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Iowa's Kirk Ferentz gives baffling explanation for field goal try

Kirk Ferentz and Iowa dropped to 5-3 with a loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Kirk Ferentz and Iowa dropped to 5-3 with a loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Trailing Wisconsin 14-6 with 5:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, Iowa faced a fourth-and-five from the Badgers’ 20-yard line.

The Hawkeyes, which had been struggling on offense all afternoon, were running out of time. But instead of going for the first down in an effort to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion, Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz perplexingly opted for a field goal try.

True freshman Keith Duncan missed from 38 yards out, giving the ball back to Wisconsin. From there, the Badgers were able to run out the clock and seal the win.

Naturally, reporters were curious about Ferentz’s decision to send out the kicker. His explanation was baffling.

Q. This will sound like second-guessing. It’s 14-6, you go for the field goal. You’re still going to need a touchdown. What was the thought process there?

COACH FERENTZ: You have to score twice. It gets down to that. Somehow, some way you’re going to have to score twice. If there’s a little bit less, fourth-and-two, something like that, we probably would have gone for the touchdown.

Q. 14-6, if you get the touchdown and the two-point conversion, you have a tied ballgame.

COACH FERENTZ: The situation we were in, we felt that was the best play. Fourth-and-five against these guys is not easy, especially down there in the red zone. We didn’t see that as a high-probability play. We’re going to have to get back there again. Kind of the thinking there.

What?

If Ferentz had said he had confidence in both Duncan making the kick and his defense’s ability to stop Wisconsin and get the ball back, nobody would be questioning him. Instead, he — a coach in his 18th year with the program — didn’t seem to understand he could just go ahead and tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

He said they had to score twice when they were down eight! Did he mean to win the game? What about forcing overtime?

Sigh.

A field goal essentially accomplishes nothing in that circumstance, especially when your offense has reached the red zone only one other time in the game (and it came off of a short field). With a field goal, the deficit would have gone from eight points to five and given the ball back to Wisconsin with five minutes left. Trying to tie the game seems like the more prudent decision, no?

Coming off a Rose Bowl appearance, Iowa was expected to be the best team in the Big Ten West this year. Instead, it is now 5-3 and 3-2 in conference play.

Oh, and the school gave Ferentz a 10-year, $49.5 million extension in September. The Hawkeyes are 3-3 (including a loss to North Dakota State) since the extension was announced.

For more Iowa news, visit HawkeyeReport.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!