

ORLANDO — Several years from now, Jay Higgins will not be telling his future children about “what play we called” or what the offense or defense did (or didn’t do).

“We got two divisional rings,” the Iowa linebacker said after Monday’s Citrus Bowl loss, referencing the Hawkeyes’ 2021 and 2023 Big Ten West football titles. “We’ll tell the kids about that.”

In the shorter term, though, the Hawkeyes’ 35-0 loss to Tennessee left a salty taste in many fans’ mouths — perhaps even saltier than the Cheez-It snack that sponsored the game — and delivered a sour reality check after much talk about the 10-win season and Big Ten West title.

It was Iowa’s third game against a ranked opponent, and it was Iowa’s third shutout loss.

Ranked opponents outscored the Hawkeyes this season, 92-0. That is the worst scoring margin in the Big Ten West despite the division having a 1-16 record against ranked teams. (The one win was Minnesota’s controversial victory over Iowa when the Hawkeyes were No. 24 in the Associated Press Poll.)

Iowa’s losses to Penn State and Michigan were against teams that were undefeated at the time and finished the season in the top 10 of the final College Football Playoff rankings. The loss to Tennessee, on the contrary, was to a four-loss team ravaged by injuries, opt-outs and transfer portal departures.

Iowa still won 10 games — a feat that has happened in only seven of Kirk Ferentz’s 25 seasons at the helm — and did so with stellar defense and special teams play that often made up for subpar offensive production.

In Iowa’s 10 wins, the Hawkeyes allowed only 11.2 points per game while often working with a thin margin for error. Three of Iowa’s last four wins were decided by three or fewer points.

“We asked a lot from this defense this year, and I’m extremely proud,” Higgins said.

The defense thrived despite losing several starters from last year’s team, including four who are currently on NFL rosters.

“You lose a Jack Campbell,” Higgins said. “You lose a Lukas Van Ness. You lose a Riley Moss. You lose a Kaevon (Merriweather). I don't think there were too many people that really thought we were going to be a 10-win team.”

Iowa’s defense allowed 4.08 yards per play this season, marking the second consecutive season in which the Hawkeyes led the country in the statistic.

Iowa’s offense, on the other hand, ranked 130th nationally out of 130 non-reclassifying FBS teams with 3.94 yards gained per play.

It is the fewest yards gained per play in a season by a Power Five team in the last three seasons. (The last Power Five team to average fewer than four yards per play was the 2020 Kansas Jayhawks, who went 0-9.)

The margin for error for the Hawkeyes is about to get thinner as the Big Ten does away with divisions and adds four historically strong football programs.

Five of the top 10 teams in this year’s final CFP rankings will compete in the Big Ten next year (and be potential obstacles to a return to Indianapolis). Two of those teams — Washington and Ohio State — are on Iowa’s 2024 schedule.

Another of Iowa’s 2024 foes, UCLA, was in the top 10 of the AP Poll twice during the 2022 season.

“We have played some top teams, and we have been a top-10 team,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said after Monday’s loss. “So I think we know what it takes and what is required. … We have played at that level. We have played teams at that level. We have beaten teams at that level.”

Iowa, almost certainly, will need better offensive production to be victorious in those games than when it averaged 2.3 yards per play against Penn State or 2.8 yards per play against Michigan and Tennessee.

“We just got to get better, and we will,” Ferentz said. “That is the plan. We will start that work in about two weeks.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com