Ask anyone around the Iowa football facility about their loss to in-state rival Iowa State last weekend, and they’ll tell you one simple phrase.
“Just flush it and move on.”
Those words were uttered by fifth-year Kaden Wetjen at Iowa’s weekly media availability on Tuesday. Many Hawkeye players had rough afternoons in the loss to the Cyclones, but Wetjen’s performance may have been one of the worst in his spectacular career. The senior could never find his footing against Iowa State, recording just 55 yards on three kickoff returns and negative-seven yards on his lone punt return.
Wetjen’s biggest miscue came midway through the second quarter. He slipped on the grass while running a curl route, allowing Mark Gronowski’s pass to sail right into the arms of Cyclone defensive back Jeremiah Cooper for a crucial interception. Iowa State would score its lone touchdown of the game later in the drive and held on for a 16-13 victory.
Despite the defeat, Iowa’s third loss in four years to their arch-rivals, the Hawkeyes remain optimistic they can turn things around.
Step one? Take care of business against an 0-2 Massachusetts team at Kinnick Stadium.
“We come in, watch film on Sunday, go over all the details and everything that went wrong, what we could do to fix it, and moved on to Monday, and like I said, we’re already on to UMass, so ready to get after it Saturday,” Wetjen said.
The Minutemen have been a cellar-dweller in college football for over a decade. Since joining the FBS in 2011, UMass has complied a putrid mark of 26-124, cycling through four head coaches in the process. Head coach Joe Harasmyiak is the fifth man to lead the program in that span, but the task in front of him will be tall.
Massachusetts comes into this game short-handed on both sides of the ball. Starting quarterback Brandon Rose and wide receivers Ty Harding and Jake McConnachie will be major losses for the offense, while safety Zeraun Daniel and defensive back Bo Barnes are crucial losses for the defense.
Despite the Minutemen’s poor record and depleted roster, the Hawkeyes refuse to overlook them. Harasmyiak previously spent six seasons coaching in the Big Ten with Minnesota and Rutgers, including the last five as a defensive coordinator. Iowa played both teams during Harasmyiak’s tenure, and feels that could help give it an advantage on Saturday.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for us in the film room,” Gronowski said. “He came from Rutgers before. He was the defense coordinator there …. so it gives us a good opportunity to see a bunch more film from even last year’s Rutgers team instead of trying to look at what UMass has done in the past.”
“I think he [Harasmyiak] knows what to do,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He’s done this before, and he’s been around football.”
Starting fast is the theme for the Hawkeyes this weekend. Iowa opened with two three-and-outs against Iowa State, something that Gronowski wants to fix against UMass.
“Just being able to either not talk to the guys about it, but have the guys be better prepared and ready to go in those moments when we start off a game can really help us,” Gronowski said.
The Hawkeyes didn’t have much offensive success against Iowa State, but did see some positives with their “slow mesh,” a run-pass-option system popularized by current offensive analyst Warren Ruggiero during his tenure as Wake Forest’s offensive coordinator. The system differs from the traditional RPO because it involves the quarterback nearly walking up to the line of scrimmage with the football to try and confuse the defense.
It led to Iowa’s only touchdown in Ames, and Gronowski hopes the Hawkeyes continue to use the system.
“I think it’s a great opportunity and just kind of a good switch up,” the senior said. “A lot of teams don’t ever see that, and don’t really know how to react to it.”
“It’s pretty cool to see how all that stuff works out,” Wetjen added. “That takes time as well to learn, but feel like we’ve been developing and getting better in that for sure. I personally was not in on it, but you can kind of see how it messes with the defense.”
While Ferentz believes that Iowa should run the slow mesh, he believes that it should remain a work in progress, not something the Hawkeyes should always rely on.
“We think it’s something worth the investing time, and we have invested time in it, unless there’s a good reason, you know, we’re going to keep it in there to see how it goes week to week and that type of deal, he said.”
Injury updates
Ferentz announced that fourth-year tight end Addison Ostrenga will miss the remainder of the season due to an Achilles injury suffered against Iowa State last weekend. The senior underwent a surgical procedure to repair the injury earlier this week.
“He’s a great young guy, and you hate to have anybody certainly lose playing time, and he’s one of our senior guys, just a tremendous young person. So it’s certainly disappointing,” Ferentz said.
Second-year running back Kamari Moulton and second-year wide receiver Reece Vander Zee will also be inactive against UMass. Timetables for their returns remain unknown.