Iowa Football Reaches A Low Not Seen Since the 1972 Season

As I tuned in to watch yesterday's Citrus Bowl there was this small hope inside that maybe...just maybe the Iowa offense would pull out all the stops during Brian Ferentz's last game as the Iowa offensive coordinator. What we got was another embarrassing performance on national television.

I'm not going to write down all the historically bad numbers this Iowa offense attained this season. You have eyes. If you watched the Hawkeyes against Tennessee yesterday you can see just how bad this unit is. When Iowa trailed 7-0 in the first quarter Iowa fans thought that the Hawkeyes were in trouble. When they trailed 14-0 they knew the game was over.

And these weren't Tennesee's normal starters either. The Vols were playing without their starting quarterback or running backs. But when you're a power program, your backups just happen to be five-star recruits. Iowa had its starters, who I'm not convinced could even be a backup on most SEC teams like Tennessee. Iowa was outplayed, outcoached, and outclassed on Monday.

So as Kirk Ferentz prepares to make one of the single most important hires during his tenure as Iowa's head football coach, we'll leave you with one final, depressing stat on just how bad this Iowa offense was in 2023.

Prior to this season, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Iowa hadn't been shut out in a football game since 2000. But in 2023, Iowa was shut out against all three ranked teams they played. Penn State? Zero. Michigan? Zip. Tennessee? Zilch. It was the first time since 1972 that Iowa was shut out three times in a single season. Next season there is no more Big Ten West to pad the win totals. The Big Ten is adding teams like USC and Washington. They don't care if you're starting quarterback or tight end is injured.

Iowa better hit a home run at offensive coordinator. Hawkeye fans are sick of shutouts.