IOWA CITY, Iowa — With Iowa's 31-0 loss to now No. 6 Penn State, the Hawkeyes are 0-5 against ranked teams since their 2021 win over the Nitanny Lions.
Head coach Kirk Ferentz is aware of the fans concerns, but says they aren't alone in their frustrations.
"I know the fans aren't happy, I know that everybody's not happy. Believe me, the players are less happy and the coaches are less happy because we that's what we do (for a living)," Ferentz said.
The team is using the "24-hour rule" which means win or lose, they move on the day after a game.
"You kind of understand that you're gonna have some of those games and you gotta keep moving," said senior linebacker Nick Jackson. "You can't lose the game twice. So, you can't have last week make you lose this week. So you got to keep moving forward and just build upon and take take the lessons that you've learned in the loss."
Despite the loss in the Big Ten opener, it's a 3-1 start for the Hawkeyes with a lot of season to go.
"We're continually evaluating every single week. And you know, this isn't even close to the finished product," said senior quarterback Cade McNamara. "I mean, there's a reason why you play 12 games in a season. There's a reason why there's four quarters in the game."
All of the team's goals are still on the table.
"We control our own destiny and also if we continue to win, we'll see our goal of winning the Big Ten Championship at the end," senior quarterback Nico Ragaini said." But that's not even something we could look at right now. It's focusing on this week, getting better, getting on the same page and getting this win against Michigan State."
Iowa kicks off against the Spartans at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.