Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says while the Hawkeye offense is better than a year ago it is not good enough to overcome mistakes. The Hawks committed five turnovers in a loss to Northwestern and take a 3-2 record on the road this weekend to Michigan State.
Ferentz says it’s a great illustration of how harmful turnovers can be, especially "uncontested turnovers." He says if they don’t clean that up it will pay consequences and already did Saturday.
Ferentz says cutting down on turnovers will give the offense a boost. He says that’s one thing the did well last year, and they have to do it this year to be able to win games. After starting the season 3-0 the Hawkeyes have dropped two straight and play three of their next four games on the road.
Ferentz says they are not strangers to this territory and says it has turned out good in some years, and not so good in others. He says they have to push forward and not worry about what happened last week. Ferentz believes this team will be able to handle adversity.
He says they have good character and are getting good leadership, and those two things give him cause for optimism. Ferentz says if they do their jobs this week, it should be a good football game. Ferentz says the Hawks need to start doing a better job at the start of the third quarter. Northwestern opened the second half with a quick touchdown.
Ferentz says it was by far their worst series defensively, almost not a series. He says they have to mentally be more conscious of coming out and starting better in the second half. Michigan State is 4-1 after opening Big Ten play with a victory at Indiana.