The 2022 season just isn’t going well right now for Iowa (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten). After three straight losses, the Hawkeyes now have a losing record and they are in the Big Ten West cellar.
Questions about the Iowa offense’s ineptitude and inability to improve continue to ratchet up after the latest dismal performance. The latest was a 54-10 drubbing from No. 2 Ohio State that featured just eight first downs, 158 yards of total offense and had Hawkeye fans once again in a tizzy.
Fans finally got a look at backup quarterback Alex Padilla to start the second half after starting quarterback Spencer Petras was benched, though it certainly didn’t go according to plan. Padilla promptly fumbled the exchange with center Logan Jones on his first snap and threw an interception to Buckeyes safety Tanner McCalister two offensive plays later. Padilla finished just 5-of-10 passing for 32 yards and didn’t lead a scoring drive.
Starting quarterback Spencer Petras led one drive that ended with a 49-yard Drew Stevens field goal, but he threw an interception on the first play of the game, fumbled away the football on a sack and threw a pick-six to Ohio State linebacker Tommy Eichenberg. Petras ended his day just 6-of-14 passing for 49 yards.
Afterwards, Cleveland.com reporter Doug Lesmerises asked Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz why he is willing to make an in-season quarterback change but not an in-season evaluation and change of his offensive coordinator, his son Brian Ferentz.
“Well, I think you’re talking about two separate job descriptions and two separate areas of responsibility. I know people do it. I know it’s been done. It’s been done this year. Again, it’s just not my preference. My preference has been to play it out, and there’s evidence to show that it’s worked pretty well in the past, so we’ll play it out and then we’ll do our assessments and our evaluations when everything’s over. The season’s not over, so, when the season’s over, we’ll make an evaluation I think is best for our program,” Ferentz said.
He didn’t stop there. Lesmerises was jumping right into another question about the lack of offensive production for Iowa.
“You have one of the least productive offenses in the country, do you—,” Lesmerises said before being interrupted.
“I’ve noticed that, yeah,” Ferentz interrupted.
“Everybody’s noticed it,” Lesmerises responded right back.
“Well thank you, yeah,” Ferentz snipped.
“Do you believe that you’re putting the Iowa program in a bad spot by having that kind of production on one side of the ball that’s run by one of your family members?” Lesmerises asked.
“It’s got no bearing on who the person is, alright, and it’s just a matter of who is coaching our football team. Okay, the guys on our staff are guys I think that have demonstrated success. They’re good people and we’re going to keep pushing forward. I don’t feel like we’re doing anything wrong,” Ferentz said.
Lesmerises had one final question. Would that end-of-season evaluation of Brian Ferentz be the same as the rest of Iowa’s assistant coaches?
“We’ve, I’ve tried to treat everybody with consistency on our staff past and present. Same thing with players. I’ve had three family members play as well in our program, and, you know, they’ve got to earn everything they get. Just like coaches do,” Ferentz said.
As the local and national chorus continues to grow that Iowa is in need of offensive changes immediately, some are wondering if serious damage to the Hawkeyes’ program might have already been done. In the meantime, the only immediate fix is a nice performance against Northwestern this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. where Iowa opened as a double-figure favorite.
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