As the latest game day arrives for the Hawkeyes after a bye week, Iowa heads to Wrigley Field for a rare date inside a baseball stadium.
Iowa (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) battles Northwestern (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) where the Hawkeyes look to bounce back from their second defeat of the season—a controversial 12-10 finish against Minnesota—and to keep pace in the Big Ten West race.
In that loss versus the Gophers, Iowa finished with just 127 yards of total offense, including only 12 yards after halftime. For the second time in the past two seasons, Iowa lost a game where its defense didn’t surrender a touchdown to the opposition.
All of this was the final tipping point in Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz being informed by interim athletics director Beth Goetz that we would not be returning to the role in 2024.
Starting quarterback Deacon Hill struggled again in the loss to Minnesota, losing a pair of fumbles and throwing the game-sealing interception after Cooper DeJean’s heroics were wiped out with the invalid fair catch ruling. Hill completed just 10-of-28 passes for 116 yards and ended with a 10.5 quarterback rating.
For the season, Hill is completing only 37.8% of his passes with 427 passing yards and a pair of touchdown passes against three interceptions. The 6-foot-3, 258 pound sophomore from Santa Barbara, Calif., has an 8.4 quarterback rating.
Despite his struggles, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said Hill is still the team’s unquestioned No. 1 signal-caller entering this afternoon’s date against Northwestern. Joe Labas is Iowa’s No. 2 quarterback.
“We’ve looked at every position and let everybody compete and let everybody practice. Again, the older guys are more experienced. I think they got some work last week, but not to the extent of a normal practice week, I would say. The quarterback position, it’s a clear 1, 2, 3, and we’ll keep an open mind as we move forward,” Ferentz said.
Ahead of the games this week, the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow pointed out to Ferentz that Hill ranks 160th out of 160 FBS quarterbacks with at least 78 drop-backs in Pro Football Focus’ offensive grade and “turnover-worthy plays.”
Leistikow then asked Ferentz how Hill remains Iowa’s No. 1 quarterback with that high of a turnover possibility. Or, are the other quarterbacks that bad?
“Well, those are your words, not mine certainly. It isn’t that bad. They’re playing major college football. Again, we go through. We’ve been evaluating since the start of spring practice. You look at the body of work. Believe it or not, at least I think we know a little bit more about our guys because we see a lot more. Our judgment is 100 percent correct rarely, when you talk about player evaluation, that type of thing. But all you can do is try to make the best decisions based on what the evidence is and what you see on a daily basis and then move forward.
“By you saying somebody else might be bad is suggesting the other guy is bad, too. I don’t look at it that way. I try to look at guys who haven’t been able to grow very much and see how well they can move forward and how quickly they can move forward here,” Ferentz said.
One thing is clear, though: Iowa has a quarterback and an offense that is struggling mightily. What can Iowa do to help him out and to be better moving the football and scoring points?
“First things first, ball security. Let’s go right back there because that really impacted the game pretty significantly last time we were out there. Again, I think it was 3-0, wasn’t it? I don’t think they gave one up. If you’re down 3-0, it’s going to be tough. It’s tough to outscore people getting in those types of games. You’re going to be sloppy with the football.
“Yeah, those are things we’ve been working on, believe it or not, since August, and I thought we were on the right path. We’ve had some things altered this season, so we’ve got to work through those. There’s no magic panacea,” Ferentz said.
Obviously, Iowa needs to do better in the turnover department. This team isn’t built to win a game where it loses the turnover battle 3-0. They also need to stay on schedule.
“Avoiding negative yardage plays, to your point, would be a real starting point to get ahead in the chains. That would be a real benefit as well. So, little things like that, and then someplace along the way you have to make some big plays. That’s just how offense works typically. Starts with minimizing your mistakes, ball security being the first and foremost one.
“Secondly, not having negative yardage plays. I’m not a big sack guy, but if you take a sack or get negative yards, get thrown off, the chances not only of getting a first down, but more importantly scoring, are really minimized in the NFL to a dramatic number. If you get a sack, you might as well punt and try to get the ball back. Not that you would, but you understand the point. Then, at some point, good football teams find ways to make plays. You design one every now and then, but it’s usually somebody making a really good play and then doing a little something extra,” Ferentz said.
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