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KIRK FERENTZ POSTGAME
COACH FERENTZ: Certainly not much fun for us out there today. I tell our team all the time, we get what we deserve, and that's what we got today. As did Central; they deserved the win. They played the full 60 and made the plays you have to make to come out victorious. Give them credit. We certainly give them credit and they played extremely hard.
Obviously on our side of the coin, we have got a lot of work to do right now, a lot of things to improve upon and we are going to have to do it fast because we have another game next week.
Q. Could you go over the last few plays?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, that was a tough sequence obviously. We couldn't keep them out of the end zone, first of all. Made the stop on the two‑point play, and then they did a good job on the on‑side kick; we did a poor job on the flip side of it. Then critical series in there, we thought their guy was over the line on the one‑pass play and they reviewed it and that was not true.
So tack on a personal foul on top of that, and it gave them pretty good field position. At least good enough for the guy to make a kick on the deal.
So you know, they got the job done there in that last minute of play the way you have to and we didn't, and some of those things are just kind of reflective of the whole game, especially the penalty thing. We did a terrible job on penalties today and I think we had nine total, seven of those were major penalties. So that's going to be ‑‑ tough to make that up.
Q. Specifically on on‑side kick, what, if anything, did you see your team, prior to that play, and what ultimately happened?
COACH FERENTZ: Typically, you have some guys that are assigned to go block the guys that are pursuing, and other guys are assigned to catch. And we just ‑‑ we looked very confused out there, and that's not a good thing. We were indecisive.
Q. The personal foul, I saw the last personal foul penalty, looked like
COACH FERENTZ: It is. It's kind of like that in any sport. At that point in the game, or any point in the game, it's really where you just have to keep your poise and let the referees officiate. I think every player has to realize if they get involved in a two‑way, they run the risk of being caught. Sometimes both guys get caught and other times, just one.
In that situation, in particular, we just have to be a smarter team.
Q. Do you think game management was a problem today?
COACH FERENTZ: At times it was. At times it was. We had some communication issues, certainly and then we ended up burning a timeout on the field goal. Our original thoughts, we use the 22 as our line of demarkation and we just felt like ‑‑ went down and asked Mike how he felt and he felt like he could do it. So you know, rather than have him rush, we burned the time out to give him a good shot at it.
Q. Is there any specific thing that upsets you the most about this game as far as like the series of things?
COACH FERENTZ: The first thing I would start with are penalties, nine penalties, seven being major penalties. That's going to make it tough to overcome.
First half, we turned the ball over on our end of the field and gave them great field position and we also gave up a great play uncontested. Things like that, I think seven penalties in the first half; so you take the seven penalties, the turnover and give up a big play where we don't really challenge them at all, you know, that's tough to overcome that. It's tough to be a winning football team doing that. So I'd start right there. And then second half, we did some things better, but we didn't finish the game.
Q. How bittersweet is it to have this ending with the game that Mark had?
COACH FERENTZ: You know, how you look at it, Mark had a good game, certainly. James threw for over 200. But the statistics really don't matter because it still wasn't good enough to get 34 points and that's what it took for us today to win.
Offensively, you can look at the numbers and say it was an okay day, but it wasn't because we didn't score enough points to win. And obviously defensively, it's the same way.
Q. You said before the UNI game that you had a great week of practice; was practice ‑‑ how did it go this week?
COACH FERENTZ: I said on the radio just a moment ago, probably the biggest surprise for me today was that we had a good week in my mind. I went to bed last night feeling pretty good about the way we prepared, the way we practiced and where the guys focused and it seems like everybody was on task and doing a good job. Typically, when that happens, the team goes out and it reflects in the play but it didn't today.
Q. Maybe it was one of those things where that first touchdown came ‑‑
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, sometimes you go through that I guess. It was a beautiful first drive. That was a positive, certainly. You know, Mark's statistics were a positive. Keenan for a second straight week I think played better, and Kevonte, the same way. There are some positives in there, but we are not playing well enough to win right now.
Q. Would you use the word "undisciplined" to describe this performance?
COACH FERENTZ: I think anything that has nine penalties, seven of them being majors, that word would probably fit right in there. So I would have to say so; undisciplined, sloppy, however you want to look at it.
Q. Any theories at all behind that?
COACH FERENTZ: You know, I think it's uncharacteristic. I'm sure we've done it before. Just can't remember a game where we have had seven penalties that were, you know, major penalties. I'm sure it's happened before; I can't remember it. You know, and again, if we had had a really sloppy week of practice, I would say, okay, I could see that coming, but I don't see that.
Q. Were you surprised that you guys were confused on the on‑side kick coverage when you got a look at what they were doing in that delay?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, we typically ‑‑ we have not been in that situation an awful lot but we have coached it and usually execute it very well. I don't know how many we've been involved in, but we just looked like we were frozen out there, and they got the ball ‑‑ or at least it must have looked like that, if that's what you're asking.
STATS
POSTGAME NOTES
The Iowa offense scored a season-high 31 points today.
Iowa’s defense allowed nine second-half points today, all in the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes had allowed zero fourth quarter points entering today. The Hawkeyes have only allowed 19 second-half points through four games.
Mark Weisman scored on a 34-yard rush on a fourth-down play in the first period. The rush is the longest of his career and the longest by a Hawkeye rusher this season (27 by Damon Bullock vs. UNI). Weisman also had a 5-yard rushing score in the third period, and a 12-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. The scores are Weisman’s fourth, fifth and sixth of the season; he had three TD’s last week versus UNI. Weisman finished the game with a career-high 217 yards on 27 attempts. The sophomore topped the century mark rushing the last two games (113 last week versus UNI). His 217 yards today ties for the eighth –best in Iowa single-game history (Shonn Greene, Nick Bell).
PK Mike Meyer made 4-4 PATs today extending his consecutive streak made to 63, which breaks Nate Kaeding’s consecutive PAT’s school record of 60 established in 2001-02. Meyer tied Kaeding’s record of 60 straight PAT’s on Iowa’s first drive of the game and broke the record on Iowa’s third possession of the first quarter. The junior was also 1-1 in field goal attempts (46 yards) today; he is 9-of-10 this season. Meyer now has 193 points, surpassing Tim Dwight (1994-97) and Ronnie Harmon (1982-85) for ninth in career scoring. Meyer has made 37-of-47 career field goal attempts.
Iowa was 3-3 in the red zone today, scoring three touchdowns. The Hawkeyes have scored on 160 of the last 181 red zone possessions (106 TDs and 54 FGs), dating back to the Michigan State game in 2008. Iowa is 141-162 combined inside the red zone its last 47 games. Central Michigan was 5-5 in the red zone (2 TD, 3 FGs).
QB James Vandenberg was 16-25 for 215 yards today. He started the game completing his first nine pass attempts; he started last week’s game completing his first six. Vandenberg has completed 359-627 pass attempts for 4,130 yards and 28 touchdowns in his career. His 228 yards today increased his career total to 4,345 yards. He ranks eighth in Iowa career passing.
Iowa’s defense failed to collect a takeaway for the first time this season. The Hawkeye defense has collected at least one takeaway in 67 of its last 78 games, dating back to 2006. Central Michigan recovered an Iowa fumble, the Hawkeyes’ first of 2012, in the first period. The Chippewas turned the Hawkeye miscue into three points. The Chippewas and Iowa State are the only opponents to have forced any Hawkeye turnovers in 2012.
DE Joe Gaglione recorded a sack today. The senior has three of the Hawkeyes’ five sacks this season.
DB Micah Hyde totaled a game career-high 14 tackles. LB Anthony Hitchens, the Big Ten tackle leader entering today, equaled Hyde’s total with 14 stops. Hitchens has recorded double-digit tackles in three straight games.
He had 19 versus Iowa State and 10 against UNI the previous two games.
LB James Morris totaled 12 tackles today and recorded one-half sack.
Iowa scored 13 combined points in the first quarter in its first three games; the Hawkeyes totaled 14 first-quarter points today against Central Michigan.
After allowing six sacks in the season opener, the Hawkeye offensive line has not allowed a sack the last three games.
WR Kevonte Martin-Manley caught a 10-yard TD pass from QB James Vandenberg on Iowa’s opening possession, it was Iowa’s first TD pass of 2012. It marked the fourth straight week the Hawkeyes scored on their first drive (2 FGs, 2 TDs). Central Michigan drove the field on its opening possession for an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The Chippewas became Iowa’s second opponent to score on their first drive (Iowa State).
True freshmen WR Tevaun Smith and LB Nate Meier saw their first action of the game of the season. Iowa has played six true freshmen this season: Greg Garmon, Kevin Buford, Sean Draper, Connor Kornbrath, Malloy, Meier, and Smith.
Central Michigan won the toss and elected to defer. The Hawkeyes have started on offense twice (Northern Illinois and Central Michigan) and defense twice (Iowa State and UNI) this season. The Hawkeyes have started on offense in 137-of-166 games. Iowa is 16-13 in the games it has started on defense under Ferentz.
Instant replay was used once today. Officials reviewed whether or not the CMU quarterback was beyond the line of scrimmage on a forward pass. The play was not overturned and the call on the field stood.
Iowa remains at home next week when it hosts Minnesota in its Big Ten opener at 11 a.m. (ESPN or ESPN2) inside Kinnick Stadium. It will mark the first time Iowa will have ever played Minnesota in September.
