Kirk Ferentz is a wizard.
Or a witch. Or some kind of eldritch horror from the depths of the earth, brought to the surface to act as a warning for those who would ignore it: "EMPLOY GENERALLY MEDIOCRE COACHES AT YOUR OWN PERIL." Or maybe he's a great coach with a hilarious and prohibitive buyout that just wrapped up the best regular season in the history of Iowa football with a loss.
And lose Iowa did! As Mark Dantonio is wont to do, his Spartans beat yet another big time opponent at almost literally the last possible second, relegating the Hawkeyes to a New Year's Day bowl that most years they would straight up murder their grandmothers for.