By Pat Harty

INDIANAPOLIS – This was yet another frustrating reminder of why the Iowa football team will have a new offensive coordinator next season, and why the Big Ten West Division will be remembered for being overmatched against quality opponents.

The Iowa defense did all it could to keep the score close against second-ranked Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday, while Iowa senior punter Tory Taylor did all he could to flip position as he punted seven times for a 50.4 average.

But with hardly any help from the offense, which lost three fumbles, Iowa didn’t stand a chance as Michigan prevailed 26-0 at Lucas Oil Stadium to win a record third consecutive Big Ten title outright.

“Tonight certainly wasn’t our night. We knew we came in here needing to play pretty much a flawless game,” said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. “Obviously, we didn’t do that. Didn’t do a great job protecting the football, and a couple of other situations.

“But disappointing tonight. To me that doesn’t overshadow the job that this group has done for the last 10, 11 months now.”

Saturday’s game wasn’t as lopsided as the 2021 Big Ten Championship game when Michigan crushed Iowa, 42-3, but the lack of production from the Iowa offense showed why Iowa Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz announced with four games left in the regular season that Brian Ferentz would be fired as the Iowa offensive coordinator once the season ends.

The decision to announce Brian Ferentz’s firing in season didn’t sit well with his father, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, or with some Iowa fans, who would have preferred that Goetz wait until after the season.

In fairness to Goetz, though, the offense has mostly been horrendous since the start of last season and she apparently had seen enough.

Injuries to key players on offense have certainly been a factor, but the offense has struggled since the start of last season, and it also struggled in the first two games this season when everybody was healthy.

Brian Ferentz isn’t solely to blame for the problems on offense, especially since it’s his father’s offense and always has been.

But somebody has to be held accountable, and with Iowa winning the Big Ten West Division for the second time in three seasons, and 10 games overall, it would’ve made no sense for Kirk Ferentz to suffer the consequences.

So, instead, his son will pay the price for what has been a stunning decline on offense.

Michigan won easily despite only gaining 213 yards, including 66 rushing yards, and despite only converting on three of 15 third-down plays. Michigan’s two scoring drives that resulted in touchdowns covered just five and six yards.

Michigan’s offense didn’t look like a playoff caliber offense during Saturday’s game, but that says a lot about the Iowa defense, which might be the best defense that Michigan will face this season, including in the playoff.

Iowa only trailed 10-0 at halftime, and Michigan’s lone touchdown in the first half was set up by an 87-yd punt return by Semaj Morgan in the second quarter.

It was the longest punt return in the history of the Big Ten Championship game.

Iowa defensive back Koen Entringer missed a chance to tackle Morgan after he caught the punt.

But to Entringer’s credit, he also chased down Morgan and pushed him out bounds at the Iowa 5-yard line, saving a touchdown, at least for the moment.

There was a controversial call in the third quarter in which the officials overruled the call on the field of incomplete pass thrown by Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill.

The play was reviewed, and it was determined that Hill had fumbled, much to the dismay of the Iowa coaches, including one who was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after protesting the call.

Michigan took over deep in Iowa territory and would go on to score its second touchdown, making it a three-score game with a 17-0 lead.

No matter how you felt about the call, it didn’t play a huge factor in the outcome because Iowa never came close to scoring any points and finished with just 155 yards.

Iowa’s longest play from scrimmage was a 19-yard pass from Hill to tight end Addison Ostrenga when the outcome was all but decided in the second half.

Iowa only had 35 rushing yards on 24 carries, and its longest run from scrimmage gained just six yards.

“Michigan is a good team and they’ve got a lot of good players,” Deacon Hill said. “They’re well coached and they just executed better than we did tonight.”

Hill was put in a difficult situation when starting quarterback Cade McNamara suffered a season-ending knee in the fifth game against Michigan State.

McNamara has performed on the big stage before as he led Michigan to the 2021 Big Ten title as its starting quarterback.

“I still think we would have been better off this year if we had the quarterback we thought was going to be our starter playing,” Kirk Ferentz said. “He’s played in this game before as a winning quarterback.”

Iowa’s performance on offense was very similar to its performance in a 31-0 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten opener.

The Hawkeyes also trailed in that game 10-0 at halftime, but as the offense continued to sputter in the second half, Penn State eventually pulled away.

Phil Parker’s defense has been rock-solid throughout season, while Tory Taylor is now widely recognized as the greatest punter in program history, and that’s quite the compliment since the late, great Reggie Roby used to punt for the Hawkeyes.

However, it takes more than just defense and special teams to be elite as Saturday’s game showed.

Despite the offensive woes, Iowa still has a chance to win 11 games and is likely headed to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

But the offense plays like it did on Saturday against Michigan, the bowl game could be another sobering experience for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa has serious problems with its offense that will have to be addressed immediately.

Goetz has taken the first step by forcing Kirk Ferentz to hire a new offensive coordinator.

It took courage and some nerve for Goetz to make such a bold move.

But as Saturday’s game showed, the Iowa offense is in disarray and is keeping the team from reaching elite status.

Brian Ferentz has been given seven seasons to show that he is worthy of being Iowa’s offensive coordinator, but it just hasn’t worked out for him.

It’s never fun to see somebody lose their job, but sometimes it’s justified.

And this is one of those times.