Kirk Ferentz on another close loss for the Hawkeyes

The game was different, but the result was the same for the Iowa football team, led by Kirk Ferentz. For the fourth time this year, the Hawkeyes lost and for the fourth time it was extremely close. That seems to be the theme for the 2025 Iowa football team, unfortunately.

Following the loss to the Trojans on a rainy day in Los Angeles, Kirk Ferentz addressed the media to talk about the struggles for this team this year in winning games against ranked opponents, was there a missed call in the game?, and can he give us any injury updates as three Iowa offensive linemen left the game today.

Opening statement:

“Obviously a tough loss for our football team. Our guys were focused, prepared coming in here, and certainly we played complete team football in that first half. Went about as well as we could’ve hoped. We got off to a really good start there. Certainly in the second half just there was a flip on that. It wasn’t a matter of anybody’s effort. USC just did a good job coming back and maximizing their opportunities in that second half. The halves both look very different. I was just really proud of their effort, and obviously we’re all really disappointed. So it’s a tough loss. Certainly want to give credit to our opponent. They did the things they had to do to take control of the game in the second half, but even right down to the wire, we had a chance there on the last play to catch the ball and advance it down in there and just keep playing it out. Tough loss, but we’ll try to get back under our feet tomorrow and go from there and finish this out.”

On missing starters:

“Anytime you lose anybody that’s a starter it’s not going to help the cause, that’s for sure, and it’s just one of those things. So I thought the guys stepped in, did a really good job leading us in there more than anybody. And it seemed like we just kept playing. So that’s positive. The other guys jumped in there too, and were executing from the start. So it’s just part of football. As far as their conditions, I won’t know much for another couple days.”

On implementing a new play:

“We’ve practiced that probably all season including camp. I thought Tim called it at a perfect time too. It’s just really well executed. And that’s the first thing to get it to the field. It’s got to be done in practice pretty well, which everybody involved has done. I think the timing was absolutely perfect, so it was a positive thing. Obviously Mark’s done a really good job”

On the face mask penalty called on RB Kamari Moulton:

“I thought I saw a couple things that maybe could have gone the other way. But apparently nobody thought it was flag worthy. So you have to play through those things and it doesn’t always work the way you want. Even the last replay seemed close, but you got to go with what gets called and what doesn’t get called. It’s just kind of how it works out. Can’t do much about it.”

On keeping focus after losing close games:

“It’s hard. Losing is hard, first of all, for everybody involved, but nobody harder than the players. It’s a short win dow for them. They’re the ones investing. They’re the ones who are playing when they’re sore and doing all the hard stuff you have to do. But it’s also part of the game. And like I said last week, somehow you got to get off the ground, off the map, and go back at it. Our guys did a good job of that this past week. Hopefully for our members coming in this game, this is a really explosive football team. They’re a ranked team for a reason. They’re a good football team. One loss in the Big Ten right now. I thought the guys did a great job getting ready to compete. Anytime you lose it it’s going to be a challenge. We got another challenge, looks like two injuries to deal with as well. But we’ll figure that out in the next 48 hours and hopefully Monday we’ll be ready to roll.”

On the penalty against the team:

“To me, one of our assistants got on the field. Apparently, you know, literally stepped on the line.”

On whether the team has any serious injuries:

“I hope not, but I don’t know. I’d be speculating right now with any injury at this point.”

On whether there’s been a season with consecutive close losses similar to this one:

“I don’t know if they were ranked, but we’ve had four really tough losses. And it’s one of my favorite years of my career. Maybe I’m a sick person, but the thing I was proud of with that football team was the way they showed up every week and competed. And I think this team’s done the same thing. We’ve had a ton of opportunities. These guys have prepared each and every week, and they’ve come out and played their a**es off, quite frankly, and they did that today. It’s a good football team. The road trip and all those things you can use as a crutch. Our guys showed up and competed. It just wasn’t good enough today. And a part of that team we just played, #6 is as good as I’ve seen. And going back 20+ years, but he’s a really outstanding player. They’ve got a couple of other guys too, but he’s really good.”

On what he saw from USC’s defense in the second half:

“Games have ebbs and flows. That’s just the nature of sports. They have a lot of good players everywhere, in every position. So that’s probably the reason they’re ranked, and probably the reason they’ve had one loss. They’re a good football team. They look good, they play well. I mentioned number six (WR Makai Lemon), number eight (WR Ja’Kobi Lane), you know, still feel very like he’s an outstanding player too for them. He did a great job. It takes a lot of parties involved. So they’re a good team, but things just didn’t quite go our way there and had a chance at the end all that being said, and couldn’t quite get it done.