No Tate to Holloway

Any Hawkeye fans out there still recovering from Monday's loss to Florida in the Outback Bowl?

There has been much written (and spoken on radio call-in shows) the past 48 hours regarding the officiating during the game. A case can be made that Iowa was on the negative end of a number of questionable calls and no-calls by the men in stripes. It sure is hard to argue with some of the replay evidence -- Iowa certainly didn't get many breaks, that's for sure.

The replays also show that a Florida linebacker busted through Iowa's O-Line untouched to block a punt on the 6th play of the game. And the replays show that Iowa quarterback Drew Tate threw an aweful pass that tipped off the hand of receiver Clinton Solomon, resulting in an interception and touchdown runback. Replays confirm that a Florida wide receiver was taller and a better jumper than Iowa's D-Backs, which led to a touchdown catch for the Gators. Replays remind us that Iowa ran for just 60-some yards (20 on a Drew Tate scramble lat in the game), and thus Iowa relied completely on the passing game. Replays confirm that Florida coach Urban Meyer made a call that Iowa's current coaching staff would NEVER make, faking a punt late in the game, deep in their own territory.

So, while officiating is easy to blame, and perhaps justifiable, Iowa didn't play their best game. 2005 wraps at 7-5, a disappointing record relative to pre-season prognostication (my original record call was 8-3, then adjusted to 5-6 after Iowa's first four games).

Attention now turns to the Iowa basketball team, perennial underachievers (or perhaps overachievers but undertalented). The squad sits at 11-3 heading into 16 conference games. I look for Iowa to go 9-7 in the conference, get selected to the NCAA tourney, and lose early. Then the talk begins ... will Steve Alford be fired?

The same talk was loud five years ago when Kirk Ferentz started his Iowa tenure with a 4-19 record. Fans were calling for his head. Now, fans are asking out loud if Iowa can afford to raise his salary from $2 million a year to entice him to stay.

IF Alford can find a way to win, fans will come around. But he better do it soon. Real soon.