Hawkeyes Not Playing Expectation Game

Aug. 11, 2004

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Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had a “different set of questions” to answer Tuesday as the Hawkeyes held their annual media day at the Kenyon Practice Facility. Coming into the 2004 season ranked 12th in the nation, Iowa will have to battle the expectation game whether the coach likes it or not.

“Preseason rankings don’t mean a lot,” said Ferentz. “It’s flattering for us, but unfortunately those rankings weren’t correct a few years ago, and we’ll see how things pan out this year.

“The thing that our players have to realize — and I think they do realize — is that what we have done yesterday or today won’t help us get anywhere tomorrow. We’ve got 11 games to play, and I don’t think that anyone on our schedule is too concerned with what we’ve done in the past.”

The team has had only two practices since players reported on Sunday, but Ferentz says that “the attitude seems to be real good at this point.” But the coach jokingly cautions how the team will react to two-a-day practices and warmer weather.

“We’ll see how everyone’s holding up [after harder hits], but so far so good,” he said.

Ferentz, though, is not about to temper the Hawkeye fans’ excitement that has built up the season and spurred record ticket sales. And the coach says that the team and his program have turned a corner.

“There’s no question that we have closed the gap a little bit,” he said. “The field has leveled a bit, and I think this process has been ongoing. Our players over the past couple of years have realized for the most part that the field is fairly even, and that each time we take the field and do our job properly we’ll have a chance to compete. That’s about all you can ask.”

The coach praised his defense’s “veteran” status. The Hawkeyes return seven starters on the defensive side: defensive end Matt Roth, linesman Derreck Robinson, linebackers Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge, corners Antwan Allen and Jovon Johnson, and free safety Sean Considine. Linesman Jonathan Babineaux, whose season was cut short last year by injury, also returns for his senior season.

“We’re looking for good things from that group, obviously,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz said that he didn’t want to minimize the loss of strong safety Bob Sanders or linebacker Grant Steen, but the coach said that his defense has the potential to better than last year. Six of the returning starters are in last year’s defensive statistics’ top 10.

“I think we have that potential,” Ferentz said. “On one hand, we lost four guys. If you add up the years of experience with those four guys, you can’t minimize that. That’s a big loss. I think we have capable guys taking the spots of those guys. Are we going to have another Bob [Sanders] out there? Probably not.

“Certainly, we we expect Chad and Abdul to be better this year. We expect Matt Roth and Jonathan Babineaux to be better. I think those are reasonable expectations. If those guys will do that, and if the new guys play up to their abilities, then it’ll be fun to see how this folds together. I think the potential is there, and I think that the mindset is certainly there,” Ferentz added.

And Ferentz says that the past two seasons, where the Hawkeyes have finished 21-5, have slightly altered his approach to the team’s mindset.

“It’s certainly a different approach when you’re 1-10 than when you’re 10-1,” he said. “When you’re having some success, you can probably push guys a little harder. The No. 1 job is to keep everyone’s chin up and say that you have to stay the course and things will get better, but now we can be more pointed and more demanding. As coaches, you’re constantly looking at how the team is coming together and the mental aspect of things.”

One thing that Ferentz says his team doesn’t have to focus on are the expectations that a 12th-ranked team has to face.

“I don’t think our players have to worry about what our record is going to be or what bowl game we’re going to,” he said. “The objective in our conference is to play at Pasadena.

“Really, where the focus is going to be, is how we are going to pursue that goal. That’s what we try to emphasize to our players. Some years you hit it, and sometimes you don’t, but as long as you’re giving everything to achieve that goal, then I think you can sleep pretty well at night.”

The Hawkeyes start their season on Sept. 4 with the “Throwback Game” against Kent State at 11 a.m.

Barry Pump, hawkeyesports.com