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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 20, 2010

Kirk Ferentz

OHIO STATE Â– 20
IOWA - 17

COACH FERENTZ: First of all, it was a really hard-fought game out there. Our fans were tremendous. It was great to be back. They were outstanding. Both teams really competed hard. Credit goes to Ohio State. It was a great college football game. They get the credit. They came out on top.
Really proud of our players' effort. I thought they competed hard and played as hard as they possibly can; and we came up short to a good team today.

Q. Does that 4th and 10 almost epitomize how things have gone for you this season?
COACH FERENTZ: I can think of a couple of plays, actually, yeah. Probably one from several games. All three of our most recent losses, yeah, I probably could do that.
I don't know how many guys in the conference in the country could have made that play. So credit goes to them. He converted and it was just a great effort on his part.

Q. It almost seems that with some of these losses it's a could-have, should-have, would-have for the season at this point?
COACH FERENTZ: You know, I'm not real big on that game, I guess. Especially that the guys played hard and competed. I don't know that they could have played any harder. Our guys couldn't have. We didn't do some things well enough to win. They played hard and competed, and that's all you can ask against a very good team.
We'll just go back and correct a couple things that we're not good enough right now and try to get over the top against a team like Ohio State. We'll do what we can and keep pushing forward.

Q. The play that Robinson got hit on, it looked like it could have been interference or a hit to the head. What did they say to you was the explanation on that?
COACH FERENTZ: I don't think anybody could see it. That is what I heard. Nobody said it wasn't that, but they said they couldn't see it.
It's tight out there. It's just football sometimes. Both teams are really hitting hard. And we thought the defender might have gotten a little bit ahead of the ball, but those things happen.

Q. I noticed just after the game, can you update us on what's going on with A-Rob at this point?
COACH FERENTZ: He got dinged. If that's the case, he'll be out next week. If there's any good news, it will be weeks away. So hopefully we'll have him back for the last game. My guess is he wouldn't be playing next week, but that's preliminary.

Q. Why did he not play today?
COACH FERENTZ: For lack of a better term, academic indigestion. He didn't do anything wrong, illegal or what have you. But just not dotting the I's and crossing the T's.

Q. Talk about Marcus?
COACH FERENTZ: He had some good things going on, and that is certainly one of them. Marcus has been called upon this year. He's really done a great job. To me, today was his most impressive outing. Did a nice job over in Indiana a few weeks ago.
But today the lights were on. Pretty good defensive football team here playing. Thought he made a good showing of himself, so got to give him a lot of credit.

Q. All your losses you've had fourth quarter leads. Does it get frustrating to see other teams consistently being able to come back and score against you?
COACH FERENTZ: Losing is frustrating and losing close games is frustrating, first quarter, third quarter. That's what happens when you're in tight ballgames. It's going to go back and forth typically, and we didn't make enough plays to get it done today in the fourth quarter.

Q. On 4th and 10 (Indiscernible)?
COACH FERENTZ: You lost me on that one. I think he was trying to throw the football. Our coverage was good. Not many guys -- again, not many guys in the country can go from there and reverse around or break-contain like he did. He's done it before. It's just tough to defend. It's a pretty freakish play.

Q. (Indiscernible) was he the difference in the game, do you think?
COACH FERENTZ: He was on that one, definitely. That was a tough play to defend. I go back to Seneca Wallace on what was a 17-yard rope back in 2002. We've seen a couple of plays.
But when plays like that happen, you wish you could have stopped it and what have you. That is a great player making a great play. Lot of plays after that, and that's still -- that's what you've got to do. You've got -- something like that happens, and you've got to dig in and try to get back off the field.

Q. You always talk about momentum. Did you feel you had that in the fourth quarter?
COACH FERENTZ: We did at some points. Then obviously after that play, it kind of swung back the other way. That's football. You've just got to keep trying to dig and see if you can't make something happen. We just couldn't get it done. They had a big pass on us and knocked it in from there.

Q. What was the most crucial play that Ohio made?
COACH FERENTZ: Oh, gosh. I'd say the fourth down. That was a huge play right there. Kind of stands out as most glaring to me. We're just not getting much out of our kicking game. Ryan had that good punt. Changed field position on that one punt there, knocked it down to about the 24.
But outside of that, I'm not sure we're getting out of our kicking game right now to be able to win in a game like this. We've got to help ourselves out a little bit more there.

Q. This was a championship game?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, it was to us. Next week will be too. We'll have to get back off the mat here and go back to get ready to compete again.

Q. Talk about the offense in those last couple minute situations. (Indiscernible)?
COACH FERENTZ: I don't think they did. I don't know. We'll have to see.

Q. Can you talk about your quarterback in the last possession?
COACH FERENTZ: If you can bend your ears back and go, and they have a group that can do it. We have a lot of respect for those guys coming in, and it's a tough situation.
So credit goes to them. They're a very athletic group in the back end, including those linebackers. Both those guys are tremendous football players, the guys that were in on that situation. They're a tough group.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH FERENTZ: I don't think it was anything big. It's football. It's football. They converted on fourth down, you know, 4th and 10, whatever it was. I don't think huddle or no-huddle, there's not much that made the difference on that one.

Q. Can you talk about the matchups on the last play?
COACH FERENTZ: The last play? What are you talking about? The linebacker was a safety, I think. Maybe I didn't see it right. That's football. You try to take advantage of it when you can.
The kid's a good receiver. We tried to recruit him. And they offered and they got him. He's a good football player and that was a good play. It was a real nice catch.

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