By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ten takeaways in no particular order from the Iowa football team’s 20-17 loss to UCLA on Friday at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles:

 

1. Image Repair: UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster has come a long way since he embarrassed himself by appearing to be totally unprepared from a public relations standpoint for how to handle his role at Big Ten Media Day this past summer.

Foster said in his opening statement to a room full of media members back in July that he was excited for the opportunity and that UCLA was in Los Angeles.

And that was about it before he became silent.

It was easy to assume that Foster was in over his head, but now look at him.

The Bruins have won three games in a row, including two on the road, after having started the season with a 1-5 record.

His team also dominated Iowa on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

It just goes to show that there is more to being a head coach than public relations.

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2. Harsh Truth: There is no savior at quarterback on the Iowa roster.

No disrespect to the quarterbacks on the current roster, but none are anywhere close to being elite, or even better than average.

Brendan Sullivan threw for 158 yards in Friday’s loss to UCLA, but a big chunk of those yards came on a near lateral pass in the flat to Jacob Gill, who then turned it into a 32-yard gain, and on a 30-yard pass to Seth Anderson late in the second quarter when UCLA was playing a prevent defense.

Anderson was wide open and ran for about 25 yards after the catch before he even came near a defender.

Sullivan showed toughness and grit, and a willingness to compete, but he also failed to protect the football, committing three turnovers.

He made a couple nice throws, but that was about it.

So, maybe now we know why Kirk Ferentz stuck with Cade McNamara for eight games, because neither quarterback seems better than the other.

Sullivan is obviously a better runner than McNamara, but there is a price to pay for that, which is the threat of injury.

Sullivan took a beating against the Bruins, finally succumbing to an ankle injury in the third quarter.

Walk-on Jackson Stratton, who had recently been playing linebacker, was inserted for Sullivan and then led Iowa on a scoring drive in the third quarter. Stratton completed 3-of-6 passes for 28 yards, and he didn’t seem overwhelmed by the circumstances.

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3. QB Development: This season has been yet another reminder that quarterback recruiting and development continues to be a serious problem for Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes.

Iowa added three quarterbacks to the 2024 roster, but two of them – Stratton and true freshman James Resar – apparently switched positions not long after arriving.

Kirk Ferentz said recently that Resar had switched to receiver, and then it was reported in the pre-game on Friday that Stratton had switched back to quarterback after having previously moved to linebacker.

And while Iowa didn’t have to use a scholarship on Stratton, it still doesn’t look good when somebody that was brought in as a quarterback switches positions midway through his first season.

And likewise with Resar, who barely made it halfway through his first season before switching positions.

The only way to interpret both cases is that Iowa misjudged both of them as quarterbacks.

Brendan Sullivan was the third quarterback to join the team in the offseason, and it made sense when it happened because Iowa needed an insurance policy for the oft-injured Cade McNamara.

Sullivan had started eight games for Northwestern over the past two seasons, so he brought with him some experience and credibility.

But Sullivan has yet to show that he is the solution at quarterback, though his body of work still is small.

Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Tim Lester need to be aggressive in trying to land a proven quarterback from the transfer portal this offseason.

That could be difficult, considering the state of the Iowa passing game, but the coaches still have to make an effort to upgrade the quarterback position.

Iowa will add incoming freshman quarterback Jimmy Sullivan to the 2025 roster, but rarely do true freshman get many snaps.

With this being Lester’s first year in the program, it’s too early to judge his ability to recruit and develop quarterbacks.

But Iowa certainly needs an upgrade at the position.

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4. Rushing Woes: Perhaps the strangest and most disappointing part of Friday’s loss is that UCLA dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides almost from the very first snap.

What happened Friday in the Rose Bowl was similar to Iowa’s 32-20 loss at Michigan State on Oct. 19 when the Spartans also dominated in the trenches.

UCLA is considered more of a finesse team compared to Iowa, and while the Bruins did play with finesse, they also surprisingly manhandled Iowa at the line of scrimmage.

UCLA nearly tripled its per-game rushing average (73.9) by shredding Iowa for 211 rushing, while the Kaleb Johnson-led Hawkeyes only gained 80 yards on the ground.

That statistic impacted the game more than any other statistics, including turnovers, because both teams committed multiple turnovers.

UCLA converted on 9-of-14 third-down thanks largely to its running game staying ahead of the chains.

“To me as much as anything, that stat says a lot and I think it ties into we didn’t run the ball well tonight and they ran it way too effectively, and that’s a really bad combination, typically,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said on the Learfield post-game radio show.

UCLA entered the game ranked last in the Big Ten in rushing, and 133rd nationally, and yet Iowa’s once vaunted defense under Phil Parker had no answer for it.

DeShaun Foster, who played running back for UCLA, deserves credit for sticking with the running game, and for trusting that his team would hold up in the trenches.

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5. Northwestern Pipeline: Imagine the Iowa passing attack without Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill playing receiver.

It’s not a pretty image.

Kaleb Johnson has obviously been Iowa’s most valuable player on offense, but the sure-handed Gill would be second on the list.

Gill led Iowa with six catches and a career-high 138 receiving yards in Friday’s loss to UCLA.

The Raleigh, N.C. native has a knack for getting open, a willingness to block and he can take a hit without dropping the ball.

“I wan to be a complete receiver, a complete player in whatever way that I can,” Gill said on Learfield post-game radio show. “I just want to help my team win, whether that’s on the perimeter blocking or on the perimeter catching footballs. I just want to put my team in the best place to win.”

It makes you wonder why Gill couldn’t get on the field more for Northwestern.

Brendan Sullivan received more attention when he transferred from Northwestern to Iowa this past June, mostly because he plays quarterback. But Gill’s importance can’t be understated as he is clearly Iowa’s best wide receiver.

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6. Travel Fatigue: Iowa lost for only the third time in 22 games in November dating back to the 2019 season.

Some might want to attribute the loss partly to travel fatigue since Iowa traveled through two time zones.

But that’s just an excuse for why Iowa lost.

UCLA was coming off back-to-back road wins at Rutgers and at Nebraska, so somehow the UCLA players figured a way to overcome travel fatigue, while Iowa didn’t.

Iowa is now 1-3 on the road this season.

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7. Hey Joe: Phil Parker has set an incredibly high standard on defense that is easy to take for granted.

The current defense has lived up to that standard at times this season, but is also has failed to do so for key stretches, mostly in the losses to Iowa State, Ohio State, Michigan State and UCLA.

Iowa’s defense has had too many missed tackles and broken coverages, allowed too many big plays, and has struggled to pressure the quarterback on a consistent basis.

The loss of All-America cornerback Cooper DeJean to the NFL, of course, was significant.

But so too were the losses of defensive end Joe Evans and Logan Lee to graduation.

Evans and Lee, who both now play in the NFL, were leaders on and off the field.

Evans also had a knack for collapsing the pocket and pressuring the quarterback despite being undersized.

His motor seemed contagious and his defensive cohorts fed off his energy and emotion.

Iowa could be without another key player/leader if senior linebacker Jay Higgins is unable to return anytime soon from what appeared to be a leg injury against UCLA. Higgins tried to give it go after having limped off the field, but it just wasn’t mean to be.

The good news is he has an extra week to rest and recover before Iowa plays its next game against Maryland on Nov. 23 in College Park, Maryland.

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8. Early Exit: With each additional loss, it makes you wonder if Kaleb Johnson will stick around to play in a bowl game.

Iowa has gone from having what was thought an outside chance of making the 12-team college playoff to now trying to hang on just for a chance to play in another Florida bowl game.

Johnson has certainly helped his cause by leading the Big Ten in rushing, and by displaying the kind of skills that seem ready for the next level.

He also plays a position where there is always a high risk for injury.

Selfishly, you’d love for Johnson to stay the course this season.

But if he were to opt out of bowl game, you really couldn’t blame him under the circumstances.

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9. Dig Deep: The Iowa Swarm Collective could be real busy this offseason trying to raise enough NIL money to help fill what will be numerous position losses on offense and defense.

Iowa will have to replace three starters on the offensive line, its starting tight end, and eight starters on defense, including linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson.

There could be enough up-and-coming talent on the current roster to fill all those voids, but probably not.

It seems more likely that Iowa will have to add a few veteran players on defense and at least one quarterback and a couple of receives from the from the portal just to keep up.

But that won’t come cheap.

Iowa also has to make sure that it retains its best players because there is always a chance that a more prestigious program could pursue someone like Jacob Gill.

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10. On Hold: With Friday’s loss to UCLA, Kirk Ferentz cannot break Woody Hayes’ Big Ten record for most wins this season.

The best case scenario would be to tie the record with a bowl win and then break it next season.

Kirk Ferentz has 202 Big Ten wins, second only to Hayes’ 205 wins for Ohio State for most overall wins in Big Ten history.

Kirk Ferentz also has a contract that runs through the 2029 season, and he has given no hint that he is even considering retiring.

He will turn 70 on Aug. 1, 2025, so that would likely gain some attention heading into next season because there is a fascination with numbers, and because there aren’t many 70-year old head coaches.

Kirk Ferentz doesn’t seem the type that would keep coaching just to break the record.

The landscape also continues to change around Kirk Ferentz, and his roster is about to have some significant changes due to personnel losses.

In other words, his job is getting more difficult.