I started this last year. Back in November, after the Northwestern disaster, I said Ken O'Keefe had to go. I said it again in March. I said not once, but twice, that this man doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with coaching a left-handed quarterback. At the time, I was half-joking (except for post-NU). Now it seems like the only logical rationale for a demoralized team and a lost season.
I'm not posting this as an "I told you so" to everyone. I made a lot of boneheaded predictions, and posted a lot of idiotic opinions, over the past year. I'm only mentioning it now because, for anyone who was willing to watch the offense with a critical eye last year, this debacle is no surprise.
I'm reliving this game in my head (I've been out on business, and I haven't rewatched the game yet), and I'm reviewing Iowa-Wisconsin, and there's no question Christensen is better from the shotgun and when rolling left (given his height and leftiness, this is intuitive to anyone who has ever, you know, watched football). The offensive line can't protect him, especially when he's under center. And, as a result of the never-ending pounding, he looks like Fred Astaire in the pocket.
My entire section at Kinnick stopped to stare at me while I screamed at KOK Saturday afternoon. It was the third quarter (I think), and we had just moved the ball upfield at will on the ground. AY and Sims were going for 10 yards a carry. So, when we came out on first and goal from the 8 in a shotgun, 4-wide, empty backfield set (and JC, in the face of another untouched blitzer, subsequently threw it 5 yards in front of the intended receiver), I couldn't hold it anymore. I screamed. I raged. I unleashed hell. And I swore off this coordinator, this staff, this head coach who have all gone through the motions for nearly three years while lining their pockets. Kirk Ferentz is about to make $750,000 per win this season (and that's assuming wins over Minnesota and Western Michigan, which seems generous).
I try not to be a reactionary. I looked at 2005 as a down year, a rebuilding season. I started going crazy in 2006, but only after the most embarrassing loss in more than six years. Now I feel like Drew Tate at the end of last year's IU game. The fact is, we have lost two in a row - the most recent at home - to a school so indifferent to football that their blogs focus entirely on basketball through the fall (to be fair, we had our own one of those). I don't have enough money to effectuate a change, but I hope there are people out there who do, and can, and will. Because we have seen more than enough of this horse shit. Ken O'Keefe has to go.