By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – A week ago, the Kirk Ferentz bashers were silent because even they couldn’t find fault with a stunning 55-24 dismantling of Ohio State.

But now they’re out in full force again, fueled by the 38-14 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday in which the Iowa offense had arguably its worst performance in 19 seasons under Ferentz, gaining just 66 yards on 50 plays.

It was worse than any of the beat downs that occurred during Ferentz’s first two seasons as head coach when the program was trying to gain traction under his watch.

It was worse than any of the horizontal nightmares that occurred during Greg Davis’ first season as offensive coordinator in 2012.

And it was worse than any of Iowa’s recent beat downs in bowl games. And that’s saying a lot.

The 66 yards, which included just 25 rushing yards, was the lowest output for Iowa under Ferentz and the fewest yards that Wisconsin has allowed to a Big Ten opponent ever.

It would be hard to take under any circumstances. But with Ferentz being the longest tenured head coach at the FBS level, the misery and frustration is magnified.

At least for this coming week, Ferentz Fatigue has resurfaced for some fans and it’ll probably take a convincing win over Purdue on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium to make it go away.

Iowa still has a realistic chance of finishing the regular season with an 8-4 record, although, the game at Nebraska on Black Friday could be dangerous simply because it’s on the road where the Iowa offense has scored just two touchdowns in three Big Ten games this season.

You’d like to think that Iowa could sustain a rushing attack against Nebraska’s sieve-like defense, which allowed a whopping 409 rushing yards during a loss to Minnesota on Saturday.

But with Iowa, it's hard to predict what team will show up that day, especially on the road.

Or maybe it isn't hard to predict because a disturbing pattern has developed.  

Iowa has combined to rush for 133 yards on 89 attempts in its three Big Ten road losses this season. That is an average of 1.5 yards per carry, which is unacceptable.

Injuries have certainly been a factor on the offensive line, with senior right tackle Ike Boettger having been out since the Iowa State game in week 2 because of an Achilles injury, and with senior guard Boone Myers hobbled for the entire season because of an ankle injury.

They would have made a big difference, but the offensive line at this stage under Ferentz should be able to absorb personnel losses better than it has this season.

A number of factors have contributed to Iowa’s up-and-down season, but none are bigger than the inability to sustain a rushing attack.

It would be easy to blame first-year offensive line coach Tim Polasek for Iowa’s rushing woes, but this has been a lingering problem.

As was pointed out to me on Twitter, Iowa hasn't finished higher than 49th nationally in rushing since 2009, which is the year after Shonn Green rushed for a school-record 1,850 yards in 2008 and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top collegiate running back. 

Even during last season when Iowa had two 1,000-yard rushers for the first time in school history the ground attack sputtered at key moments.

Iowa was held to 83 or fewer rushing yards in four of its five losses last season, including 34 yards against North Dakota State and 30 against Penn State.

Iowa still won the Joe Moore Award last season as the nation’s top collegiate offensive line. But it seemed more like a lifetime achievement award for Kirk Ferentz, whose area of expertise is the offensive line.

Wisconsin held Iowa to 25 rushing yards on 26 carries in Saturday’s game. That statistic contributed to the loss more than anything else because the Iowa offense relies on its rushing attack to lead the way.

Iowa isn’t built to be one-dimensional, especially when that one dimension is passing.

“We just have to play consistently,” said Iowa junior center James Daniels. “Wisconsin, with the way they played today, I mean their defense, the way they were playing, they were everywhere. They played a very good game against us.”

Wisconsin certainly deserves some credit for what happened on Saturday, especially considering it was missing two of its top linebackers because of injuries.

But the Iowa offensive line still failed to deliver for reasons that go beyond just injuries.

Daniels is healthy and so is senior guard Sean Welsh, both of whom are quality offensive linemen and respected leaders.

Iowa also has one of the Big Ten’s most explosive running backs in senior Akrum Wadley. But he barely 190 pounds and needs space in order to be effective.

Unfortunately, for Wadley, space has been hard to find this season.

Some of the blame has been placed on having two freshmen starting at the two tackle positions. Redshirt freshman Alaric Jackson has started the entire season at left tackle, while true freshman Tristan Wirfs has started the last five games at right tackle.

They both have struggled at times, but they also must be the best options at the two tackle positions or they wouldn’t be playing this season.

So instead of blaming Jackson and Wirfs for Iowa’s problems, it might make more sense to question Iowa’s depth on the offensive line.

It makes little sense to question Iowa's zone blocking schemes or its approach to recruiting offensive linemen because we have seen the rushing attack thrive under Kirk Ferentz and because the Iowa coaches know what they're doing. Just look at how many offensive linemen they have sent to the NFL.

But something is wrong because the rushing statistics point to a glaring problem.

Iowa and Wisconsin are considered similar in so many ways as team’s that rely on power rushing attacks to be effective.

"It’s been pretty much a back-and-forth series,” Ferentz said after Saturday’s game. “But they’ve got a really good football team, and tonight we played the '17 team. That’s the only one that counts.”

Ferentz is correct about the series being back and forth with the two teams having split the last 14 games.

But recent facts would suggest otherwise.

Wisconsin has won five of the last six games in the series and has one of the best rushing attacks in college football.

Iowa, on the other hand, has an inconsistent rushing attack that often fails to respond against quality opponents.

The hope was that by replacing the much-maligned Greg Davis with Brian Ferentz as the offensive coordinator that the situation would improve.

It has in some ways, but not where it matters the most, which is on the ground.

Iowa's recent rushing woes

2017

Opponent, rushes-yards, final score

Penn State, 23-82, L, 21-19

Michigan State, 25-19, L, 17-10

Northwestern, 33-89, L, 17-10

Wisconsin, 26-25, L, 38-14

2016

North Dakota State, 25-34, L, 23-21

Northwestern, 41-79, L, 38-31

Wisconsin, 27-83, L, 17-9

Penn State, 26-30, L, 41-14