T1B

Our coaches know what they're doing. Bla bla bla. It's all the players. Been happening for 12 years almost every game we lose like this. Nope, not the coaches. They know more than me and you and everyone else. Riiiiigggghhhttt

They're clueless. Don't know how to manage a game. Every one of their teams chokes games away. Nope, not the coaches. Can't be the coaches. Definitely not the coaches.

KOK baby! He's a genius. Ferentz is a bad game coach. Period. Stop defending him.

You're one stupid son-of-a bitch...that's a given around here. Now sit down and shut the fuck up, and don't open your mouth until you actually learn something about the game....which will be never. Now go fuck yourself.

3-22 under Ferentz outside of last year in games decided by 5 points or less.

Last 10 losses by a combined 37 points. 4 losses this year by 15 combined points.

Mace, what's the reason for this? Come on, you criticize those that criticize the coaches. Well, if you're going to do that, tell me exactly the reasoning behind the above stats that are FACTS.

If almost every game we lose for 12 years under the same coaching staff ends the exact same way, when do we start attributing it to the coaching staffs inability to manage a game late.

Do you know what is really sad, mace? The fact that everyone in the stands knew we were going to lose with 6 minutes to play and we had the ball and a 4 point lead. It was almost unreal in the stadium. It was almost quiet because we all knew we would lose. It wasn't even a question of whether or not we would choke it away. The whole crowd could sense it. Everyone around us said the same thing when we got the ball back with 7 minutes to go- we will go 3 and out and OSU would drive it 70 yards at will. Then we would get the ball back and do nothing with it. I didn't even say a word. There was no point to it. Everyone in our section said exactly what I was thinking. And it happened exactly how we all predicted.

5 games. 5 70+ yard drives for the win. 5 scores (I'm counting Indiana since they dropped an easy TD). 4 times we had 2 minutes to answer back and all 4 times we couldn't even move the football.

Wake up Mace. What the fuck are you watching? I told you before the game that we would choke it away late if we couldn't pull out a big lead. You call me an idiot yet I am able to call the game to go exactly as predicted.

I'm not the clueless one, Mace- you are. Quit defending the coaches. They cannot manage a game late. They have PROVEN this. They fuck up crucial situations at the end of both halves. The thing is I have a real argument. I have stats and specific instances throughout the ferentz era to back up my argument. Yours is nothing more than "shut the fuck up, the coaches know more than you".

I'm sorry but there is a trend that has been going on for his entire career in late game situations, and if you can't figure it out you are the idiot. Wake up and admit you are wrong. Unless you have something to dispute the 3-22 stat or the fact that we continually choke games away down the stretch and almost never pull them out. We fail 90% of the time in the 2-minute drill, Mace. How on earth do you not realize this?

You can use insults and no facts or reasonable argument. I will use facts and specific plays/situations they mucked. You got nothing, mace. You know I'm right and you just aren't man enough to admit it.
Seriously, are you even actually paying attention to the games? What the hell are you watching? We choke games away left and right. How can you not notice this???

You are clueless, and you do need to shut the fuck up. Iowa lost a close game and I'm not inclined to read any more of your stupidity tonight.

The facts don't lie, mace. Sorry, but they don't.

3-22. I didn't make that stat up.

7 carries for 43 yards in the 1st quarter for Coker earns the guy 2 more carries (for 27 yards) the rest of the game.

2:30 seconds left, 3 timeouts remaining, OSU has 1st and goal at the 2 with the clock running. We just let the clock run down. We could have had 2 timeouts with 2:10 seconds or so left, which is better than.......awww, nevermind. You don't wanna listen to reality and logic.

There is no defending the coaches anymore. When your only defense is "you're an idiot and clueless" against someone throwing factual stats and specific OBVIOUS screwups by the coaches, don't you think maybe I'm not the one that's clueless? Don't you think maybe you just don't want to face reality? This isn't rocket science. It's not me that's clueless, Mace. I'm sorry, but you can't defend the coaches with a real argument. You know you can't. You avoid every fact I throw at you. Instead, you insult. Mace, I'm right. And I know you know it.

Our coaches are player developers. They are not game coaches. This is a fact. Not an opinion. They don't make adjustments. Their teams continually lose games over and over again the exact same way. We can't run a 2-minute drill. They're 3-22 outside of last year in 5 points or less games. They lose a couple games every year to inferior teams. They refuse to blitz outside the red zone. The offense runs absolutely no misdirection or does anything to occasionally try and throw a defense off.

3-22 is not a fluke or a coincidence. Sorry, but you can't win this argument because there's no way I could believe someone is dumb enough to actually have your point of view.

You're the only iowa fan left that just won't admit to the truth. It's not because you're smarter than the rest of us. It's because you're just not in touch with reality. Fucking admit I'm right. Not because I want my ego stroked, but because you should do it for yourself. Do you really want to live in fantasy land???

In a perfect world, I'd be the head coach at Iowa and hire theJON as my offensive and defensive coordinator...and we'd be undefeated every year. Yeah, I know he's pretty stupid but, hey, we'd be the perfect fit.

Sin,

Les

Last 10 losses by a combined 37 points. 4 losses this year by 15 combined points.

Not sure I understand your issue. You're GOING to lose some games, yes? Would you rather they be of the blowout variety?

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:

Last 10 losses by a combined 37 points. 4 losses this year by 15 combined points.

Not sure I understand your issue. You're GOING to lose some games, yes? Would you rather they be of the blowout variety?

You don't think that essentially being 6-30 over a 12 year period in 7 point or less games (excluding the complete fluke wins and games we only won because we hung on after trying real hard to choke away) isn't an issue??

The reason I bring up the last 10 losses is because it has occured over the last 3 seasons. 10 losses by 37 points in that short of period indicates an issue in terms of late game management/playcalling.

We are probably the first team to have 10 losses over a 3 year period but quite literally be 10 plays away from being unbeaten in that time period. Not one single one of those games was this team not a play away. While you could argue that's pretty damn impressive for ANY team to be able to say they've not had a single game in 3 years where they were more than a play away from winning, but I would argue it just goes to PROVE what a poor job our coaching staff has done in crucial game management situations.

Let's go through the list of our 10 losses since the start of 2008-

2008- at Pittsburgh. 20-21

1st quarter we were down 14-0 with Jake Christensen as a starter. He was playing terrible. Stanzi comes in and saves the day in the 2nd quarter. Offense was moving well, and were only down 14-10 at half. For some dumb reason, Ferentz puts Jake back in at QB for the ENTIRE 2nd half. Offense can't move the ball, but the defense does step up. One final possession with a few minutes to go. Just needed a FG. Jake couldn't come through.

2008- vs Northwestern. 17-22

Iowa was -4 in the turnover battle but still had 1st and goal from the 8 yard line with about 2 minutes to play and a chance to win. 4 passes, 4 incompletions. Game over. Shonn Greene got no touches inside the 10. Yes, THAT Shonn Greene- the dude that won the Doak Walker award that year.

2008- at Michigan State. 13-16

Got down a couple of scores early but then pretty much took over the game. Had 4th and 1 at the MSU 20 with a couple minutes to go. 50/50 on whether you should kick the FG or go for it. Ferentz elected to go for it and the FB did not block for Greene, so he was stuffed in the backfield. Ballgame.

2008- at Illinois. 24-27

Down 2 touchdowns in the 4th quarter. Offense makes a comeback and ties it with less than 2 minutes to play. Defense melts down and gives up a couple big plays, allowing Illinois to kick a game winning FG as time expired.

2009- vs Northwestern. 10-17

Got no real gripes in this one. Stanzi got injured late in the 1st half on a fluke play that gave Northwestern 1 of its 2 TD's. Vandenberg comes in with absolutely no experience and just can't move the ball. That said, we did have the ball with almost 3 minutes left to play and.....again, just couldn't drive it for a score.

2009- at Ohio State. 24-27

Rose Bowl berth on the line. Game tied in regulation with a minute to play and 2 TO's- ball just beyond the 30. Ferentz elects to just play for OT. Hawks can't do anything on their possession and then tOSU kicks a Rose Bowl clinching FG.

2010- at Arizona. 27-34

Complete and utter 1st half meltdown by Iowa, allowing Arizona to go up 27-7 at half. Fluke rally by Iowa in the 2nd half as AZ returned the favor. Binns intercepts a pass with a few minutes to go and runs it in for a TD. Mossbrucker misses the go-ahead extra point because nobody blocked anyone. Arizona then throws a 40 yard pass on the first play, and then ends up scoring at will a few plays later. Iowa had the ball with just under 2 minutes to play, but Stanzi is sacked 4 plays in a row. Yes, I said that right......4 plays in a row. FAIL.

2010- vs Wisconsin. 30-31

Up 30-24 with a few minutes to go. Wisconsin executes an obvious fake punt that everyone in the world besides the Iowa staff and players knew was coming. Wisconsin caps off an 80 yard drive a few plays later. Iowa gets the ball with plenty of time just needing a FG, but a wasted timeout used on a play that should have been spiked along with the ONLY sack of the game Wisconsin had end our chances.

2010- at Northwestern. 17-21

Up by 10 with 7 minutes to play. Northwestern drives the ball for touchdowns on consecutive 80+ yard drives with absolutely no resistance from the defense. Again, we have just under 2 minutes and a couple of timeouts but can't do much with the ball. End up having the throw a failed hail mary at the end.

2010- vs Ohio State. 17-20

Again, similar situation. Up 17-13 with a few minutes to go. Ohio State needs to drive it 60 yards. They convert a 4th and 10 play with 4 minutes left because NOBODY was fucking spying Terrelle Pryor. 1st and goal for tOSU a few plays later at the 2 with the clock running under 2:30 and Ferentz does not elect to use 1 of his 3 timeouts. Aparently, he is not of the belief that 2:20 and 2 timeouts > 1:45 and 3 timeouts. About all you can do is laugh hysterically at that. I mean, this should be obvious to anyone what you do in this spot, but I guess Ferentz knows more than EVERYONE that has ever watched, played or coached football. Just ask Mace. Anyways, again, we get the ball back with 1:45 to play and 2 timeouts needing only a FG to tie it. We go 4 and looked, yet again, completely lost in the 2 minute drill. It should also be noted that Marcus Coker had 7 1st quarter carries for 43 yards and only got 2 carries (27 yards) the rest of the game. "he can't pass protect" is the excuse I hear. Bla bla bla.......the only time we moved the ball in the game was when he was in their at RB and not Robinson, so that excuse is a load of crap.

Compare this to our close wins over that period....

2008- vs Penn State. 24-23. Great clutch win. Game winning drive. Yeah, we had some breaks along the way, but Stanzi led a brilliant drive to win the game.

2008- vs Purdue. 22-17. Misleading. Game was over by the start of the 4th. Purdue got a late TD to make it closer than it really was. We did, however, try our best to choke it away. Went 3 and out and then let Purdue get into a position where they could throw a 60 yard hail mary. This was not a clutch win. It was a "whew, we hung on" kinda victory.

2009- vs UNI. 17-16. Simply pitiful game all around. We barely held on thanks to a couple of blocked FG's at the end. Lucky as hell to win this one against a 1-AA squad. Again, poor coaching late by our staff allowed UNI to get into a position to kick the potential game winner. 2:30 to go we had the ball at around midfield and we ran up to the line and snapped it with 20 seconds left on the playclock. Why would you do that? I can't think of one good reason to do that. It's just plain dumb. Then, we punt and they have 1:30 or so to go and the ball at around their own 10 yard line. Going to the prevent defense was absolutely STUPID. If they need a touchdown, yes, prevent is okay. But just needing a FG, you should stick with your base defense given the situation. We just gave them 60 free yards and that makes no sense at all given the time and score. UNI could not beat us deep. They knew it, I knew it, the whole world knew it. They needed to get 10-15 yard chunks to be able to get into FG range. Playing base defense allows them to get more like 6-7 yard chunks, which would have been tough to get into FG range given their starting point and time. But what do I know......Mace is the one that knows everything.

2009- vs Arkansas State. 24-21. Another inferior opponent we just laid an egg against. Got out to a 14-0 lead about 8 minutes in and just coasted the rest of the way. We were NEVER in jeopordy of losing at any point in time. Arkansas State did not once have the ball in the 4th quarter with the game a 1 possession game. They scored a TD with about a minute or so to go and then needed an onside kick to give themselves a chance. They did not recover the kick. This was not a clutch win, it was an attempted meltdown.

2009- vs Michigan. 30-28. Another game where we had a 2 score lead with a few minutes to play, but tried our best to choke it away. Michigan drives down the field with Robinson in at QB to cut it to 30-28. Then, our conservative offense comes back on the field to do what they ALWAYS do in these spots- go 3 and out real quick. Michigan gets the ball back with under 2 minutes left, needing about 60 yards or so to give their FG kicker a shot, but Robinson ends up throwing a pick. This was not a clutch win. This was another attempted chokejob that we just held on to.

2009- at Michigan State. 15-13. Kicked a go-ahead FG with a few minutes left and then the defense gave up an EASY touchdown pass to give MSU a 13-9 lead with less than 2 minutes to play. Stanzi orchestrates a brilliant drive. This was a clutch win for the offense, and a clutch chokejob by the defense. MSU had a 3rd and 18 (?) on their final drive. It looked like it was over, and then they ran a hook and ladder (great playcall, by the way).

I will throw in a couple of other games in Ferentz' defense....

2009- vs Indiana. 42-24. We were down by 10 entering the 4th before the offense went nuts like I have never seen before. That said, this game was over with about 6-7 minutes left.

2009- Orange Bowl vs Georgia Tech. Game clinching drive. I don't know if I would classify this as a clutch win, but we did ice the game with a couple minutes to play. That said, it should have been over in the 3rd quarter but our conservative nature, as always, did not allow for that to happen.

And there were a couple of other 2nd half comebacks (ie Wisconsin, Penn State) last year as well. But no games where we actually won them late.

In 2010, we either blew out an opponent or lost. It's that simple. So you be the judge. The true "clutch" record over the past 3 years is essentially 2-10. A .500 record is average. So 2-10 is not bad, it is attrocious.