By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If Kirk Ferentz spent any time on social media, internet websites or recruiting message boards; he’d see plenty of opinions about Iowa’s quarterback situation, involving both the past and the present.

One of the more popular opinions is that Jeremy Hecklinski hasn’t been given a fair shot, though that argument has lost some momentum because of Hecklinski’s struggles that caused him to be benched in the second quarter of last Saturday’s 13-10 loss at Minnesota.

Another popular narrative is that Hank Brown is the safer choice at quarterback, thus a better option for Kirk Ferentz’s conservative approach to offense.

An opinion that has festered for years is that Iowa doesn’t recruit good enough quarterbacks, nor does it develop quarterbacks at a satisfactory rate, and it resurfaces every time the quarterbacks struggle, as is the case now.

Yet another narrative that has festered for years under Kirk Ferentz is that Iowa is too predictable on offense, putting the quarterback at a disadvantage.

You could argue that all of these opinions have some truth to them, but Kirk Ferentz could counter with his track record, which includes being the Big Ten’s all-time winningest head coach with 214 wins, and the longest-tenured head coach with this his 28th season as the head Hawk.

Ferentz has a lot of leverage on his side and he believes strongly in his approach, so it’s hard to see anything changing drastically at this stage of his coaching career.

Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester, now in his third season, has certainly made some upgrades, but the jury still is out in regard to his ability to recruit and develop quarterbacks.

The odds of Iowa suddenly landing four-and five-star quarterback recruits, or high-priced quarterbacks from the transfer portal on a regular basis, are slim to none.

So Lester has to make do with what he has, and right now now, it has been a struggle at times.

Neither Brown nor Hecklinski have played well enough to say that one should clearly, and without question, be the starter over the other.

A lot of fans seem to favor the 5-foot-11, 202-pound Hecklinski because he supposedly plays with more moxie and grit, and isn’t afraid to be aggressive, whereas the 6-4, 218-pound Brown is simply an extension of his head coach.

“I’ve been saying it consistently; we believe in both players,” Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “I think both Hank and Jeremy are good young people, and they’re good young quarterbacks. Neither one of them are really experienced right now.

“There are some things we could have done better, but that’s true in every facet. A lot of things we could have done better.

“Coaching, too. We take ownership in that as well. Probably the most perplexing thing was the loose ball dilemma. Turnovers and loose balls. Turnovers sometimes happen. You are never accepting of that, but loose balls, I just can’t remember a game when it’s been out that much, and I can’t tell you why.

“That’s something we’re going to have to get corrected or we’ll pay for that on Saturday if we don’t.”

The quickest way for a quarterback to lose the trust of Kirk Ferentz is being careless with the football, and that might explain why Ferentz pulled the plug so quickly on Hecklinski against Minnesota.

Hecklinski threw one interception at the Minnesota two-yard line, and he nearly threw another just a few minutes later.

And by that time, Ferentz had seen enough.

Brown entered the game slightly beyond the midway point of the second quarter, but his presence had little impact as the offense continued to sputter.

Iowa wasted a terrific performance by the defense, which held Minnesota to just 209 yards, and now Kirk Ferentz and his offense are being scrutinized, ridiculed and blamed for the team’s deficiencies.

This kind of thing happens almost every season with Iowa football where the offense fails to hold up its end of the deal, causing the media and fans to start asking questions and making suggestions.

Kirk Ferentz probably rolls his eyes at some of the suggestions, assuming he hears them.

But there also is no denying that his offense is often a work in progress, sometimes a slow and frustrating work in progress, and that the problems usually are caused by two things: inadequate quarterback play and the inability to stay ahead of the chains with the ground game.

Iowa has been held to fewer than 100 rushing yards in four games this season: Iowa State (93), Michigan (58), Ohio State (39) and Minnesota (90). Iowa is 2-2 in those games.

There have been seasons in which Iowa has lacked offensive playmakers, but that isn’t the case this season.

Wide receivers Reece Vander Zee and Tony Diaz are legitimate threats, while few teams can match Iowa’s depth at running back and tight end.

Even without leading rusher Kamari Moulton, who is out for the rest of the season with an injury, Iowa still has multiple options at running back.

When Iowa can’t run the ball, the machine breaks down, and when the machine breaks down, the entire team suffers from it.

Iowa was able to mask and overcome some of its passing deficiencies last season with Mark Gronowski playing quarterback because he was so effective as a runner, scoring 16 rushing touchdowns.

Iowa doesn’t have that dual-threat ability this season, and it’s been an adjustment.

Brown will certainly face a challenge on Saturday against the Badgers, who are allowing just 11.8 points per game in conference play, the lowest for any Power 4 team in conference play this season.

The Badgers will almost certainly load the box and dare Iowa to throw the ball because that’s what most opponents do when facing the Iowa offense.

Iowa needs to run the ball, while Brown needs to protect it and make plays when his number is called.

It all sounds so simple, but as Iowa fans know all too well, it’s anything but simple.

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No. 25 Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1) vs. No. 24 Iowa (5-2, 2-2)

When: Saturday, 11:10 a.m.

Where: Kinnick Stadium, (69,250)

TV: FOX

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Saturday will be the 100th meeting between Iowa and Wisconsin in a series that began in 1894. Through 99 games, Wisconsin leads 49-48-2.

The Hawkeyes have won four straight in the series for the first time since 2002-06. Iowa went 17-0-1 against the Badgers from 1977-1996, which included a 10- game win streak from 1985-96.

Iowa is outscoring Wisconsin, 118-26, during the current four-game winning streak.

Iowa is 27-20-1 all-time against the Badgers in games played in Iowa City.

The Hawkeyes dominated Wisconsin in 2024, winning 42-10 inside Kinnick Stadium. The 32-point margin of victory was Iowa’s largest in the series since 1996 (41-0).

Iowa has won five of the last six meetings — all by two scores or more.