Plenty of blame for costly loss at Michigan State
From poor QB play to missed tackles, Iowa just didn't have it
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – From the very beginning of Saturday’s game against Michigan State, something just didn’t feel or look right about Iowa’s performance.
The Spartans were more physical, more aggressive and more cohesive in the trenches on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
Iowa seemed flat and disconnected on defense, and the players really struggled to make tackles, which rarely has happened under Phil Parker.
And while being without All-America safety Sebastian Castro was certainly a problem, the loss of one player, unless maybe that player is Bob Sanders, shouldn’t have that big of an effect.
“Football, you’re going to have guys missing,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said after Saturday’s 32-20 loss when asked if Castro’s absence led to the poor tackling. “We’ve got a couple guys on offense out right now. That’s just part of the game.
“To say that was a big part of it, that would be a crutch. Who’s ever in there has to be able to tackle, and all the guys that we’re in there have tackled before.”
Kirk Ferentz obviously wasn’t interested in making excuses, and rightfully so because there was no excuse for Iowa’s overall performance.
Iowa just didn’t play well on offense or defense against an opponent that Iowa was perceived as being superior to on paper.
Michigan State had lost three straight games and was a 6.5 underdog heading into Saturday’s game.
But it was also coming off a bye week and two of its losses were against Ohio State and Oregon.
So, maybe Iowa was slightly over-rated and Michigan State slightly underrated heading into the game.
Whatever the case, Iowa has now been eliminated from playoff contention with three losses, and frustration is growing.
Most of the frustration is directed at graduate quarterback Cade McNamara, who made a couple nice throws in Saturday’s loss, but was clearly outplayed by Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles.
Iowa fans want backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan to play in more than just red zone packages, but Kirk Ferentz doesn’t seem willing to go that route yet.
He said there was no discussion before or during Saturday’s game about giving Sullivan a bigger role.
McNamara also made no excuses after Saturday’s loss, which was his fourth loss in 12 games as Iowa’s starting quarterback.
“At the end of the day as a quarterback, I have to play better in order for us to win,” McNamara said. “And I didn’t do that tonight.”
The problem is that rarely has McNamara played well enough for Iowa to win as most of his wins have come in games where the defense, special teams and the rushing attack have led the way.
He has sort of been like a pitcher that gives up five or six runs over five innings but that still ultimately gets the win.
McNamara is the latest in a growing list of Iowa quarterbacks that haven’t improved during their time as a starter.
The hope was that new offensive coordinator Tim Lester would help to break that pattern because many assumed that previous offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz was preventing the quarterback from getting better.
But you can’t blame Brian Ferentz for what’s happening, or not happening, at quarterback this season.
Brian Ferentz is now an Offensive Special Assistant for Maryland whose quarterback threw for 373 yards in a win over USC on Saturday.
But again, Iowa’s performance against Michigan State fell way short in practically every phase except kick returning where walk-on receiver Kaden Wetjen provided a spark.
Kaleb Johnson had a 75-yard touchdown run against the Spartans, but he only gained 23 yards on his other 13 carries.
The Iowa defense also was shredded for 468 yards, including 212 rushing yards, by a Spartan offense that was only averaging 120.2 rushing yards per game under first-year head coach Jonathan Smith.
Perhaps the only positive that can be said about Iowa’s performance on defense is that it bent a lot more than it broke as Michigan State had to settle for six Jonathan Kim field goals.
“Tonight, we didn’t tackle very well, and we let them move the ball too much,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I guess if you want a positive there, at least we made them kick field goals. We were bending, but not breaking too often.
“But we want to play better defense, and we have typically. So, we’ll go back to the drawing board and start again on Monday when we get on the field and just try to be a little bit more focused and better concentration. It’s not like we haven’t been there. But tonight, we weren’t there, and we’ll try and get back on our feet and get things squared away.”
The best Iowa could finish is 9-3 in the regular season with 3-4 Northwestern up next on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
This will be another game in which Iowa is favored, and it’s at home, so there is reason for guarded optimism.
But the chance for this Iowa to be elite and to do something special is now gone.
This season had opportunity written all over it when you combine what was considered a favorable schedule with all the experience on defense, and on the offensive line where most of the positions are filled with graduates and seniors.
It’s hard to be special, though, when your quarterback struggles to make plays and your defense struggles to make tackles.
The Michigan State players deserve praise for being the aggressor on Saturday.
They took it to Phil Parker’s defense, and maybe his status as a former Spartan All-Big Ten defensive back helped to give the Michigan State players an emotional edge.
Because they sure played that way.