Kirk Ferentz 'really struggling' with replay system after controversial call vs. Michigan

Following the Big Ten Championship Game, Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz admitted that he’s struggling with the replay system in college football.

During Iowa’s loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship Game, there was a controversial call where Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill was sacked while throwing the ball. It was ruled a fumble in the end, which was a call that Ferentz strongly disagreed with.

“I’ve made it the last two months without getting fined. I’ll try again,” Kirk Ferentz started. “I’m really struggling with our replay system. Really struggling with it, as I was after the Minnesota game. However, many weeks after that is I’m still struggling on that one. Can’t accept it.”

Ferentz explained that the explanation he was given about the fumble was confusing to him. He also emphasized that he feels the use of replay for close calls wasn’t necessarily the point of adding it.

“Tonight what I was told, the arm was going forward, but the hand wasn’t, which I’m not sure if that’s possible mechanically. I was an English major, but again, I just think we’re really taking a game that’s relatively simple — I’m old enough, okay, I was in the league when they started the replay. The whole concept, as I recall, was taking, obviously — I don’t want to say a blown call, but a wrong call. An official got screened, somehow an obvious mistake took place, and you correct it,” Ferentz said.

“We’ve taken it to a whole different level, and we’ve been on the short end of two of them. Coaches get fired. Coaches get fired. If you want to talk about the extreme of it, coaches get fired. So I just think we have a system that needs to be readdressed, re-discussed. There’s got to be a better way to do it. I feel bad for the officials on the field because they’re the ones that have to explain to us a decision that gets made gets made somewhere else.”

Iowa ended up getting shut out in the Big Ten Championship Game. There was plenty for Kirk Ferentz to be frustrated with. This play was just another example of that.

“It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense to me. So. to me the official on the — who reviews it on the field should have full ability to make the decision or a centralized location because I just can’t understand that it wouldn’t be better to have one consistent voice,” Ferentz said.

“You know, that’s what it is, but that’s an out-of-season discussion. But that was a big play in the game, obviously, once that happened. Then the other component to that, on the field the whistle blew, and we got penalized a year ago for a guy trying to recover a fumble after a whistle blew. It’s really tough to coach your guys when a whistle blows, their guy recovered it. Our guys didn’t. I’m not saying that cost us the game. I’m not sitting up here saying that, but it’s a pivotal play. So, it’s just a little bit challenging.”

Kirk Ferentz breaks down keys to Iowa’s team culture

During his time at Iowa, Kirk Ferentz has overseen a very consistent program. For all that success, Ferentz knows a lot comes down to culture.

“It really comes back to having the right guys on your team. … Maturity is people too. I think back to last year, which was a really tough year. It was a challenging year for all of us. Really proud of that team, and the way they fought through. Sitting there 3-4, and everybody was probably dumping on us a little bit. That’s not a new phenomenon. We had two choices last year, and the guys chose the right path. But I bring that up in that clearly some of the younger guys on our team were paying attention to the older guys. … You’ve got a good group of guys that really knew how to act and how to do things. Clearly, the guys that have stepped up this year, that maybe weren’t as prominent last year as leaders, they were watching those guys,” Ferentz said.

“That’s something I talk about all the time. If you want to be good, look and see what good people are doing, whatever the profession may be, or whatever the vocation may be. That goes beyond playing. Part of it is playing. But how they train. The mental side. How do they handle things that way? We’ve been fortunate. We’ve had a lot of guys teaching each other a little bit.”