Tuesdays With Torbee: Bowl Debacle Boogaloo

[torbee]

Tuesdays with Torbee​

by Tory Brecht
Iowa fans were gifted a second-straight goose egg courtesy of a Brian Ferentz-led offense on New Year’s Day – an inevitable exclamation point marking the end of an ignominious era.

Now, expecting offensive excellence while hamstrung with a backup quarterback and missing your two best pass catchers may be unfair. Even mighty Ohio State managed a mere three points against Missouri -an SEC squad roughly on par with the Tennessee team that manhandled Iowa – faced with the same constraints. And that is with a second and third string littered with four-star recruits, not Fordham-bound castoffs and two-stars like much of Iowa’s bench. Still, some semblance of mere competence should have been attainable. Instead, Iowa’s catastrophic offense not only failed to do its part, it actively assisted Tennessee’s domination via backbreaking turnovers from the quarterback position.

The infuriating thing about the Citrus Bowl performance is that the Iowa staff remained stubbornly committed to a failing strategy long after it was blindingly obvious it was hopeless and the game out of hand. I am under no illusions that freshman quarterback Marco Lainez would have magically led Iowa to victory had he started or been inserted after Deacon Hill handed points to Tennessee on multiple occasions. It is the fact that it wasn’t even a consideration from the Ferentzian brain trust to pull the struggling Hill when everyone else in the stadium and watching on TV could see he had zero chance of success.

This season we’ve seen running backs and receivers benched for fumbles and drops. We’ve seen an excellent kicker pulled after in-game hiccups. Yet a quarterback whose season statistics ended at a 48.6% completion percentage, eight interceptions against only five touchdowns, five lost fumbles and whose poor play in the bowl gifted the Volunteers 21 points is beyond head-scratching and borderline malpractice.

Lainez coming in and immediately scrambling for first downs, making plays with his legs and not gifting the ball to the defense shined the spotlight on that coaching malpractice, which we as Iowa fans have to pray ends when a new offensive coordinator takes control. The worry, of course, is those decisions were more of Kirk’s doing than Brian’s – but I think there is a chance the new coordinator will insist on a level of autonomy Kirk’s son was either unwilling to ask for or deemed unworthy to be afforded.

Objectively, a 10-win season is good by historical Hawkeye standards and possessing three of four traveling trophies (minus the unfairly abducted pig held hostage in Minneapolis) is satisfying. However, being outscored 92-0 by the three ranked teams Iowa played seriously diminishes the accomplishment and dampens fan enthusiasm.

The hope now is that forced-change results in tangible progress.


Despite the sour taste the Big 10 Championship and bowl games left in fans’ mouths, I submit there are grounds for optimism.

​

Two of the three phases necessary for football success are well-stocked with talented players and in great coaching hands. High school recruiting is on the uptick and Kirk Ferentz has proven surprisingly willing and adept at using the transfer portal to shore up weak spots on the roster.

This makes the pending offensive coordinator hire arguably the most important since Ferentz’s first construction of a staff in 1998. Get it right, and the opportunity is there for a legacy-defining final run. Get it wrong and fan apathy and anger is likely to bring the era to an unhappy conclusion. This may sound overly dramatic, but I believe it to be true.

I’m also not afraid of the end of Big 10 divisions or the expansion of the conference with new West Coast blood. Iowa’s program is solid enough to be a player in that more challenging environment, provided its leaders continue to adapt and evolve.

Some will push back and say the aging and stubborn Kirk Ferentz is unwilling or unable to adapt and evolve. I would push back and say that’s isn’t true – it is just that he will do it on his own timetable, which feels glacial to Iowa’s “what have you done for me lately” fanbase.

In other words, brace yourselves for another microwave reference at Kirk’s season-ending press conference. And hope he brings in a slow-food loving sous chef to cook up a functional offense.

 

[bagdropper]

Brian had a full month to get the offense prepared, and they'd be facing a defense that lost an awful lot of their secondary.

We got 0 points and about 100 yards out of the Hill-led offense.

A fitting end to The Brian Ferentz Experience.

 

[cheeselog8]

Not to nitpick but any reference to microwaves on GIAOT requires credit be given to @Moral. TIA

 

[goldmom]

Torbs, that’s an outstanding piece.
Good for you and fingers crossed for Iowa Hawkeyes football.

 

[Old_wrestling_fan]

Overall, a very good write up Torbs...I agree with all of it, in particular the segment below...

"The infuriating thing about the Citrus Bowl performance is that the Iowa staff remained stubbornly committed to a failing strategy long after it was blindingly obvious it was hopeless and the game out of hand."

It is AMAZING to me that a function as high profile AND expensive to maintain as the Iowa FB team can be led by someone so incredibly stubborn and/or blind to what so many can see. (I grant that Ferentz and Co. do an awful lot of things very, very well...but what they do badly, they seem to be so blind to that it defies description.)

 

[SolarHawk]

Not to nitpick but any reference to microwaves on GIAOT requires credit be given to @Moral. TIA

 

[Fan In Black]

I laughed. I cried.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

Anybody else remember thinking after the 2017 tOSU game that Brian might be a good OC.?

Then go out the very next week and put up 60 yds v Wisconsin?

Great memories 🙃

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Anybody else remember thinking aster the 2017 tOSU game that Brian might be a good OC.?

Then go out the very next week and put up 60 yds v Wisconsin?

Great memories 🙃

And a certain Holiday Bowl, although defense played a big part there as well.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

And a certain Holiday Bowl, although defense played a big part there as well.

Consistency was his problem the first couple years.

Great glimpses and then mediocrity.

Unfortunately he became consistently horrendous 😂

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Consistency was his problem the first couple years.

Great glimpses and then mediocrity.

Unfortunately he became consistently horrendous 😂

The last glimpses of decent offense, there was Jackson at LT, Linderbaum at C, Wirfs at RT and Kallenberger at one of the guard spots. The next year it was just Linderbaum. At least we still had a decent QB sneak that year.

 

[ICWestfan]

Two of the three phases necessary for football success are well-stocked with talented players and in great coaching hands. High school recruiting is on the uptick and Kirk Ferentz has proven surprisingly willing and adept at using the transfer portal to shore up weak spots on the roster.

First, thanks for the article. Second, just to nitpick on the above, last years portal was mostly a failure aside from Jackson. I'd give CMcN an incomplete, as well as All, Parker was a miss, SA disappeared, KB didn't appear until game 9, Feth was I guess serviceable, Hill was an abject failure.

While KF was willing to address soft spots on the roster, I wouldn't call him/them adept. If you consider them adept, then then the portal additions were plain "misused" by this coaching staff and another reason to point out their ineptitude.

Edit to add- In thinking about what I said, I probably should wait to see who returns and what they provide.
Cheers!

 

[torbee]

Two of the three phases necessary for football success are well-stocked with talented players and in great coaching hands. High school recruiting is on the uptick and Kirk Ferentz has proven surprisingly willing and adept at using the transfer portal to shore up weak spots on the roster.

First, thanks for the article. Second, just to nitpick on the above, last years portal was mostly a failure aside from Jackson. I'd give CMcN an incomplete, as well as All, Parker was a miss, SA disappeared, KB didn't appear until game 9, Feth was I guess serviceable, Hill was an abject failure.

While KF was willing to address soft spots on the roster, I wouldn't call him/them adept. If you consider them adept, then then the portal additions were plain "misused" by this coaching staff and another reason to point out their ineptitude.

Edit to add- In thinking about what I said, I probably should wait to see who returns and what they provide.
Cheers!

I don’t see how you can give McNamara or All anything but an incomplete. Hell, I think All led the team in receiving yards and he hasn’t played since before Halloween!

 

[FlickShagwell]

Anybody else remember thinking after the 2017 tOSU game that Brian might be a good OC.?

Then go out the very next week and put up 60 yds v Wisconsin?

Great memories 🙃

So after that Ohio State game the Cedar Rapids Gazette had the headline “Woodshed Iowa” and of course someone made a tshirt of it, which I promptly ordered. I was going with @torbee to the Wisconsin game in Madison the following week and hoped to sport it in Camp Randall. The shirt didn’t make it in time, but was waiting for me when I got home from the asswhipping in Wisconsin, which kinda felt like the universe was mocking me. I still wear it to this day, bittersweet as it is.

 

[QChawks]

debacle isn’t the word I would have used

 

[Bearhawk0505]

Anybody else remember thinking after the 2017 tOSU game that Brian might be a good OC.?

Then go out the very next week and put up 60 yds v Wisconsin?

Great memories 🙃

I think one of the most overlooked parts of Brian’s tenure was having two former O Coordinators in the room with him, Polesak and KOK. Once they both left, Brian’s ineptitude was exposed.

 

[sober_teacher]

With whoever the new OC is, and any new coaches that come in, if any, the question for me is if there’s more talent on O than many seem to think, vs how much was due to the inept coaching/scheme.

Personally, while I don’t think we’re stacked with NFL talent or anything, I do think there’s more talent than people think. I truly believe the scheme/playcalling was simply that bad.

 

[torbee]

With whoever the new OC is, and any new coaches that come in, if any, the question for me is if there’s more talent on O than many seem to think, vs how much was due to the inept coaching/scheme.

Personally, while I don’t think we’re stacked with NFL talent or anything, I do think there’s more talent than people think. I truly believe the scheme/playcalling was simply that bad.

You only need to watch a mid-level MAC team play for 5 minutes to realize Iowa could be doing SOMETHING better on offense with the talent they have.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

So after that Ohio State game the Cedar Rapids Gazette had the headline “Woodshed Iowa” and of course someone made a tshirt of it, which I promptly ordered. I was going with @torbee to the Wisconsin game in Madison the following week and hoped to sport it in Camp Randall. The shirt didn’t make it in time, but was waiting for me when I got home from the asswhipping in Wisconsin, which kinda felt like the universe was mocking me. I still wear it to this day, bittersweet as it is.

The t-shirt is a must wear.

 

[ICWestfan]

With whoever the new OC is, and any new coaches that come in, if any, the question for me is if there’s more talent on O than many seem to think, vs how much was due to the inept coaching/scheme.

Personally, while I don’t think we’re stacked with NFL talent or anything, I do think there’s more talent than people think. I truly believe the scheme/playcalling was simply that bad.

You still have to block, and catch the ball, and hit the holes, and complete the pass. This Iowa team is woefully lacking in talent, at every position outside of TE if Lachey and All come back.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

I think one of the most overlooked parts of Brian’s tenure was having two former O Coordinators in the room with him, Polesak and KOK. Once they both left, Brian’s ineptitude was exposed.

Good point.

 

[sober_teacher]

You still have to block, and catch the ball, and hit the holes, and complete the pass. This Iowa team is woefully lacking in talent, at every position outside of TE if Lachey and All come back.

Given how difficult Iowa scheme made everything, Im not sure I totally agree with this take.

Passing tree concepts do a poor job of helping receivers create separation, the OL constantly had to block 8 and 9 man fronts, requiring near-perfect blocking to create holes to run through; quarterbacks did not often move off their spot when passing, making it harder to pass pro, etc.

I’m not saying there isn’t a talent issue, but I do think it’s not as bad as the bad scheme made it look.

 

[Chewback]

Tuesdays with Torbee​

by Tory Brecht
Iowa fans were gifted a second-straight goose egg courtesy of a Brian Ferentz-led offense on New Year’s Day – an inevitable exclamation point marking the end of an ignominious era.

Now, expecting offensive excellence while hamstrung with a backup quarterback and missing your two best pass catchers may be unfair. Even mighty Ohio State managed a mere three points against Missouri -an SEC squad roughly on par with the Tennessee team that manhandled Iowa – faced with the same constraints. And that is with a second and third string littered with four-star recruits, not Fordham-bound castoffs and two-stars like much of Iowa’s bench. Still, some semblance of mere competence should have been attainable. Instead, Iowa’s catastrophic offense not only failed to do its part, it actively assisted Tennessee’s domination via backbreaking turnovers from the quarterback position.

The infuriating thing about the Citrus Bowl performance is that the Iowa staff remained stubbornly committed to a failing strategy long after it was blindingly obvious it was hopeless and the game out of hand. I am under no illusions that freshman quarterback Marco Lainez would have magically led Iowa to victory had he started or been inserted after Deacon Hill handed points to Tennessee on multiple occasions. It is the fact that it wasn’t even a consideration from the Ferentzian brain trust to pull the struggling Hill when everyone else in the stadium and watching on TV could see he had zero chance of success.

This season we’ve seen running backs and receivers benched for fumbles and drops. We’ve seen an excellent kicker pulled after in-game hiccups. Yet a quarterback whose season statistics ended at a 48.6% completion percentage, eight interceptions against only five touchdowns, five lost fumbles and whose poor play in the bowl gifted the Volunteers 21 points is beyond head-scratching and borderline malpractice.

Lainez coming in and immediately scrambling for first downs, making plays with his legs and not gifting the ball to the defense shined the spotlight on that coaching malpractice, which we as Iowa fans have to pray ends when a new offensive coordinator takes control. The worry, of course, is those decisions were more of Kirk’s doing than Brian’s – but I think there is a chance the new coordinator will insist on a level of autonomy Kirk’s son was either unwilling to ask for or deemed unworthy to be afforded.

Objectively, a 10-win season is good by historical Hawkeye standards and possessing three of four traveling trophies (minus the unfairly abducted pig held hostage in Minneapolis) is satisfying. However, being outscored 92-0 by the three ranked teams Iowa played seriously diminishes the accomplishment and dampens fan enthusiasm.

The hope now is that forced-change results in tangible progress.


Despite the sour taste the Big 10 Championship and bowl games left in fans’ mouths, I submit there are grounds for optimism.

​

Two of the three phases necessary for football success are well-stocked with talented players and in great coaching hands. High school recruiting is on the uptick and Kirk Ferentz has proven surprisingly willing and adept at using the transfer portal to shore up weak spots on the roster.

This makes the pending offensive coordinator hire arguably the most important since Ferentz’s first construction of a staff in 1998. Get it right, and the opportunity is there for a legacy-defining final run. Get it wrong and fan apathy and anger is likely to bring the era to an unhappy conclusion. This may sound overly dramatic, but I believe it to be true.

I’m also not afraid of the end of Big 10 divisions or the expansion of the conference with new West Coast blood. Iowa’s program is solid enough to be a player in that more challenging environment, provided its leaders continue to adapt and evolve.

Some will push back and say the aging and stubborn Kirk Ferentz is unwilling or unable to adapt and evolve. I would push back and say that’s isn’t true – it is just that he will do it on his own timetable, which feels glacial to Iowa’s “what have you done for me lately” fanbase.

In other words, brace yourselves for another microwave reference at Kirk’s season-ending press conference. And hope he brings in a slow-food loving sous chef to cook up a functional offense.

Hey! He gives us our best chance to win.

Seriously, Torbs, you've been watching Kirk Ferentz coached football as long as I have and yet you write stuff like that?

The next OC will have exactly the same autonomy that Brian and all the previous OCs have had - EXACTLY NONE!! And it has absolutely nothing to do with Kirk aging, this is how he's always been!

I fully expect Hill to be the starting QB next year because once Kirk picks a starting QB, he's the starting QB until he dies. Or gets busted up so bad he can't walk back on the field. Even then...

It is what it is, bud. Accept it.

 

[Greenway4Prez]

When discussing Iowa’s offense, I always go back to Kansas. The roster that Lance Leipold inherited was littered with guys that Iowa would offer as a last resort. They had a top 20 offense by his 15th game.

New Mexico had one of the few offenses worse than Iowa’s in 2022. New OC, they go from bottom 5 to 44th in total offense.

There are coaches out there who can get a competent offense out of this roster.

 

[sober_teacher]

Hey! He gives us our best chance to win.

Seriously, Torbs, you've been watching Kirk Ferentz coached football as long as I have and yet you write stuff like that?

The next OC will have exactly the same autonomy that Brian and all the previous OCs have had - EXACTLY NONE!! And it has absolutely nothing to do with Kirk aging, this is how he's always been!

I fully expect Hill to be the starting QB next year because once Kirk picks a starting QB, he's the starting QB until he dies. Or gets busted up so bad he can't walk back on the field. Even then...

It is what it is, bud. Accept it.

You care to wager that Hill is anything more than 3rd on depth chart next season?

 

[Jimmy McGill]

I'll give Kirk until OC hire, but I'm done with stubbornness.

 

[Jimmy McGill]

It is not complimentary football when offense is the worst in the nation.

 

[billanole]

Tuesdays with Torbee​

by Tory Brecht
Iowa fans were gifted a second-straight goose egg courtesy of a Brian Ferentz-led offense on New Year’s Day – an inevitable exclamation point marking the end of an ignominious era.

Now, expecting offensive excellence while hamstrung with a backup quarterback and missing your two best pass catchers may be unfair. Even mighty Ohio State managed a mere three points against Missouri -an SEC squad roughly on par with the Tennessee team that manhandled Iowa – faced with the same constraints. And that is with a second and third string littered with four-star recruits, not Fordham-bound castoffs and two-stars like much of Iowa’s bench. Still, some semblance of mere competence should have been attainable. Instead, Iowa’s catastrophic offense not only failed to do its part, it actively assisted Tennessee’s domination via backbreaking turnovers from the quarterback position.

The infuriating thing about the Citrus Bowl performance is that the Iowa staff remained stubbornly committed to a failing strategy long after it was blindingly obvious it was hopeless and the game out of hand. I am under no illusions that freshman quarterback Marco Lainez would have magically led Iowa to victory had he started or been inserted after Deacon Hill handed points to Tennessee on multiple occasions. It is the fact that it wasn’t even a consideration from the Ferentzian brain trust to pull the struggling Hill when everyone else in the stadium and watching on TV could see he had zero chance of success.

This season we’ve seen running backs and receivers benched for fumbles and drops. We’ve seen an excellent kicker pulled after in-game hiccups. Yet a quarterback whose season statistics ended at a 48.6% completion percentage, eight interceptions against only five touchdowns, five lost fumbles and whose poor play in the bowl gifted the Volunteers 21 points is beyond head-scratching and borderline malpractice.

Lainez coming in and immediately scrambling for first downs, making plays with his legs and not gifting the ball to the defense shined the spotlight on that coaching malpractice, which we as Iowa fans have to pray ends when a new offensive coordinator takes control. The worry, of course, is those decisions were more of Kirk’s doing than Brian’s – but I think there is a chance the new coordinator will insist on a level of autonomy Kirk’s son was either unwilling to ask for or deemed unworthy to be afforded.

Objectively, a 10-win season is good by historical Hawkeye standards and possessing three of four traveling trophies (minus the unfairly abducted pig held hostage in Minneapolis) is satisfying. However, being outscored 92-0 by the three ranked teams Iowa played seriously diminishes the accomplishment and dampens fan enthusiasm.

The hope now is that forced-change results in tangible progress.


Despite the sour taste the Big 10 Championship and bowl games left in fans’ mouths, I submit there are grounds for optimism.

​

Two of the three phases necessary for football success are well-stocked with talented players and in great coaching hands. High school recruiting is on the uptick and Kirk Ferentz has proven surprisingly willing and adept at using the transfer portal to shore up weak spots on the roster.

This makes the pending offensive coordinator hire arguably the most important since Ferentz’s first construction of a staff in 1998. Get it right, and the opportunity is there for a legacy-defining final run. Get it wrong and fan apathy and anger is likely to bring the era to an unhappy conclusion. This may sound overly dramatic, but I believe it to be true.

I’m also not afraid of the end of Big 10 divisions or the expansion of the conference with new West Coast blood. Iowa’s program is solid enough to be a player in that more challenging environment, provided its leaders continue to adapt and evolve.

Some will push back and say the aging and stubborn Kirk Ferentz is unwilling or unable to adapt and evolve. I would push back and say that’s isn’t true – it is just that he will do it on his own timetable, which feels glacial to Iowa’s “what have you done for me lately” fanbase.

In other words, brace yourselves for another microwave reference at Kirk’s season-ending press conference. And hope he brings in a slow-food loving sous chef to cook up a functional offense.

Good work Torbs. Really.

 

[win4jj]

debacle isn’t the word I would have used

Debaclasive

 

[GOHOX69]

Kirk, in his press conference, referred to Marco Lainez, as the "new guy." Then he got misty eyes talking about Deacon Hill. Haha.

 

[joelbc1]

Brian had a full month to get the offense prepared, and they'd be facing a defense that lost an awful lot of their secondary.

We got 0 points and about 100 yards out of the Hill-led offense.

A fitting end to The Brian Ferentz Experience.

A paraplegic may have a month to prepare for a 100 yd.. Dash too…..doesn’t mean he’s gonna win…. Or even place or show….Its tough to compete when you don’t have legs!

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

When discussing Iowa’s offense, I always go back to Kansas. The roster that Lance Leipold inherited was littered with guys that Iowa would offer as a last resort. They had a top 20 offense by his 15th game.

New Mexico had one of the few offenses worse than Iowa’s in 2022. New OC, they go from bottom 5 to 44th in total offense.

There are coaches out there who can get a competent offense out of this roster.

My thing is with the defense we have coming back all we really need to be in contention next year is a mediocre/competent offense.

For reference the Hawks were 130 out of 130 in total offense. 129 had 30 more yards of offense a game

Anway. Lets say the Hawks put up the 90th ranked offense next year. Not an impossible dream...but Auburn which ranked 90th had was over 100 yds better per game. If the Hawks were to make that kind of leap...we're competitive with this defense.

Don't need a good or even great offense next year to make a world of difference.

Everyone is understandably gloom and doom...watching this HORRIFICLY bad offense will do that to you. But the Hawks won 10 games (yes the schedule was weak) with maybe one of the most historically bad offense in the history of college football. At least in the modern era.

Make the leap to mediocrity and we're in business and that isn't outside the realm of possibility.

 

[auntie_fah]

The infuriating thing about the Citrus Bowl performance is that the Iowa staff remained stubbornly committed to a failing strategy long after it was blindingly obvious it was hopeless and the game out of hand.

You were “embracing the suck” with the failing offensive strategy when they couldnt get out of their own damn way and struggled to grind out wins against shit B1G west teams.

I dont know why anybody expected anything different than what happened, considering the body of work this season, to make it so infuriating for you.

 

[torbee]

You were “embracing the suck” with the failing offensive strategy when they couldnt get out of their own damn way and struggled to grind out wins against shit B1G west teams.

I dont know why anybody expected anything different than what happened, considering the body of work this season, to make it so infuriating for you.

I will never complain about wins.

I’ve written extensively the past few seasons that Iowa will remain good-not-great until it develops a cogent offense.

I think that has proven to be the case.

 

[auntie_fah]

I will never complain about wins.

I’ve written extensively the past few seasons that Iowa will remain good-not-great until it develops a cogent offense.

I think that has proven to be the case.

the citrus bowl should not have infuriated anybody given the body of the work over the season.

Embrace the suck

 

[pink shizzle]

I laughed. I cried.

 

[joelbc1]

the citrus bowl should not have infuriated anybody given the body of the work over the season.

Embrace the suck

The 2024 Citrus Bowl should be what the 1970 USC vs. ‘Bama game was for Bama fans....a real wake up call. Of course the difference was Bear Bryant scheduled that game knowing what it would show....
Iowa’s qb position has sunk to lows not seen since FXL/Commings days...and the o-line struggles are more serious than admitted to...

 

[OrlandNole]

Is a Bowl Debacle Boogaloo comparable to an Electric Boogaloo?

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

The 2024 Citrus Bowl should be what the 1970 USC vs. ‘Bama game was for Bama fans....a real wake up call. Of course the difference was Bear Bryant scheduled that game knowing what it would show....
Iowa’s qb position has sunk to lows not seen since FXL/Commings days...and the o-line struggles are more serious than admitted to...

Even Francis X. Laturbur converted Frank Sunderman to tight end.

 

[blhawk]

So after that Ohio State game the Cedar Rapids Gazette had the headline “Woodshed Iowa” and of course someone made a tshirt of it, which I promptly ordered. I was going with @torbee to the Wisconsin game in Madison the following week and hoped to sport it in Camp Randall. The shirt didn’t make it in time, but was waiting for me when I got home from the asswhipping in Wisconsin, which kinda felt like the universe was mocking me. I still wear it to this day, bittersweet as it is.

Nice game. They scored less than 20 points in 4 of the 5 games before that game and the 2 games after. Losing big ten record even with that "woodshed" win. Yippee