Thoughts on Ohio State Game

It was a fitting end to the home season. Before the game I thought that if Iowa were to lose the game it would be because of one part of the game that has plagued Iowa all year long: a special team’s blunder, the defense not being able to make a stop in the fourth quarter, or the offense not sustaining a drive late in the game. Instead, this game contained elements of all three. Freshman kicker Michael Meyer missed from 40 yards in the second quarter, the defense gave up a 12 play, 76 yard drive in the fourth quarter that put the Buckeyes ahead, and the offense was unable to sustain a drive prior to that Ohio State scoring drive and was once again unable to operate a two minute offense late in the game. While there were several other plays that Iowa was unable to execute, those three instances encapsulate what has gone wrong this season.

For the twenty six seniors that played their final game at Kinnick, it was another heartbreaking loss that simply furthered the point that the margin of victory at Iowa has been and always will be slim. In 2008, Iowa went 9-4 with the four losses coming by a total of twelve points. The margin of victory in the four losses this season has been by a total of fifteen points. College football is a fickle sport where the bounce of a ball here or there can completely change the dynamics of a game. Add the fact that 18-22 year olds are the ones involved and there is a recipe for uncertainty one week to the next. For whatever reason the ball has not bounced Iowa’s way this season. Some say that teams create their own luck, but for whatever reason Iowa has not been able to make the big plays when it has mattered this year to re-create the luck and magic of 2009.

As much as all of these losses have stung for the fans this year, they have hurt the players even more. After all of the 5 a.m. weightlifting sessions and the sprint workouts during the dead heat of July, the pain of the losses must make those workouts seem like exercises in futility—no pun intended. Thus, it was nice to see the Iowa fans give those seniors the applause and support they deserved as they ran on to the field for their final time as Iowa Hawkeyes.

At this point in the season Iowa is playing for pride. Iowa travels to rival Minnesota on Saturday where they will play at TCF Bank for the first time against a Gopher squad that has only won two games this year and sports a rush defense that is dead last in the Big Ten. While Iowa fans have circled this game as an automatic win for several months, it is hard to tell the mentality of this team given what has happened. I am looking forward to see how this team responds knowing that a quality bowl appearance is still possible, but I would not be surprised to see the offense sputter the way it has the past few weeks.