Well folks, Saturday was not a super fun game by any stretch of the imagination, was it? The Iowa Hawkeyes got beat in almost every facet of the game by Ohio State. However, this is also true of every other opponent Ohio State has played this year except Texas, so it’s not necessarily the end of the world, or the season.
What might not bode well for the rest of the season, though, is the injury report from the game, and on a short week, at that. This was always going to be a challenging game for Iowa,
but the (likely) absence of Hank Brown will definitely make things more interesting.
The outcomes of the season this far have been slightly better than expected, but if Hank Brown is out for longer than expected and Jeremy Hecklinski can’t get it done as the new QB1, things could go off the rails quickly, especially considering the complete disappearance of the run game. It’s not time to panic, but things are definitely going to get interesting here.
But, my take is neither here nor there. Let’s check in with Kirk Ferentz and see how he feels about everything! Check out the full transcript HERE and my highlights and commentary below.
Q. You mentioned Hank Brown’s questionable, so I’m going to ask what is the preparation going to look like for him in terms of leading up, especially with it being a short week, and how prepared does Hecklinski need to be to potentially step into a role in Seattle?
KIRK FERENTZ: The good news for Hank is he’s gotten a lot of reps over the last X amount of weeks, so that’s the good news. He’s limited what he can do right now, so we’ll see. We can’t count on him, I think that would be short-sighted on our part.
The other good news is Jeremy’s done a great job. He really has. I complimented him yesterday in our team meeting. He went and played really well. I think that’s a real tribute to the way he’s practiced. That was a very visible — we have a lot of back and forths on the depth chart, but everybody’s watching the quarterback thing.
I know he’s had to be disappointed the way things turned out, but it’s a real credit, I think, to him and his character the way he’s practiced. That’s what he should do, but it’s not always that easy to do what you’re supposed to do.
He’s really practiced well. I think that showed up on Saturday. As I’ve been saying, I feel like we have two good quarterbacks right now, and I think that showed on Saturday. We’ll play with whoever is ready to go.
The other thing of note with this is the opposite as well: what if Hecklinski comes in for relief for Hank Brown and absolutely crushes it? Then are we back to square one with the quarterback controversy? Is Hank’s spot as QB1 guaranteed? I hate that it seems like all we ever talk about is quarterback, but it’s a valid question to ask. In reality, hopefully Hecklinski does what he needs to do, Hank gets healthy and we go back to the status-quo. But it’s certainly a possibility that this conversation gets reopened.
Q. Obviously QB competition went all the way to the wire here. If you do have to start Jeremy or do plan to start Jeremy, how much does that competition or letting it play out, I guess, all that time, how much do you feel that could benefit you guys in a situation like this?
KIRK FERENTZ: I don’t think there’s any downside to having two good players. We feel good about Hank. Right now it’s just a matter of can he go physically? Based on what I know thus far — and he’s still got three days here, so anything can happen — but based on what I know thus far, it would be foolish for us to say he’s starting. If he does, great. If he doesn’t, we go with Jeremy, and we’re ready to do it.
I guess the good news is one benefit about it being so close, it’s so far proven to be accurate. Whoever’s in there is the guy we’ll go with and not worry about it. We’ll have a week after this game is over to contemplate and see where things are. We’ll have more information then too. Really our focus is just on getting ready.
I complimented Heck the way he jumped in there and never really flinched on Saturday. Again, he’ll do the same thing this week. I don’t know why he wouldn’t.
Heck did look good on Saturday, probably the best he’s looked all season. It will be really interesting to see how he looks with a full week of practice with the 1s, and with a little bit more in-game experience, even if did come when Ohio State was playing backups. Yes, Kirk, there’s no downside to having two good players – look at the NFL’s current trend of having starting or just below starting-caliber backup QBs on an increasing number of teams. The difference here is that no on in the NFL is saying that you’d rather have Trey Lance starting over Justin Herbert (or do they…?).
Q. I always like to use the phrase that you know more football than we’ll ever forget, especially when it comes to like the offensive line and the running game. When you evaluate where the run game’s at right now, how close do you feel like it is? Does it look a lot closer to breaking through than it looks like from our perception? I know you’re not hitting the panic button quite yet, but can you just take us through what you’re seeing and what you guys want to continue to build toward in the run game?
KIRK FERENTZ: It will take a lot to make me hit the panic button. That’s a bad button to hit. I guess there’s bigger ones. Yeah, it’s just moving forward. That’s one thing typically that’s what film shows is how close you’re on some things and what have you, but there are a lot of factors that go into everything that happens out there typically.
Part of it’s your competition as well. Statistics and polls are just something this time of year I’m not going to worry too much about. Obviously we’re cognizant of it and working to address everything, but we’ll know more here in about four or five weeks where we’re at. I guess that’s the best way I can put it.
In the meantime, we’re working as hard as we can. It comes down to the little details to your point. Little things are big things, and it’s always been that way in football, unless you just have supreme talent or great ability that maybe somebody else doesn’t have. It’s something we’re working on certainly.
I’m optimistic we’ll be fine, but still got to go out and do it. At some point we’ve got to do it. I do know this, we’re a better team if we can be balanced. The more balanced we are, the better we’ll be. I know that’s historically been the case other than maybe ’04. That wasn’t by choice. It was what it was, so had to do it.
The run game’s struggle has been the most surprising aspect of the season for me. I can’t remember a time when an Iowa offensive line and running back room could just maul the clearly inferior guys on all levels, but get absolutely demolished in return against P4-level competition. It feels like the run game is getting abandoned extremely quickly in favor of the pass game, which is not something I ever thought I would type for a Kirk Ferentz offense. Balance is the key here, but I don’t know how that will come about if the lack of opportunities to establish the run game continues like it has.
Q. I know a point for you going into this season was with the offensive line, making sure you had the right five guys in the right five places. Is there any consideration to trying Kade Pieper at center, to moving someone within the five, or potentially looking outside of that five to give someone else a chance? Or do you feel like it’s still you have three new starters and that group just needs more time to grow together?
KIRK FERENTZ: I think based on what I know right now, we feel pretty good that we have the right guys out there doing the right things. You’re always keeping an open eye to everything, a fresh eye to everything, every possibility. We’ll have a chance to regroup on that one a little bit next week too.
I guess just be careful about evaluating guys that — again, to me it’s really early right now. Pieper hasn’t played a lot of center, but he could play very well. Down the road I could see him playing it like all the time.
Coincidentally, I just complimented Cael in the weight room yesterday morning just on what he’s done thus far. Watching the film on Sunday, he’s just quietly playing really well. If you think about he’s played five games in college, I think he’s doing a really good job.
He had one or two plays on Saturday that aren’t representative of the kind of the player he is and the way he’s been playing. But it dawned on me the other day that he just kind of — it’s a good thing because you really haven’t noticed him because he’s doing a good job. I start thinking about it, this guy’s played five games. I think he’s really been pretty impressive.
He’s got the advantage of being a little bit older. He’s not a first or second year guy, so he’s got a little more physical maturity. But I’m really pleased with his progress, his development. I think those guys are all improving weekly. We’ll get there. We just have to keep getting better.
A great question here from the media, and an answer I take at face value from Kirk. If he thinks that this is the right lineup, it’s probably the right lineup…but the offensive line definitely needs to improve fast. Pass protection is strong, but the lack of run game production truly cannot continue. There’s too much talent on both the line and in the RB room to just waste it. Speaking of that talent…
Q. Another one on the run game. Keep in mind, kind of like what David said, we’re just kind of throwing stuff at the wall here, but is there any concern about the lack of continuity with the running back room? I know you love the depth of the group, but is there any concern that the lack of continuity, having four guys and some of them are injured, they’re in and out, that leads to the lack of consistency the last couple games?
KIRK FERENTZ: I don’t know, it’s an unusual situation to your point, and I’ve thought about that. My guess is at some point somebody’s going to try to grab it here a little bit and take it.
Then the flip side of that too, because I have thought about that, it’s kind of unusual, two weeks ago had a couple of guys that really couldn’t go. LJ missed a couple weeks. Kamari was limited a week ago, I guess it would have been. So that gave other guys an opportunity to really step up and go.
Maybe one of the positives there, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say some of the experience that Braeden Jackson has gotten here early in the season is part of the reason he had the confidence to do what he did at Michigan. That was a really decisive return.
So there’s benefit to it all, but my guess is — again, I’m not a fortune teller, but I think as we move along, things will probably settle out, and we’ll kind of get locked in a little bit more.
Yeah, there’s only one ball, and we’re going to throw it too. There’s only one ball.
I’m not sure what the answer is here. I mean I think it’s clear that Moulton is the top guy, but it’s tough to settle in on him getting 95% of the snaps when the other guys, especially Phillips, have such different attributes that are useful in different situations. I’m not sure of the solution here, but I think eventually we start to see the number of backs dwindle, especially if the run game continues to struggle and really needs a jolt at some point.
Let’s end with this:
Q. You mentioned this in your opening statement, but you’ve never been to Husky Stadium.
KIRK FERENTZ: How about that? I’ve been to the Kingdome, what a dump. Like the Metrodome, you know. It was good in its day.
Q. As a coach that’s been in as many different stadiums as you have, how weird is it to reach this point in your career and be like, yeah, this will be a good one?
KIRK FERENTZ: I’ve never been in the old Oakland one either. They don’t have a team anymore, but that’s another one I never hit. I’ll find a positive. They have good lockers rooms, I hear. That’s rare in college football. You can’t believe how bad the locker rooms are.
They’ve got a good one because the Seahawks were in there for a while, which usually means you’ve got a good locker room if the pro teams go in there. They at least have standards. We don’t have standards. You ought to see some of these locker rooms. We’ve got a good one, and Minnesota has a good one, too.
Anyway, we’ll look forward to that. The biggest thing is the opponent we’re playing. They’re a good team, and they’re hungry for a win, just like we are. That’s going to be one of those games, I think.
Coming up next on BTN: Locker room tours with Kirk Ferentz. I’d watch…
