On two occasions in the first half of the Hawkeyes’ eventual 35-7 loss at No. 3 Ohio State, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz faced fourth down decisions.
Ultimately, in both instances, Ferentz chose the conservative route.
After driving to the Ohio State 33 yard-line on Iowa’s second offensive series of the game, Ferentz opted for a 51-yard Drew Stevens field goal attempt instead of attempting to convert a 4th-and-3. The junior kicker missed the 51-yard attempt wide left.
Then, with Iowa still trailing 7-0 on its ensuing offensive series, the Hawkeyes faced a 4th-and-1 from midfield. The Hawkeyes faked a punt and converted the fourth down, but Ferentz had called a timeout before the play from the sideline.
After the timeout, Ferentz decided to punt the football away. Freshman punter Rhys Dakin shanked the punt, sending it just 22 yards. After a 21-yard carry from running back Quinshon Judkins on Ohio State’s first offensive snap on the next possession, the Buckeyes were right back at midfield.
Ferentz said he and the Hawkeyes never considered going for it on the initial 4th-and-3 situation.
“Yeah, not really. I mean, we were in pretty good position at that point. Not really. The other one, we were obviously thinking about a fake punt and we felt good about that until I called a timeout.
“Saw their linebackers kind of nudging up to the line. They had been coached on that during the timeout. I think their coach was out in the middle of the field. Looked like a high school game a little bit. We still were going to give it a shot until I saw those guys coming towards the line,” Ferentz said.
Ferentz was asked why he didn’t attempt to convert the 4th-and-1 situation with his offense and instead had opted for the fake punt.
“Yeah, I mean, you can do that. Field position is what I was thinking. It was a tight ball game. Again, maybe that’s too conservative, but at that point, our thought was, let’s pin them in, which we’ve done a pretty good job of this year, but today wasn’t a great example of punting the way we want to.
“My thought was, pin them in. Maybe force a turnover or something like that or get the ball back in good field position. And then the other part is, I wasn’t about to give them the ball at midfield. I’m not sure I want them to have to go 99, but midfield’s a little… At that point, we were right in the middle of things,” Ferentz said.
Iowa (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 12 with an 11 a.m. kickoff against Washington (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) from Kinnick Stadium.
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