Head coach Pat Fitzgerald can't find a positive in33-13 beatdown at Iowa WildcatReport with more from yesterday game:
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald is nothing if not relentlessly positive. But after watching his team get smacked by a reeling Iowa team, 33-13, not even Mr. Sunshine could find anything he could hang his hat on.
Embattled Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz looked like Lincoln Riley after his Hawkeyes put up more than double their average of points per game. Quarterback Spencer Petras, who got yanked last week against Ohio State, looked like Caleb Williams at times, finished with 220 passing yards and a touchdown.
As a whole, the Wildcats gained 177 yards, but 75 of them came in garbage time on a final touchdown drive that made the final score slightly more palatable. It was more than that. Iowa scored all four times they had the ball in the first half, racking up 252 yards and building a 20-0 lead after two quarters. That advantage might as well been 60 points against a swarming Hawkeyes defense that limited the Wildcats to 40 yards on 23 plays in the first half.
The third time they had the ball, Iowa marched from its own 9 to the Northwestern 6 before another Wildcat stand inside the 10 forced a 24-yard chip shot by Stevens. But after reaching the Iowa 22, the Wildcats started going in the wrong direction, stung by the type of errors that have been plaguing them all season. Vince Picozzi was called for holding. Sullivan got sacked for a 10-yard loss. Then he slipped and fell on his next drop back. On a drive that began so promisingly, the Wildcats were suddenly facing a fourth-and-36 from own 49 and had to punt.