Tuesdays with Torbee

O great calamity
Ditch of iniquity and tears
How I abhor this place
Its sweet and bitter taste
Has left me wretched, retching on all fours
Los Angeles, I’m yours
Los Angeles, I’m yours
Los Angeles, I’m yours – The Decemberists

I feel like a jerk for pointing this out, but I kind of saw this one coming.

This is what I posted in the game preview thread in the Hawkeye Lounge prior to Iowa’s Friday date night in Pasadena:

UCLA also, based on the articles I’ve read, are viewing this game as a bit of a “must-win” at least in terms of fully turning their season around, establishing a home field identity and recovering some enthusiasm and support from fans. That feels dangerous to me.

We just don’t know yet if Iowa can take care of business and be consistent in a tricky road game this season. They did a nice job in Minneapolis and a terrible job in both East Lansing and Columbus.

I worry that Sullivan is due for a turnover or two as well.

I take no joy in the fact my worry and dangerous feelings came to fruition in yet another Pacific time zone failure for Hawkeye football. I suppose 20-17 is better than the outcome the last two times I ventured west to watch in person, which resulted in a 45-16 loss to Stanford in 2016 and a humiliating 44-7 wipeout in 2004 to Arizona State. That was the only Iowa game I’ve ever left before halftime, and that team ended up winning the Big 10 conference that year!

Bottom line is even excellent Iowa teams seem unable to overcome the West Coast curse (minus the Holiday Bowl team that walloped USC, but that sure feels like an outlier at this point.)

While the final score wasn’t as abhorrent, the parallels between this game and the beat down to Michigan State earlier this season had a lot in common. Bad tackling, a running game that couldn’t find traction, turnovers, poor quarterback play – all once again reared their ugly head, seemingly out of nowhere.

And like I said after the loss to the Spartans, one must give credit to the opponent. UCLA was better prepared, played more consistently and – most damning – was the tougher, more physical team. How Iowa allowed itself to get pushed around on both lines of scrimmage less than one week after doing exactly that to what is traditionally an even tougher, more physical team in the Wisconsin Badgers is something the Hawkeye coaching staff has to be flummoxed by.

The outcome Friday may have been different had Brendan Sullivan and Jay Higgins hadn’t been injured. On the other hand, they weren’t the ones whiffing blocking assignments, missing tackles and getting manhandled. For the first time this season, I also wasn’t sure what offensive coordinator Tim Lester was trying to do. Despite the running game sputtering early, I feel it was mostly abandoned too early, not to mention the lack of plays attacking the edge. Iowa seemed content to try to run it up the gut directly into arguably UCLA’s best player, the hulking man-mountain Jay Toia.

Also, like the MSU game, blame can’t be placed on one unit or one player. This, again, was a total team failure. Weirdly, this is less annoying to me than when it’s just the offense or just the defense failing. The entire team earned this L, including the coaching staff.

The biggest concern I have is the inconsistency of Iowa this late into the season. Typically, Ferentz-coached teams peak once the leaves are coming off the trees in bunches. But the team that showed up in the Rose Bowl looked nothing like the butt-kicking machine that had Kinnick rocking against the Badgers. Here’s hoping it’s just the long road trip and the unusual venue that had the team off kilter.

At the end of the day, Iowa and UCLA are both mid-level Big 10 teams fighting it out for bowl pecking order. It would be nice to see Iowa find its footing over the bye week and finish strong with a road win out east in Maryland and a Black Friday trophy game triumph over Nebraska.

I’m going to wait to see what my gut says before making any predictions, however.

Follow me on X @torybrecht and the 12 Saturdays podcasts @12Saturdays.