Iowa game time: Possible spoiler?
On the most recent edition of the Audible podcast with Stewart Mandel, Bruce Feldman said it was possible the Big Noon crew was going to see Michigan “maybe four weeks in a row.” Obviously we’ve gotten clarity on the Maryland game already. But more fuel for the “Not Kinnick at night” fire.
September 13th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
As long as this cat remains the OC for Iowa they could play this game anytime, anywhere and I think we'll be just fine.
Michigan nepotism >>>>>>>>>Iowa nepotism
September 13th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
a great point - Jay Harbaugh has made really solid contributions:
Brian Ferentz.........not so much
September 13th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
This 100%. I was actually thinking - before the season started - that Iowa would be a real test for us. With that offense, what was I thinking? If you want some comedy relief, take a trip to the Iowa boards and read up on their views regarding the Ferentz situation. It's ugly. Nepotism at its worst
September 13th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
J Booty just gave an interview where he said something along the lines of not getting tricked into thinking they'll be terrible on that one particular night. That there's a kind of juju that happens that's real. That's not verbatim, but you get the idea why fans expect the worst.
Here the link:
https://www.foxsports.com/watch/play-5e66e5e7500051c
September 13th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
I get it. And you're talking to a guy who truly believes in historical "juju", especially when it comes to road games in Iowa and all games against MSU.
But reality remains reality and even a hard-core pessimist like me has to acknowledge three things when it comes to the upcoming Iowa game
1. When we last played in the B1G Championship game we utterly destroyed them
2. Since then we have somehow gotten better
3. Since then they have somehow gotten worse
I think we'll be just fine. Just fine indeed.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
I agree with you. Hopefully the players are more worried about beating the brakes off Iowa and not letting a mental mistake cascade into a team wide poor performance. If Michigan plays the way they should, it'll be a solid win.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
I remember vividly in 2016 you correctly predicted a loss there. Just about Everyone here doubted you.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
I have a friend who's a big Iowa fan. His take is that Kirk and Brian both do a better job against big-name opponents; he gets frustrated because they do things against Michigan and OSU that they don't do against anyone else.
He points to Iowa's fourth-down decision making. I know we like to laugh at Ferentz for punting from the opposition 33, but against Michigan, they go for it in those situations. It's as if he looks at the situation and says "we're going to need to pull out the stops to win this one."
Thus, my concern about the game at Iowa. I worry that (a) Iowa may score on defense, possibly multiple times, and (b) Competent Ferentz might show up for a game before going back into hibernation.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Just to be safe, Harbaugh should show the team the 1985 game (he QB'd) and the 2016 game (he coached) just to make sure that the team doesn't lose focus. Those were two of the most crushing loses in Michigan history. They both cost Michigan a shot at the NC.
September 13th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
I mean we didn’t “utterly destroy” them. We did have difficulties with their defense in the first half. I think it was 14-3 at half which is fine but both TDs were explosive plays.
September 14th, 2022 at 3:39 PM ^
W91 - Thank You! I was thinking the same.
September 13th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
My only concerns are:
Weird Kinnick Shit (tm) happening, like a pick-six for Iowa off a deflection.
and
Michigan deciding to turn the game into a rock fight to try and avoid said Weird Kinnick Shit (tm) happening. No, the way you do that is getting ahead 21-0 to render WKS (tm) a moot point.
In other words, blow their doors off in the first half with chunk plays on O and suffocating D, and then it doesn't matter what juju Kinnick has in store.
September 13th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
Upvoted for WKS (tm).
Game plan it the same way they did for the B1G championship. If they do, Iowa will be lucky to get 3.
September 13th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
WKS (tm)
Excellent.
September 13th, 2022 at 6:14 PM ^
Getting a bad pick 6 and two turnovers for easy field goals plus a "why didnt they do that against South Dakota?" TD and you are at 20. Play down to your competition or wild and lose and things could get dicey.
September 14th, 2022 at 8:41 AM ^
I don't get this Iowa stuff. Were talking about winning a Big Ten Championship and making the playoffs. Iowa is just plain bad, now if you have concerns for MSU, Penn State, Ohio State I understand
September 14th, 2022 at 12:45 PM ^
It's not Iowa per se, but rather Kinnick. WKS (see above) happens to us there, and we have a tendency to play strangely there. If it was Iowa on a neutral field, I wouldn't be concerned at all.
And yes, I am rightly concerned about PSU (less), MSU (more), and OSU (concern turned up to 11), no doubt. You are right about that.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Does anyone find it slightly humorous that Jay Harbaugh has a Super Bowl ring but Jim doesn't?
September 13th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
I really appreciated when asked about being hired by this father, Jay responded by saying it was an opportunity for him to prove he deserved the position. I would say he has. Too bad Brian can't quite say the same.
September 13th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
Jay is like reverse nepotism. The only reason we still have him is because he likes working with his dad.
September 13th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
Well, I guess you could say that Brian Ferentz likes working for his dad also. He better as he'd be unemployed in the CF world if it wasn't for daddy.
September 13th, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
Sort of like that flaming asshole Jay Paterno, who could not get a gig anywhere else once his asshat of a father was no longer coach!
September 13th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
Well, his dad......and $600,000 annually.
September 13th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
For $600k I'd work for my dad even if I hated him.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
Iowa has managed two offensive scoring drives this YEAR. Let's break them down:
- Week One: A shanked punt leads to 1st and 10 at the SDSU 33 yard line. 5 yard drive, resulting in a 46-yard FG
- Week Two: A blocked punt leads to 1st and 10 at the ISU 16. Two runs get them a touchdown and the extra point is good.
Every. Other. Offensive. Possession. This. Year. Yielded. Zero. Points.
Play it at night and blindfold our offensive starters and we still win this one.
September 13th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
Yeah if anybody is scared about this potentially being a night game and thus weird voodoo happening, just look at this stat.
You're telling me there's a universe where an offense that's played South Dakota State and Iowa State, mustered only 2 scoring drives (that started inside the 33 at most) and 1 touchdown between those 2 drives over 2 games is gonna suddenly light it up on us? C'mon man
We've literally seen the JJ-Corum-Edwards et. all offense versus this Iowa defense less than a year ago. I think JJ and company can outscore Iowa comfortably no matter the time or place.
September 14th, 2022 at 8:15 AM ^
Well, you’d have to admit that the only way is up from there.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
There is not a lot of variety in the artwork on the wall... as creative as the offense.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
Found this on an Iowa forum. Truly the peak of nepotism that Brian still has a job with numbers like this. This is apparently scoring offense rank / yards per game rank
1999 - ?? (Ken O'Keefe)
2000 - 104/116 (Ken O'Keefe)
2001 - 45/117 (Ken O'Keefe)
2002 - 13/117 (Ken O'Keefe)
2003 - 92/117 (Ken O'Keefe)
2004 - 104/120 (Ken O'Keefe)
2005 - 22/119 (Ken O'Keefe)
2006 - 27/119 (Ken O'Keefe)
2007 - 109/119 (Ken O'Keefe)
2008 - 53/119 (Ken O'Keefe)
2009 - 89/120 (Ken O'Keefe)
2010 - 57/120 (Ken O'Keefe)
2011 - 76/120 (Ken O'Keefe)
2012 - 117/124 (Greg Davis)
2013 - 84/125 (Greg Davis)
2014 - 66/128 (Greg Davis)
2015 - 72/128 (Greg Davis)
2016 - 121/128 (Greg Davis)
2017 - 117/130 (Brian Ferentz)
2018 - 92/130 (Brian Ferentz)
2019 - 99/130 (Brian Ferentz)
2020 - 88/128 (Brian Ferentz)
2021 - 124/130 (Brian Ferentz)
Brian may very well be the worst OC in the country.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
I've got to say, Greg Davis set a pretty low bar, but Brian Ferentz appears to have limbo'd under it pretty easily. Impressive, actually.
September 13th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
This is his SIXTH season???
It's like he's got it written in his Trust Fund documents that he is going to inherit the team.
How does Kirk even still have a job?
September 13th, 2022 at 1:40 PM ^
The 2nd number, yards per game, does not stack up against the first number at all a few times. Are you sure your right? How can yo be top 27 in scoring multiple times but have 117 or lower yardage offense?
September 13th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
That second number looked, to me, like the number of D-I teams that season. Without noticing the part at the top, I just read that as "27th of 117" and then later "125th of 130" or whatever.
September 13th, 2022 at 2:59 PM ^
Youre right, I mustve misread the board post. So while not hilariously bad, its definitely still bad bad
September 13th, 2022 at 3:15 PM ^
Well, Iowa is always good at defense and special teams, those lead to points on their own and short fields.
September 14th, 2022 at 8:51 AM ^
Let's see two blocked punts, a couple safeties lead to 10 points out of a total for two games of 14 points. Even if they get a couple turnovers we should roll them
September 13th, 2022 at 2:51 PM ^
That Brad Banks offense was awesome ... Ferentz made sure that never happened again
September 13th, 2022 at 5:39 PM ^
Two questions.. is he in the coaches box at Kinnick?
If so - is that a pool table and shuffleboard table behind him? Maybe he should stop shooting pool and playing shuffleboard during the game - and pay attention to what’s happening on that field behind him. Oh - he doesn’t have to focus on the field until October 15th…
September 13th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
Michigan goes up 10-0 in the first and then rests their offensive starters for the rest of the game. They’d have done enough.
September 13th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
10-0 is essentially a 4 score lead against Iowa.
September 13th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
Will Iowa score four times in a game this season? TBD
September 13th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
Are safeties included?
September 13th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
So far, the Iowa offense has only scored twice total in two games. The offense is averaging 5 points per game. Good if it's baseball, great if it's soccer, pretty terrible for football.
I think Iowa was something like #90 in points scored per game last season. This season, with an average of 7.0 (including defensive scores), they are dead last.
In yards per game, with 158.0, they are dead last.
Passing ypg is 100.5 and only better than Kansas St, SDSU, Air Force, and UMass.
Rushing ypg is 57.5 and only ahead of SJSU, ODU, Colorado State, and BC.
They have 21 total first downs, which is dead last.
The TOTAL scores for both games combined is Iowa 14 - OPP 13.
On the other hand, they are 5th for most punts (16) and have accrued 783 punting yards. Congratulations on being top 5 in an offensive category!
This could be a historically bad offense.
EDIT: also going back 4 games to the BTCG, Iowa is averaging 8.5 ppg.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
I believe their TD drive was less than 20 yards and the field goal drive was like 6 yards.
September 13th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
humen,
the better question might be to leave off the last two words: will iowa score four times this season?
September 13th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
5 scores, safeties are only 2 points....
September 13th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
We were up 10-0 against Iowa at night in 2016....
September 13th, 2022 at 1:40 PM ^
Do Canadian rules still give points on specific punts? If so, maybe Iowa needs to leave the B1G for some conference up in Canada.
September 13th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
Well, it would be a 4 or 5 score game at that point. No need to run it up with starters.