University of Iowa Football

Media Conference
Saturday, October 22, 2016

Kirk Ferentz
COACH FERENTZ: So just a really hard-fought, tough
physical football game, like all of us anticipated.
Thought our guys really competed hard. We came up
with some big plays that would have been helpful, were
helpful, would have been.
All in all, I just think our effort, our toughness was
good. We have to develop a knack of becoming a little
bit more opportunistic, work on the fine lines. There's
always a fine line. Some plays we left out there today
certainly didn't help our cause or momentum in the
game, that type of thing. From that standpoint, some
of those plays are disappointing.
We're looking at a two-week break right now, two
weeks until our next game. How we handle the bye
week is going to be really important.
A couple things on the list are getting some guys
rested up a little bit, getting them healthy, then other
guys moving forward and see if we can't get more guys
to help and contribute a little bit as we go forward.
We still have four games in front of us. Certainly
disappointing to come up short today against a very
good Wisconsin team. Our hats are off to them. We'll
move on from that and start it up again Monday and
see if we can't move our team forward, see what we
can do to improve, brace up and get ready for the fourweek stretch in front of us. I think we have a good
opportunity, but we're going to have to improve
certainly.
Last thing. I want to compliment the fans. Great crowd
today. Certainly appreciate them being their, their
enthusiasm. A great environment. Hats off to
Wisconsin.
Q. When you mention 'opportunistic'?
COACH FERENTZ: I'm thinking about everything, quite
frankly. We missed a field goal, had a 58-yard punt
opportunity to get them backed up. We made some
plays there. I think we had a couple good ones there,
too. But making those things...
We played hard on defense, but there's still some
things we can do better there. We missed too many
tackles today. Just things we can do to make it a little
bit harder on our opponent. They're small things, but

Rev #3 by #177 at 2016-10-22 20:46:00 GMT

they really add up in significant ways if you can do it

well enough.
Q. Do you think overall your rush defense was
good?
COACH FERENTZ: Up until when he popped out on
the left side there at the end. I think we had them
about three yards a carry at that point. We have a lot
of respect for their offensive team. He's an excellent
back. They always seem to have one.
We competed hard and did a pretty good job of
keeping him under control. Then he popped that one
at the end.
Q. How frustrating is it in a game like this where it's
close, both teams are kind of equal, but it's a
waiting game wondering when that big play is
going to come for either team?
COACH FERENTZ: They did a good job. They just
kept swinging through. They didn't get rattled at all.
Some ways it's like last year's game, give-and-take in
there. Some plays, the fumble in the end zone there
that really helped turn things a little bit.
Anytime you lose, it's frustrating, because unless you
play a perfect game, which is impossible to do. So
there's always things to work on, always things you
look back at and wish you could have done a little bit
cleaner. Certainly the opposition had something to do
with that.
Q. This will sound like second-guessing. It's 14-6,
you go for the field goal. You're still going to need
a touchdown. What was the thought process
there?
COACH FERENTZ: You have to score twice. It gets
down to that. Somehow, some way you're going to
have to score twice.
If there's a little bit less, fourth-and-two, something like
that, we probably would have gone for the touchdown.
Q. 14-6, if you get the touchdown and the two-point
conversion, you have a tied ballgame.
COACH FERENTZ: The situation we were in, we felt
that was the best play.
Fourth-and-five against these guys is not easy,

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especially down there in the red zone. We didn't see

that as a high-probability play. We're going to have to
get back there again. Kind of the thinking there.
Q. Anything specific about your offense today that
stood out?
COACH FERENTZ: We'll look at everything certainly.
They made it tough for us to run the football today. We
anticipated that. But our fits didn't always look quite
like what you want. We never really got into a rhythm
there.
We'll look at it. But I don't think that's the entire
answer. I think there's some little things we're going to
have to do better.
Q. Anything that can help your passing at this
point?
COACH FERENTZ: I think we had a couple close calls
that would have helped us. Kind of bang-bang type
plays where we're just a little bit off. Somehow, some
way we're going to have to push that over the top.
I think the people involved are capable. It's such a fine
line. It's just us growing a little bit more, maybe getting
our timing down a little bit better. We'll continue to look
at ways to maybe free some guys up or find some
easier throws.
But ultimately I think we've just got to execute better.
That's what we'll work hard on this next two-week
period.
Q. What's the most important thing for you to
accomplish during the bye week?
COACH FERENTZ: It's kind of on a couple levels. The
guys that have been playing a lot of snaps, we track
those like everybody would. A fair amount of those
guys are hurt. George Kittle today really gutted it up.
First time he really did anything strenuous was
Thursday this week during his off day. That was
without us, but he was doing some things out there
with the medical staff. He practiced yesterday.
But Cole Croston as you might imagine is probably a
little sore right now. Boone Myers wasn't out there.
We got to get those guys where they can come down
the stretch for the last month. That's one thing.
The guys that can practice, are able to practice, we
need to keep pushing forward, just get better on some
of those fundamental things that will make a big
difference if we can do a little bit better.
Then we have a bunch of guys that haven't played
much that are probably capable of helping us.
Hopefully we can push them forward this week as well,

Rev #3 by #177 at 2016-10-22 20:46:00 GMT

see if there isn't somebody else that can help out when
somebody isn't able to go, whether it be Noah Fant
comes to mind. He's still a young guy, but I think he's
progressed. This will be a big opportunity for him to
keep pushing forward.
Q. Surprised they overruled the catch?
COACH FERENTZ: Not totally. I thought the crew
worked a really good game. They reviewed it and I'm
sure they saw something there. Tough, tough call.
Q. Are the guys you have who are able to play
capable of executing more aggressively?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, I think we can get better.
That's how I look at it. That's really what our goal is the
next two weeks, see how much we can keep pushing
forward. We've gotten better in a lot of areas, in my
opinion, over the last three weeks. We've made
progress as a football team this last three weeks. We
came up short today. But I think we were a much
better team than we were three weeks ago.
We'll keep pushing. I'm not saying it's the same as, but
we were sitting at the break of 2008 at 5-3, 3-3 at one
point. The one thing I always loved about that team is
the way they improved. It's all about your attitude, your
work ethic, little detail things.
Q. It looked like you had trouble getting your
passing game going?
COACH FERENTZ: I think it a combination of
everything. That's part of it. There's no question about
that. Open quick enough, or wide open, that type of
thing. Getting guys wide open against a good team is
really difficult. Getting open quick enough and then still
having the opportunity to get the ball in there.
We're going to just keep banging away. We'll get there.
Q. Is it about having confidence in their ability if
they don't have that great separation?
COACH FERENTZ: I mean, tight windows, and quickhitting plays. We kind of figured this was going to be
that kind of game, both in the run and pass game. It's
all about precision. It's all about execution.
The other part is about getting a little momentum
going. We had a couple opportunities I thought today
in the passing game where we just couldn't quite make
the play. Had we, you don't know how it's going to
unfold in areas, too.
It's like everything, it's just usually a fine line. The only
answer I know is you just keep hitting on the door, and
hopefully the thing is going to open at some point.
We're going to keep doing that.

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Q. Those that are injured, do you expect them to be

healthy following the bye week?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, I hope so. Two of them
played today. They don't have broken legs, that's the
good news. Fractures, those types of things.
I'm optimistic. I can't guarantee it, but all those guys
should be feeling a little bit better as we move forward.
Nathan got a sprained ankle today on the quarterback
sneak. We can't stop a quarterback sneak without
getting an injury. It's almost comical in some ways.
Injuries are weird that way. You just never know.
Can't say enough about him gutting it up and going
back out there. Same thing with George, same thing
with Cole. Other guys, too, that we're not talking about.
Both teams have guys that are not at full speed. That's
one of the great things about this game, it's a chance
to go out there and compete a little bit.
That's why as a coach I have so much admiration for
the guys that compete out there. They do a heck of a
job. Thank you.

Rev #3 by #177 at 2016-10-22 20:46:00 GMT

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