Another game against a ranked opponent, and another loss for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Over their last 11 games against ranked opponents, Iowa has gone 0-11, including 0-2 this year with losses to No. 16 Iowa State and to No. 11 Indiana.
The Hawkeyes have the potential to fix that record with at least two more matchups against ranked opponents when Penn State (October 18) and Oregon (November 8) come to Kinnick later on this season.
There is no sugarcoating it: Iowa has not been able to win meaningful games against ranked teams.
The Hawkeyes have not beaten a ranked team since beating No. 17 Indiana 34-6 to open the 2021-2022 season.
After another loss to a ranked team, this time at Kinnick Stadium for Homecoming, Head Coach Kirk Ferentz was proud of the work his team did, but acknowledged they have a lot of things to clean up.
During his postgame press conference following Iowa's 20-15 loss to Indiana, the head Hawk was proud of how his team responded, but he knows they left a lot on the table.
Iowa needed to play a near-perfect game to upset No. 11 Indiana at home, and they "left the door open" with the mistakes they made.
Quarterbacks Mark Gronowski and Hank Brown each tossed an interception, but the inept tackling by the Iowa defense ultimately cost Iowa the game.
Fernetz noted they missed way too many tackles, and they have to improve in that area as a team moving forward.
He stated it is one thing to give up completions, because that will happen, but to compound it with a missed tackle makes it even worse.
Iowa now sits at 3-2 on the season. The squad will attempt to use its upcoming bye week to reset and prepare for a rivalry matchup against Wisconsin in Madison on October 11.