What Kirk Ferentz was complaining about to referee Dave Witvoet near the end of the first half. Ferentz did a lot of pointing and a lot of yelling.
He could've been screaming about . . .
His quarterback. Jake Christensen completed 1 of 7 for 9 yards. He missed two throws on the first drive. He missed TE Brandon Myers for a possible TD on a third-and-2 pass from Iowa's 28 early in the second quarter. Myers was open, Christensen was pressured and the ball was nearly intercepted. That's Iowa football this season, folks. Open, pressure, disaster. On a second-and-1 from MSU's 24, Christensen badly over-led Myers for what probably would've been a TD. Iowa had third-and-1 just outside MSU's 10. A Myers' false start, a Julian Vandervelde holding penalty and it was third-and-16 from the 26. Christensen threw one away on this third down when WR Paul Chaney Jr. was covered.
The defense, don't go anywhere. MSU QB Brian Hoyer, like Christensen, is a first-year starter. He completed 10 of 13 for 142 yards. RB Javon Ringer ran for 60 yards. The Spartans had 14 first downs to three for Iowa, which went three-and-out on 5 of 6 first-half possessions. In a nutshell, everything worked for the Spartans. Iowa rotated a ton of young players on defense. It's probably time to look to the future. What else is there?
Repeat, Christensen is 1 of 7 for 9 yards at halftime. How far do you have to go back to find a worse half by an Iowa quarterback.