‘Everybody laid it out there’: Hawkeyes proud of effort in Big Ten title loss
By Matthew Martinez
Offensive ineptitude, costly special teams miscues and penalties cost the Iowa Hawkeyes a Big Ten championship opportunity. Michigan makes it three in a row, but the Hawkeyes are proud of the way they battled and didn’t bend the knee to one of the best teams in all of college football.
“I think the biggest thing is just how we handled ourselves out here,” Deacon Hill said. “The resilience this team has. We overcame a lot this year. I don’t think a lot of teams could do what we did, losing four of our best players, you know, to season-ending injuries.”
The Iowa defense allowed just 213 yards of offense and gave the Hawkeyes a chance to win. Sebastian Castro thinks the final score isn’t reflective of how the game played out.
“If you look at the score, I feel like as a whole team, we played a good game,” Castro said. “There was big moments in the game where it just flipped the whole game around. If you don’t have those plays, you never know where the game could go.”
“I just felt like my teammates went out there and they competed,” Jay Higgins said. “That’s all I can ask for. Guys were making plays when we needed them. You’ve got to show up in big moments. I’m really proud of my defense stuff.”
“I’m proud of the guys,” Logan Lee said. “Still a good team effort. It’s never easy. There’s been a lot of adversity throughout the year. I look forward to getting this taste out of my mouth in a few weeks.”
“Tonight’s a low point, these guys laid it out there,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Everybody laid it out there and didn’t go away, They’ll get back on their feet because that’s kind of people they are.”
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