13 minutes with Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz after 38-21 win against Troy
The head coach began by amusingly referencing a tight 24-21 win against Arkansas State in 2009.
IOWA CITY − Kirk Ferentz opened his news conference following Iowa’s 38-21 victory against Troy on Saturday night with an amusing slip of the tongue that actually provided the perfect backdrop to put this result into perspective, for anyone with an open mind willing to listen.
Ferentz initially went to credit another member of the Sun Belt Conference, Arkansas State, for a hard-fought performance. Ferentz immediately caught himself and smiled.
“Arkansas State? Jeez, I’m having a flashback,” Ferentz said. “That’s exactly what it felt like, 15 years ago. Troy came in here, and they came here to win.”
Yes, the 2009 Iowa football season, which finished with the highest national ranking (No. 7) of any in Ferentz’s previous 25 years, featured a harrowing 24-21 win in Week 5 over an Arkansas State team that would go 4-8 that season.
More: Iowa football can be really good, really bad in a blink. Hawkeyes must find consistency.
Troy did the stuff that upset-minded teams need to do. The Trojans took swings, and they connected. Three times, actually, for touchdowns of 62, 63 and 77 yards. Fortunately for Iowa, those uppercuts didn’t result in a knockout.
Not one single Iowa team that has finished with a special season has shown up in September looking like a finished product. Not the 2002 team (which lost to Iowa State), not the 2004 team (which got blasted by Arizona State), certainly not the 2009 team and on and on.
Ferentz knows this. Objective Iowa fans who know their history realize this.
The Hawkeye teams that wind up being remembered as very good teams get better and better as the season goes on.
“For us, it’s a path of development. And there’s going to be ups and downs,” Ferentz said. “And certainly, you like to get out of your downs without getting scathed too bad.”
Yes, every Hawkeye fan reading this can at least agree on this next quote from Ferentz, right?
“It would be better if we were 3-0.”
Iowa was favored by 22 or 23 points Saturday and won by 17. That should hardly be cause for some of the panic that is circulating out there.
“It’s a 60-minute football game,” left tackle Mason Richman said. “We just had to collect ourselves in the locker room (at halftime, down 14-10), and go out there … and execute a little bit more.”
Iowa’s Mason Richman talks Kaleb Johnson, rush offense after Troy win
The fifth-year senior left tackle helped push for a big day on the ground in Saturday’s 38-21 win against Troy.
So far, Iowa football is less predictable this year. The offense is more explosive in the run game. The defense is getting attacked more often downfield and hasn’t adjusted. The special teams is sorely missing Tory Taylor and needs to compensate.
The outcomes of 10-7 and 12-10 and 15-6 and 13-10 (all scores from last year) made for a predictable viewing experience but may be a thing of the past. Most college football teams play a lot of back-and-forth games with a lot of points. That’s OK. Iowa fans probably aren’t used to that.
Iowa, as it enters Big Ten Conference play this Saturday at Minnesota (6:30 p.m., NBC), has learned quite a bit about itself through three non-conference games. Much of it is encouraging.
Video: Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson talks dominant start to junior season
Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson discusses a variety of topics following Iowa’s win over Troy.
No. 1: Iowa has Kaleb Johnson, and other teams don’t.
Johnson is built different and has been instant offense for the Hawkeyes. His teammates have seen him work harder than ever, and it’s paying off. The 6-foot, 225-pound junior had runs of 39, 19 and 33 on the way to a 25-carry, 173-yard, two-touchdown afternoon. Johnson has 61 carries for an FBS-best 479 yards (7.9 average) in 10 quarters of action this season.
In fact, the entire rushing offense has supplied big runs every week (5.9 yards per carry as a team). That was a hope for the Tim Lester offense, and so far it’s shown up. Iowa has had 200-plus rushing yards in every game (including 284 on Saturday).
“That’s something we need to take pride in and keep getting better at,” Richman said. “It’s not like we can only get 200, we can keep getting more.”
No. 2: The Hawkeyes have landed on a red-zone plan with Brendan Sullivan.
After goal-line struggles against Iowa State, a tweaked approach arrived against Troy. In four snaps with backup Brendan Sullivan at quarterback from the 7-yard line and closer, Iowa generated two touchdowns – including a 2-yard score by Addison Ostrenga on the Northwestern transfer’s first pass as a Hawkeye. That menu of plays was practiced on Wednesday.
That wrinkle is something that can be an ongoing plus for the Hawkeyes. Iowa also added a sixth lineman in Kade Pieper to the goal-line package, a variation of the four tight-end set we saw last week. It’s something to build on.
“Minnesota’s going to look at that and think, ‘He’s going to run the ball now,’” Johnson said of Sullivan. “He’s an all-around QB.”
No. 3: The elephant in the room on defense.
Almost everybody in the secondary has been victimized for big plays through three weeks. TJ Hall and Quinn Schulte got hit deep Saturday. Xavier Nwankpa and Sebastian Castro took high-profile lumps against Iowa State. Even John Nestor had a humbling moment vs. Illinois State. Jermari Harris was the Iowa secondary’s saving grace Saturday, with a 28-yard interception-return touchdown in the third quarter to push Iowa’s lead to 24-14.
Defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who has made a living by NOT giving up big plays, usually can figure things out. No stone will be unturned to put the best plan on the field Saturday in Minneapolis.
“We’re going to have to get that addressed real quickly,” Ferentz said. “Because it’s going to be hard to win games moving forward doing that.”
Video: QB Cade McNamara talks Iowa’s offense, win over Troy
Quarterback Cade McNamara discusses a variety of topics after Iowa’s win over Troy.
No. 4: The team is finding answers in the passing game.
Jarriett Buie and Kaden Wetjen logged their first career catches Saturday, and both were big ones – Buie for 19 yards, Wetjen for 33. Kaleb Brown also collected his first reception of the season, an 18-yarder on third-and-7 in Iowa’s 157-yard fourth quarter. Wide receiver Jacob Gill (five catches, 44 yards) has become a reliable target. Freshman Reece Vander Zee (two touchdowns in the opener vs. Illinois State) had a drop Saturday but remains an emerging piece. Tight end Luke Lachey, like McNamara, doesn’t look completely comfortable yet coming off a major leg injury but that should improve.
“These last three games, we’re just learning so much about ourselves,” said McNamara, who said he felt more in a groove Saturday while completing 19 of 23 passes (82.6%) for 176 yards without a turnover. “We’re learning what’s going to get it done when we need a first down. When we respond, how do we respond?
“The season, how well we do, is going to be all about how we handle success and adversity. And the better we keep getting at that, I think it’s going to pay off.”
Harris, a sixth-year senior who has been through a lot, offered some tremendous perspective to finish this conversation. He noted how Notre Dame lost at home to Northern Illinois, a week after beating Texas A&M on the road. And on Saturday, the Irish flattened Purdue, 66-7. Success rarely comes in a straight line.
Nothing comes easy. Iowa has always understood that. Under Ferentz for 25-plus seasons, Iowa has lived that,
“If you’re consistent in what you do, that’s what the best do. They’re consistent in their approach,” Harris said. “They consistently get better in that approach over time. Then … it becomes second nature. The next thing you know, you’re celebrating a hell of a year.”
Video: Iowa football’s Jermari Harris on his pick-six in win over Troy
Defensive back Jermari Harris had a pick six in Iowa’s win over Troy on Saturday.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
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Publish date : 2024-09-14 23:22:00
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