You know those moments in life when you ask "How could it get any worse?" And then life proceeds to somehow get worse?

That's the 2022 Iowa football season in a nutshell.

After a 54-10 throttling at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes last Saturday, the Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz stepped to the podium to answer any questions the media had following the game.

Though the first 12ish minutes of the media availability passed fairly normally, a journalist from Cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises -- obviously not a reporter who is frequently at press conferences for Iowa sports -- stepped in and asked several questions that Iowa fans and media have been wondering, with one question, in particular, sticking out.

He prefaced it by saying "You have one of the least productive offenses in the country."

Kirk interjected, "I've noticed that."

Lesmerises followed it up with a real doozy: "Everybody has noticed it. Do you believe that you're putting the Iowa football program in a bad spot by having that kind of production on one side of the ball, and it's run by one of your family members?"

OUCH.

You can watch the interchange between Lesmerises and Ferentz below, between 11:45 and 13:15:

Ferentz kept his cool and answered the questions professionally for the most part, but didn't hold back in his Tuesday media availability in Iowa City. He said the following of the Cleveland reporter:

It dawned on me coming home that 'As bad as today was, I could've been that guy. I could've had his job and had to act like he did.' So yeah, it could be a hell of a lot worse.

He also stated that he felt like he was being "interrogated" after the game.

You can hear the full context of what he said in the video shared below by regular guest on Cornstalks and Sports Talk, David Eickholt of Hawkeye Insider and 247Sports:

After the backlash following Ferentz's message on Tuesday, a follow-up email was sent to the local media that cover the Hawkeyes, issuing an apology on behalf of Kirk.

One has to know that Ferentz didn't write it himself, but nonetheless, it was sent. Scott Dochterman of The Athletic shared the message on Twitter.

Ferentz then went on to share his halfway-sincere apology on the radio and television, saying he "didn't have a problem with the question, I just had a real problem with the tone. ... I'll stand by that."

He added that the line of questioning from an out-of-market journalist made him "appreciate the Iowa media," saying "They ask hard questions, they do what they have to do, and I appreciate that and respect that."

So, how could it get any worse than getting blown out by a Big Ten rival, committing six turnovers, and going 1-13 on third down? Ferentz found a way.