Ferentz chooses the wind in both halves

Submitted by SugarShane on
Iowa wins the toss, chooses to kickoff and go with the wind to start the game. Second half: Illinois chooses to receive, Iowa goes with the wind in the 3rd quarter (rather than the 4th, the one time it would have served a benefit in a tight game). I will never understand how on earth this guy out coached harbaugh.
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bacon

November 20th, 2016 at 7:01 AM ^

Does it matter? Iowa won 28-0. Maybe Ferentz thinks Iowa's offense isn't as good as his defense. Or he's seen Illinois's offense and knows they suck.

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MI blue in OH

November 20th, 2016 at 7:26 AM ^

Just wondering how the out-coached angle works.   Did JH get out coached when the IA punter has punts go out at the 2 and 7 yrd lines?  Or when someone blew an assignment and IA got a safety, or when Chesson had a completion go off his chest for an interception, or when Hill fumbled on the 2nd half kickoff, or when Wilton had one of his worst games all season, or when we had 2 running into the punter penalties (one which was BS), or a TD that didn't have enough conclusive evidence to be overturned was overturned, or when Bush took a stupid penalty (a no call at best) on the IA fake punt.  I know that game is in the books, but I can't figure out the out-coached comments sometimes.  I agree Ferentz isn't the best coach we faced, but sometimes it just ain't your night.

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1VaBlue1

November 20th, 2016 at 8:37 AM ^

The targeting was questionable, but Bush fully deserved the personal foul on that play.  Other than that, I agree with your post.  Harbaugh wasn't out coached, it was a bad game - one of those days...  

That said, I'm not sure he had the team ready to play, let alone ready to match effort against the opponent.

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Roy G. Biv

November 20th, 2016 at 7:41 AM ^

I think there is a big difference between doing so during regulation time in college against a bad opponent vs. OT in the NFL. Iowa won by 28. Marty Morningwood is still a punchline.

Joined: 09/03/2010

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dieseljr32

November 20th, 2016 at 7:46 AM ^

I've come to accept the fact that sometimes you just lose against expectations because football can and will be wildly predictable. I've also realized that a handful of Big Ten teams treat their matchup with UM as their Super Bowl.

Joined: 04/19/2009

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snarling wolverine

November 20th, 2016 at 9:44 AM ^

If you think you've got the better team, it makes sense.  Take the wind in the 3rd and hopefully put together some scoring drives to knock the other team out.  (And in our case, the big snowfront arrived in the 4th quarter to negate their having the wind.  I wonder if Jim was alerted to that.)

Saving the wind for the 4th quarter is something you do if you feel like the teams are equal and you want the last shot.  

 

 

Joined: 12/14/2011

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treetown

November 20th, 2016 at 9:16 AM ^

If it were just about one thing, football would be simple and predictable.

Some believe it is all about offense (e.g. Rich Rod, Chip Kelly - not bashing him but even his strongest supporters will not dispute this observation)

Some believe it is all about defense.

Some believe it is all about enthusiasm or try to get others to believe it (e.g. Scott Frost, UCF has outhit most teams all year, just not out-scored them)

Some believe it is all about recruiting (many many coaches and fan bases)

Some believe it is all about coaching (many fan bases - because that is the one person with identitiable important role that can be singled out and whose hiring and firing can be called for)

Clearly you need all things. Ferentz should not disparaged too much. He has lasted a long time. To last this long in a pretty cut throat business suggests he must be doing something right - he may have found the perfect spot. He just has to come up with a decent season every 7-8 years and occasionally upset a really good team and all of the Iowa football gods are appeased ... and he also has to sacrifice some running back knees as well.

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snarling wolverine

November 20th, 2016 at 9:24 AM ^

Ferentz is old-school and overpaid, I get it. But I don't get why we act like he's this terrible coach. He coaches at a school with little recruiting base and has had a pretty solid tenure - 134-91 overall, 82-64 in B1G play. I don't know what people think Iowa's ceiling as a program is, but it's probably not much higher than what he's achieved.

Joined: 12/14/2011

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Tater

November 20th, 2016 at 9:51 AM ^

Ferentz didn't "outcoach" Harbaugh.  He didn't even come close.  Michigan was bad, the refs were worse and Iowa played their best game of the year.

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