Ferentz on Hawk Talk: Hawkeyes Look Good

Oct. 1, 2003

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz took questions from Hawkeye fans from across the country in his Wednesday night Hawk Talk radio broadcast at Carlos O’Kelly’s Mexican Cafe in Iowa City.

Hawk Talk, a 90-minute program hosted by Gary Dolphin, is broadcast live to more than 40 Hawkeye Radio Network stations across the state and on hawkeyesports.com worldwide.

Here is some of what the coach had to say.

(on the look of the team through practices this week) “My comments about practice are determined by the mood of the team. We were in the tank on Sunday, no question about it. We were all bleeding there. But I like how they’re moving around, and that’s how I judge the practices. We’ve had a good week so far.”

(on the Nathan and Scott Chandler combination) “You’ll probably see them play out there more and more. Scott’s been doing a lot of great things out there. Basically, he’s a tall tough guy to defend. He’s a tall guy, and if we got within 10 yards, we would like to give him a loft pass. But it wasn’t meant to be on Saturday. And now that we’ve made the decision to play him, you’ll see him in more situations than that one.”

(on the defensive plan against Michigan quarterback John Navarre) “I hope we have a plan every game. We spend a lot of time putting a good plan together. Obviously, (Michigan State quarterback) Jeff Smoker can throw the football. We knew that going in. They threw a lot of short quick passes and that minimizes the pass rush. I thought they had a very good game plan, and that put us off guard a little bit. Our guys settled down and played well after the first few series.”

(on the Big Ten’s use of instant replay) “If they were there [last week], I didn’t know about it. I’m not even sure how that is working quite honestly. I’m all for the instant replay. I think it can be done properly. But I think the big thing is that they’re going to use the same wording as the NFL. It has to be a conclusively changeable call. I’m not sure how they would have interpreted [Ramon Ochoa’s fumble against MSU] quite frankly. I don’t watch a lot of NFL football, but every now and then I’ll see one of those plays where I’m not sure what is conclusive and what isn’t. I don’t know where that one would have fallen.”

(on zone defense) “Everybody uses it to some extent. We may use it more than some folks. Basically, on zone defensive schemes you have two guys working in combination, it may be two guys blocking or guys working in tandem. Not unlike two guys blocking two in basketball, making switches. Sometimes it can involve three offensive and three defensive guys or four. It was a concept I was exposed to back in 1980 when I was at the University of Pittsburgh. It kind of stuck with me. When I was in the NFL, we used it quite a bit. It’s just something I’ve been comfortable teaching. I think a lot of the advantages of that are it allows the guys to come across more confidently and aggressively because they don’t have to worry about covering both gaps. Anytime you add to a player’s aggressiveness, I think that’s an advantageous thing.”