Time To Admit The Obvious About Iowa's Season

The Iowa Hawkeyes' loss to the UCLA Bruins speaks volumes about the state of their season.

Nov 2, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz watches his team warm up before the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The Iowa Hawkeyes suffered an embarrassing loss on Friday night, falling to the UCLA Bruins by a score of 20-17 in an ugly affair.

Yes, it was a Big Ten matchup, but it wasn't like Iowa lost to Ohio State or Oregon here. Heck, it wasn't Wisconsin, who the Hawkeyes hammered the previous week.

This was a less-than-pedestrian UCLA squad that entered the game with a record of 3-5 and really didn't have a whole lot going for it on either side of the ball.

And you know what? Early on, it looked like Iowa was about to rout another opponent, as the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

But before you knew it, the Bruins had rattled off 17 unanswered points to take a seven-point edge heading into halftime. This in spite of the fact that UCLA had turned the ball over three times.

As painful as it may sound, it's time to state the obvious: this season has been a massive failure for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa stands at just 6-4 and has a couple of ugly losses on its resume. Losing to Ohio State was expected. The Iowa State loss doesn't look bad anymore, either. But falling to Michigan State and UCLA? That shouldn't happen to a team that had lofty expectations heading into 2024.

The Hawkeyes tried Cade McNamara under center. That didn't work. Then they went to Brendan Sullivan, who registered just one full start before getting injured and being replaced by Jackson Stratton.

Iowa just cannot seem to muster a consistent offensive unit, and while much of that is certainly due to shoddy quarterback play, it's also a direct result of not having any truly dependable weapons outside of running back Kaleb Johnson, who just had his worst game of the season.

For as volatile as the Hawkeyes' defense has been this year, it has at least mostly done its job. It's not Jay Higgins' fault that Iowa ran a grand total of 46 offensive plays on Friday (UCLA ran 73).

Heck, it's honestly a miracle that the Hawkeyes only allowed 20 points. Sure, much of that has to do with the Bruins' own ineptitude, but you would figure that UCLA (or any Big Ten team, for that matter) would have posted more than 20 points given the circumstances.

So, Iowa's defense is not to blame. The frustrating results the Hawkeyes have recorded this season fall squarely on the shoulders of the offense and, let's face it, head coach Kirk Ferentz.

The worst part about all of this is that Iowa actually had a very forgiving schedule. The Hawkeyes aren't playing Oregon. They aren't playing Penn State. They have been facing the bottom half of the Big Ten and really should be 7-2 at this point. Their current record is inexcusable.

You would like to say that Iowa could win its last two games seeing as how its final two opponents are Maryland and Nebraska, but this is the 2024 Hawkeyes we are talking about.

This team just isn't very good, and the season is essentially a lost cause.