In coaching, any decision you make has the potential to backfire and blow up in your face. The coaches who hold themselves accountable when that happens are the ones who stick around the longest.
Kirk Ferentz has been the head coach at Iowa for over 25 years for a reason. His players love playing for him because he’s accountable when he makes a mistake. And he made a pretty big mistake on Saturday night.
With the Hawkeyes leading Penn State 10-7 with six seconds remaining in the first half, Ferentz elected to trot his kicker, Drew Stevens, out onto the field to attempt a career-long 66-yard field goal. Penn State called a timeout before his attempt, giving Stevens a practice kick that landed about eight yards short of the uprights. Despite that miss, Ferentz kept his field goal unit out there, and it led to disaster.
The Nittany Lions blocked the field goal and returned it for a touchdown as time expired, giving them a 14-10 halftime lead and sucking the energy out of Kinnick Stadium. The decision to kick there was heavily scrutinized by fans during the halftime break, and looked like it might seriously cost the Hawkeyes a win when Penn State opened up a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter.
Luckily for Ferentz, his team rallied, making huge plays on both sides of the ball to bring Iowa back into the game and eventually into the win column. After the Hawkeyes’ 25-24 win over Penn State, Ferentz addressed the media and his decision to kick that field goal at the end of the first half.
Kirk Ferentz addresses decision to kick 66-yard field goal
When asked about that choice after the game, and whether or not his players bailed him out, here’s what Ferentz had to say.
“Yes. Yes. The first question would be that was probably, I don’t know, five yards beyond what we said was stretching his zone a little bit. It was bad. It was an emotional decision, so…
“Two risks on that. Risk of them running the thing back, Auburn-Alabama. The further you get away, the lower the ball is going to come out.
“It was a bad decision. We should have just closed out the half and come back and played from there. The biggest part was just the momentum swing. Things were going okay. We were doing some good things, feeling a little bit better. Boom, now you drop an anvil right on the team.
“Yeah, I owned it. First thing I told them (tearing up). Bad decision. You keep playing. You have 30 minutes. You keep playing. They did it, thank goodness.
“So yeah, it was a good deal. I think they know I’m not trying to lose (laughter). I think they know that.”
It’s nice to see Ferentz own up to the mistake and admit he messed up after the game. It says a lot about the players and their admiration for Ferentz that they came back out and battled for a win to ensure that choice didn’t decide the game. That’s the mark of a resilient team, which the Hawkeyes showed they are during Saturday night’s wild win at Kinnick Stadium.
Iowa will return to Kinnick Stadium next Saturday to host Minnesota for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT with the game airing on CBS.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football, Kirk Ferentz own ‘bad decision’ on 66-yard FG try
Reporting by Zach Hiney, Hawkeyes Wire / Hawkeyes Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
