- Sep 13, 2002
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Tuesdays with Torbee
by Tory Brecht
There really isn’t much room for a Cooper DeJean statue in the small space between Evasheski Drive and the walls of Kinnick Stadium’s north end zone, but if he keeps making plays like the game-winning punt return he executed last Saturday, Nile Kinnick might need to move over and make room for some company.
On yet another truly awful day for embattled offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz – where the quarterback gave the ball away and again sprayed passes far and wide and the two leading rushers combined for a paltry 11 yards on 28 carries – a cornerback once again was the lone touchdown-scoring spark.
Finding some way to interject life into a completely broken and dysfunctional offense is of paramount importance over the looming bye week. At least Iowa fans get two weeks to bask in the heroic exploits of a small-town Iowa hero who took a downtrodden team on his back and refused to lose. No one in attendance will ever forget DeJean’s zigzagging, sideline-defying, tackle-breaking dash for glory with less than two minutes left in the game and Iowa trailing by two points.
Once again the Iowa defense did yeoman’s work, holding the gophers to 127 passing yards, 113 rushing yards on a 2.5 yards per game clip and zero touchdowns. Tory Taylor further cemented his frontrunner status for the Ray Guy punting award, nailing nine punts for a 49.3-yard average, four of them pinning Minnesota inside the 20-yard-line.
This doesn’t absolve the Iowa offense from its worse showing to date, which frankly did not seem possible after its slog in Madison. The notion that Deacon Hill – who is now the 160th rated college football quarterback by passer rating out of 160 – gives Iowa the “best chance to win” is ludicrous on its face. I am rarely one to overtly criticize players giving it their all, but unless he is literally falling on his face and fumbling every snap in practice, there is zero chance Joe Labas can’t come in and do at least as well as Hill.
The more disturbing trend was an offensive line and rushing offense that managed to put 200 yards up on Wisconsin when the Badgers knew they had to run completely disappearing and failing to affect the game against Minnesota. Frankly, Iowa probably abandoned the run too early even in the face of limited success. What was Brian Ferentz thinking putting the ball into the air 28 times with a quarterback who can’t pass or navigate a pocket properly? Hey, wide receivers did receive 90-percent of the targets, so I guess that’s something.
Dismay at the continued deterioration of the Hawkeye offense notwithstanding, Iowa sits 7-1 and fully in command of the Big 10 West race, but it certainly feels tenuous. Playing on a razor edge and absolutely relying on either defense or special teams to score feels unsustainable. Sure, it worked again this past Saturday against a decidedly mediocre Gopher squad, but challenges lie ahead.
Wait, I’ve been handed a slip of paper.
What!?
OK, so it seems there’s been some type of error and apparently completely incompetent and asinine Big 10 officiating has marred the correct results of Saturday’s battle for Floyd of Rosedale.
To be honest, I don’t understand what they are telling me. Apparently, DeJean’s totally typical and acceptable pointing to where blockers should deploy was erroneously interpreted as an invalid signal? I mean, 70,000 observers including every single Minnesota player and coach knew DeJean intended to return the punt and reacted accordingly. I saw P.J. Fleck hang his head in utter dejection myself from my seats behind the Gopher bench.
Surely, this is some kind of joke. There is no way this officiating crew could be this obtuse and pathetic and willing to rob a player and his fans of a transcendent moment of glory on a horrific and incorrect interpretation of a subjective rule. That would violate every tenet of sports.
Are we truly supposed to accept that an undeserved loss is Iowa’s punishment for the sins of its abominable offense?
I don’t know about you, but I will never accept this as a legitimate outcome.
Iowa defeated Minnesota for the ninth consecutive time, kept Fleck winless against the Hawkeyes and no pignapped trophy held hostage in Dinkytown is going to convince me otherwise.
Those fans who say Iowa “deserved” to lose because it objectively sucks on offense certainly don’t speak for me or tens of thousands of others who were robbed of a rare and stupendous individual effort that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. We and DeJean deserve better than to have someone bad at their job ruin a beautiful moment.
Iowa won. Minnesota lost. Big 10 officiating remains a joke.
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