Following a 27-14 loss to Michigan, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said he’s “encouraged” by some of the things he’s seeing offensively.
Against the nation’s No. 7 scoring defense and No. 8 total defense, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said afterwards that he was encouraged by his offense’s performance in the second half against No. 4 Michigan.
“I am. For a couple things, reasons. I talked about Sam (LaPorta) and Luke (Lachey). I think we have a chance now to have a pretty good tight end combination. Looks like Nico (Ragaini) is back pretty close to full speed, which is helpful to have a veteran player out there. Arland (Bruce IV) is doing some good things, and we’ll keep moving him along, and hopefully Brody (Brecht) is benefitting from every rep he gets, so I am—and then the other component, I thought up until that I guess it was last possession, next-to-last possession, we pass blocked better today, against a group that’s pretty good. They have some guys.
“To me that’s encouraging. We had a meltdown on that last series—I think we were two scores down, and I’ve been there before as a line coach. It’s not that much fun. So it’s not like that’s the first time I’ve seen that. We’ll grow through that and work through that. I saw a lot of things I thought that were better, but that’s not going to get it done for us unless we really keep pushing this thing forward and squeezing some things down,” Ferentz said.
The Hawkeyes put together a pair of second-half scoring drives, scoring touchdowns on a seven-play, 44-yard drive and a five-play, 75-yard drive. The first scoring drive ended with a 2-yard Kaleb Johnson touchdown run and the second finished with a Luke Lachey touchdown grab. Iowa also had a 13-play, 78-yard drive in the second half that stalled out on downs at the Michigan 6-yard line in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Spencer Petras completed 21-of-31 passes for 246 yards with the one late touchdown to Lachey. For his part, Lachey hauled in four grabs for 84 yards with that score. Fellow tight end Sam LaPorta also had two catches for 24 yards.
Ferentz talked about the pair of tight ends this team has.
“Right now we have a chance to have a pretty good tandem with him and Sam out there. But to make those big plays today gave us a spark, and it was great to see. That’ll help him and help our football team moving forward,” Ferentz said.
Still, excluding the one-play drive where Leshon Williams rushed for six yards to take the game into halftime, Iowa punted on each of its first five possessions and had just 86 yards of total offense at that point.
When Ferentz was asked what the offensive game plan was and about that slow start, he pointed to some of the penalties that killed a drive.
“Yeah, I guess I look at it differently. I’m thinking about a run that we hit off left tackle on—was that the first holding penalty where it looked like a pretty clean play and we gained 20, 25 yards.
“So you go from moving the ball down the field 20 yards, let’s say it was 20, and now you’re back—you guys were at the game. It changes the complexion of everything you do. We don’t have a lot of good calls for 3rd and 20s. It’s just really tough to come up with something that’s going to be good. Yeah, those little negative yardage plays impact whether it’s lost yardage plays, sacks or certainly—not only penalties but 10 yards or 15-yard penalties. It’s hard to overcome that offensively. So I’m just telling you what I saw. I thought we grew and we did some things better today. Time will tell. I may be totally crazy,” Ferentz said.
Lastly, Ferentz was asked how his offense can go from seven points and 220 yards going into its final possession to a level that’s more conducive to winning.
“It’s kind of what I just described. It’s everything kind of coming together. I think we’re getting better up front. At least that’s my assessment after today. I haven’t seen the film. I think we’ve got backs that are doing a pretty good job. I think we have two tight ends doing a pretty good job, and getting Nico back, all that stuff goes together. Not like I’m only just describing Michigan. Part of the secret to the run game is they’ve got guys outside that you really have to respect or it’s like electrocution. It happens fast, those kinds of things.
“You know, we’re a work in progress. I’m not discouraged by our guys. In fact, I’m encouraged by some of the things I’m seeing. But we’re going to have to keep moving and obviously have to get better. We’re not going to win a game scoring seven points,” Ferentz said.
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