Hawkeyes unhappy with road trip woes

IOWA CITY -- While Tony Ramos walked in Iowa City an University of Iowa  fan expressed his concern about recent results.

The Hawkeyes have dropped in the polls after getting swept by Ohio State and Penn State in dual competition last weekend. They suffered lopsided losses, winning only three matches in each dual.

"Someone said to me the other day, if you guys keep losing like that I'm going to have to give my season tickets up," the sophomore 133-pounder said. "That's not something you like hearing so you definitely need to get back out there and right the wrong and we'll have to do that against Minnesota."

Iowa's struggles last weekend have been a far cry from the previous five seasons under head coach Tom Brands. The sixth-ranked Hawkeyes plan to look forward and work to avoid any repeat performances as they try to avoid three straight losses when they host No. 3 Minnesota on Sunday, starting at three p.m.

Sunday's loss to top-ranked Penn State was the first time in Brands' tenure as head coach the Hawkeyes (9-3, 4-2 Big Ten) have lost consecutive duals and first since losing three straight in 2006. Although a rarity, every Iowa coach except E.G. Schroeder (1910-15, 1920-21)  has lost back-to-back duals. Brands' assessment of the situation Tuesday, when he met with reporters at the Dan Gable Wrestling Complex in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, was the same as when it happened.

"It wasn't good," Brands said. "The best way to describe it is that this program hasn't been there in awhile and the feelings that go with that, you don't want to feel that way."

Ohio State, which was ranked fifth, led almost the entire dual, winning five straight matches, and claimed its first victory over Iowa since 1966 and third all-time. Penn State rifled off seven straight wins to close the meet after Iowa jumped to a 12-0 advantage.

"It's probably something that's going to be hard to put behind you, but you just try to use it as motivation and give you a beacon of where you're at," Iowa junior Grant Gambrall said. "Obviously, there's a lot of work to do."

In the span of three weeks, Iowa has seen its record of 84 straight duals without a loss snapped and a string of 50 consecutive road wins and 39 in a row against Big Ten foes end. Gambrall wrestled near the end of both duals, and watched the surprising events unfold.

"I knew where we were at as a team and it's definitely not a place we've been often since I've been here," Gambrall said. "It was definitely a little weird."

Brands said the wrestlers lacked the proper approach to taking the mat and stemming the tide.

"Your head isn't right when your teammates are going down like flies in front of you and you don't do anything to stop it," Brands said. "It's going down boom, boom, boom. OK, now it's my turn on the mat. What am I going to do? You have to turn that emotion. That's what athletics is and we didn't do that."

Brands said consistency has been missing and is a trait this team needs to develop. It may have played a part last weekend. They will focus on the wrestlers' strengths to give them the best chance to win. Brands has insisted the Hawkeyes have a lot of firepower, but they have to show more of it in competition.

"There has to be more fire," Brands said. "There has to be more aggression. There has to be more fight. We know what we've got to do. We've got to do it."

Don't expect major changes to the lineup. Knee-jerk reactions aren't the style of Brands, but the coaches will continue to evolve the lineup and be flexible, adjusting when necessary.

"I'm not a from the hip guy," Brands said. "From the hip gets you in trouble."

The confidence is shaken, even though Gambrall said there is consensus that more worked is needed.

"Everyone still thinks we can be national champions," Ramos said. "What it comes down to , it's not being tough, it's who is going to man up and who is going to do their job effectively and efficiently."

The turnaround will have to come quick with the league-leading Gophers (8-2, 5-0) coming to town. Minnesota enters with nine ranked wrestlers and presents a challenge for each of the Hawkeyes, who are fifth in the conference standings. The dual provides a perfect chance for the Hawkeyes to regain the faith of their fans.

"I don't know what the crowd will be," Brands said. "It's going to be interesting to see a turnout because promotion isn't necessarily a collective effort of somebody doing a job. It's your program and how they entertain by winning and how they compete.

"We didn't compete (and) we didn't win this past weekend, so it's going to be interesting to see what kind of crowd turnout we have."