When things aren’t fun for you anymore, you shouldn’t invest much time in them. That’s why, after nearly a decade of blogging about Iowa football, I stopped because it really wasn’t fun for me anymore. Brian Ferentz has effectively ruined Iowa football for me. Kirk Ferentz has done the same, with his stubbornness at quarterback for the third (?) time in his career and his fuck you attitude about it. So, it’s rare that I open up Microsoft Word and take the time to write things down on the Iowa front.
That said, I love to pile on and boy, do I want to pile on how bad this offense is. Adam already gave you some bleak statistics. How about some real sickos statistics? Let’s take a look at how this year’s Iowa offense stacks up against some of the worst Big Ten teams in modern football history, which I’m considering post-1964, as that was when the NCAA repealed the one-platoon mandate and started to allow unlimited player substitutions.
Years back, Land Grant Holy Land wrote a piece about the worst Big Ten football teams ever. They based this on SRS, found on Sports-Reference.com. The SRS, or Simple Rating System, “is a rating that takes into account average point differential and strength of schedule.” Thus, 0.0 is an average team and when you start getting into double digit negatives, you’ve got a pretty bad team. Is SRS the best way to measure how bad a team is? It’s not perfect but it’s an easy way to simplify.
To start, note that Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Penn State either don’t have a team in double digit SRS negatives or they don’t have one in modern football history. Some schools, like Northwestern and Rutgers have multiple teams with double digit SRS in the negative but we’re just going with the worst. We’ll go in order and compare their stats with Iowa’s.
1) 1997 Rutgers: -22.06 SRS, 0-11 (0-7)
Terry Shea’s Scarlett Knights of 1997 might just be the worst team in modern college football history. They lost to everyone on the map. Army. Navy. Temple. Wake Forest. You name it, Rutgers pulled it off.
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutgers | 17.4 | 194 | 106.2 | 300.6 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
2) 1981 Northwestern: SRS -14.39, 0-11 (0-9)
Denny Green’s 1981 Northwestern team is one of the worst teams in college football history and the worst team in Big Ten history if you’re only considering founding members. They failed to score a point in five games and gave up 40+ points in six games. Between Ohio State and Iowa, the Wildcats lost by a combined score of 134-6.
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern | 7.5 | 195.7 | 44.8 | 240.5 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
3) 1988 Wisconsin: -12.99 SRS, 1-10 (1-7)
When you start of the year losing to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, you probably know it’s not going to be a great season. Their lone bright spot? Beating Minnesota (lol) 14-7.
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| wisconsin | 9.6 | 115.6 | 149.6 | 265.2 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
4) 1997 Illinois: SRS -12.97, 0-11 (0-8)
Ron Turner’s hapless Illinois team went winless in Big Ten play and was also the sole victory of a 1-10 Louisville squad, who at that time was in Conference USA. Hayden & Co. blanked the Illini 38-0.
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 10.8 | 161.8 | 124.5 | 286.3 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
5) 2013 Purdue: -12.43 SRS, 1-11 (0-8)
Not a lot of bright moments in the Darrell Hazell era. Their only win in 2013 was against Indiana State and they damn near lost that game.
| Stat | PPG | PYPG | RYPG | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue | 14.9 | 215.8 | 67.1 | 282.9 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
6) 1967 Maryland: SRS -12.41, 0-9 (0-6)
These poor, unfortunate Terps failed to score a point against Oklahoma, North Carolina, and South Carolina. They also went winless in ACC play, their closest loss coming 12-7 to Virginia.
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 5.1 | 126.8 | 120.8 | 247.6 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
7) 1983 Minnesota: SRS -12.14, 1-10 (0-9)
Things started off well for the Golden Gophers here, as they defeated Rice 21-17 week one. Next week, absolute pain would ensue, as Nebraska would commit an actual crime, beating them 84-13. Minnesota allowed 50 points or more against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa on their way to a winless conference schedule.
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 16.5 | 200.7 | 101.2 | 301.9 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
8) 2011 Indiana: SRS -10.91, 1-11 (0-8)
Not a lot of highlights in the first year of the Kevin Wilson era, which included losses to Ball State and North Texas and included humiliations at the hands of Wisconsin (59-7) and Michigan State (55-3).
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indiana | 21.4 | 199.4 | 161 | 360.4 |
| Iowa | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
In Summary:
- There are eight teams on this list.
- 2022 Iowa is only averaging more points per game than four of these teams: 1981 Northwestern, 1988 Wisconsin, 1997 Illinois and 1967 Maryland.
- 2022 Iowa is only averaging more passing yards per game than two teams: 1988 Wisconsin and 1967 Maryland.
- 2022 Iowa is only averaging more rushing yards per game than two teams: 1981 Northwestern and 2013 Purdue.
- 2022 Iowa averages less total offense than all eight teams, with the second closest being 1981 Northwestern.
And so, if SRS is to be considered the metric by which we label the “worst teams of all time”, 2022 Iowa has a worse total offense than one of the worst teams in college football/Big Ten history (1997 Rutgers) and, if you didn’t even want to count Rutgers as they weren’t in the Big Ten in 1997, their offense is worse than 1981 Northwestern.
What about vs. themselves? Well, you might’ve been surprised to see that Iowa hasn’t had a double digit -SRS season. Even in 1971, the lean Frank Lauterbur years, their worst SRS was -9.67. In order, the worst modern college football teams Iowa has ever fielded are:
- 1971: SRS -9.67, 1-10 (1-8)
- 1966: SRS -6.91, 2-8 (1-6)
- 1978: SRS -5.50, 2-9 (2-6)
- 1999: SRS -5.49, 1-10 (0-8)
- 1973: SRS -4.24, 0-11 (0-8)
How does 2022 match up against those teams?
| Stat | Points Per Game | Passing Yards Per Game | Rushing Yards Per Game | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 11 | 135.9 | 81.5 | 217.4 |
| 1966 | 8.6 | 121 | 138.5 | 259.5 |
| 1978 | 11.4 | 98.5 | 124.2 | 222.7 |
| 1999 | 14.7 | 206.8 | 93.5 | 300.3 |
| 1973 | 12.7 | 102.4 | 145.4 | 247.8 |
| 2022 | 14.7 | 156.5 | 82.2 | 238.7 |
To summarize:
- These five teams are the worst Iowa football teams of all time, using the SRS metric.
- 2022 Iowa outscores all of them with the exception of 1999 Iowa.
- 2022 Iowa averages more passing yards per game than all of them with the exception of 1999 Iowa.
- 2022 Iowa only averages more rushing yards per game than 1971 Iowa.
- 2022 Iowa only averages more total yards per game than 1971 Iowa and 1978 Iowa.
In short, 2022 Iowa is one of the worst offenses Iowa has ever fielded. The 1999 team, the most recent and arguably most comparable due to the evolution of college football, had superior statistics across the board and they went 1-10. And you might remember that things were a bit different back then. Hayden Fry’s health was failing and the cupboard was left pretty bare. Kirk Ferentz had to pick up the pieces and rebuild the program. He did. Now, it's 20+ years later and somehow, his offense is worse than it was back then.
Hope you’re not looking for any sage wisdom to close this one out. 20+ years later and Kirk Ferentz, who has produced six first round draft picks on the offensive line, cannot consistently produce an elite offensive front. The man that has churned out the likes of Bryan Bulaga, Riley Reiff, Brandon Scherff, Tristan Wirfs and Tyler Linderbaum still has “off years” in the position that he has coached on and off since 1978. He has a history of making poor quarterback choices and now, he’s stuck with his son as his offensive coordinator. He can’t fire Brian. He has to find him a new job in the offseason because that’s how Ferentz offloads his assistants. Until then, we’re staring down the barrel at one of the worst offenses in Iowa history.
Enjoy the ride?
