The Iowa football team still has every chance to win the Big 10 West again, but the Hawkeyes have a lot of work to do after being stunned at home by North Dakota State 23-21 on Saturday. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz knew the #1-ranked team in the FCS would be dangerous, and gave the Bison full credit after the game. As for his own team, Ferentz said the biggest problem was that they failed to do all the little things well that made them successful in their first two games.
The Hawkeye offense spent a lot of time in 3rd down and long situations on Saturday, and Ferentz said that made things too easy for the NDSU defense.
The most glaring stat from Saturday: North Dakota State rushed for 239 yards while Iowa only totaled 34. Ferentz called that a recipe for failure.
Iowa will try to bounce back this Saturday, in its conference opener at Rutgers. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:00 in the morning on ESPN2.
