Top 25 football showdown in Tucson

Sept. 14, 2010

Complete Coach Ferentz Transcript (Sept. 14)

• Video interview with R. Stanzi
• Video interview with T. Nielsen
• Video interview with M. Zusevics
• Iowa Football Game Day Central
• Cast Your O’Brien Quarterback Award
• Vote for R. Stanzi as a Premier Player
• 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
• gohawks.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Fly to Arizona, eat supper, hang out with friends at a movie, sleep in and then watch college football on television. Sounds like a relaxing time, but the No. 9 University of Iowa football team knows what awaits at 9:35 p.m. Saturday, in Arizona Stadium:

A fast, physical and seasoned Arizona Wildcat team that brings a No. 24 ranking into its second of four consecutive home games.

“They’ve got a team that’s got good size and very athletic players,” UI head coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday at his weekly press conference inside the Hayden Fry Football Complex. “They’re very experienced, and they’re off to a strong start. I’m guessing they’ll be a team that’s going to contend for the championship in the Pac 10. We’ve got to travel out there, so now it’s going to be a good challenge on a couple of fronts. We need to handle the trip well, and more importantly, we’re playing a tremendous opponent.”

Ferentz said the Hawkeyes will treat this road test like the one last September at Penn State, which ended up as a 21-10 victory for Iowa.

“I know we’re going in a different direction, but I did take geography in the fifth grade and got an A in it. Proud of that,” Ferentz said. “We practiced a couple of times in camp; a little bit later than normal, just, OK, this is what it’s going to be like. College kids tend to thrive at that, at 9 (p.m.), whereas the older people, like me, we’re probably going to be at our worst, but that’s just how it goes.”

The Hawkeyes will eat a meal and attend a movie Friday; they won’t have any meetings until late-morning Saturday.

Iowa and Arizona will discover more about themselves during the three hours following kickoff. The Hawkeyes are undefeated in two games, averaging 457 yards and 36 points a game; Arizona defeated Toledo (41-2) and The Citadel (52-6) while averaging 503.5 yards and 46.5 points.

“None of us really know how good we are at this point. It’s going to be a heck of a test,” Ferentz said. “Regardless of who we played the last two weeks or who they played, they’re an excellent football team. We hope to be a good team. We certainly are going to learn a lot about our football team this week. It’s a challenge in all areas.”

Although the all-time series is tied 6-6, Iowa has won four of the last five meetings. The lone blemish in that streak is a 35-11 Hawkeye loss in 1998 — the last time the teams met in Tucson.

For the second straight game the Hawkeyes will take the field without defensive coordinator Norm Parker, who as of Tuesday remained hospitalized with complications of diabetes. Ferentz will lean on a veteran staff to pick up the slack.

“Without getting into great detail we’ve been down this road before. We’ve got a veteran staff. The guys work really well with each other,” Ferentz said. “Just like we did last week, everybody picks up the slack. We certainly miss him. We all feel better when he’s with us on a daily basis. But if he can’t be, you know, everybody works together and gets it done. The guys did a great job last week. I expect that in the future, too.”

UI junior Jason White will not play because of a knee sprain sustained during a 35-7 win against Iowa State on Sept. 11. Senior kicker Daniel Murray and junior offensive lineman Adam Gettis will practice Tuesday and could be ready Saturday.

The return of Gettis provides one more talented offensive lineman to a group Ferentz calls “a bright spot” after the first two weeks of the season.

“I like the way the guys have worked. I think their attitude has been good,” Ferentz said. “When I referred to the other day about our execution in the game being better than in practice, quite frankly, we’re playing better on Saturday than we’re practicing during the week with the offensive line. A lot of that is just timing — and it takes time. The good news is that group will continue to get better — I think dramatically, as we go along. We’ll know more in a couple of weeks where we’re at. But, at least I think they’re on the right path.”

Arizona is coached by Mike Stoops, a three-year letterwinner at safety for the Hawkeyes (1981, ’83, ’84). Stoops is 35-39 in seven seasons with the Wildcats, with eight victories against teams rated in the top 25.

Iowa won last season’s meeting, 27-17, in Kinnick Stadium. After trailing 10-7 in the second quarter, the Hawkeyes scored the next 20 points to put the game away. Iowa controlled nearly 38 minutes of game clock.

Ferentz said the Hawkeyes seemed “full of ourselves” in 2004 when the eventual Capital One Bowl champions lost at Arizona State, 44-7, in the third week of the season — Iowa’s most recent trip to the Grand Canyon State.

“We got quite an education and lesson that night,” Ferentz said. “As I recall we didn’t even swarm properly. There’s a picture — you can probably look it up on the Internet, where we were just all over the joint with our swarm. I’m not saying it started there, it started before that, but it just is an indicator that we weren’t thinking right and they were. When you play a good team that’s thinking right and you’re not, that’s not good. If we do that this week we’ll be beaten by 60. It will be ugly.”

Ferentz also stressed the importance of improved punt and kickoff coverage. Last week against Iowa State, the Cyclones returned three kicks an average of 40.7 yards.

“It was pretty pathetic the other day — it was really bad,” Ferentz said. “I’m not discrediting Iowa State they did a nice job. They did what they’re supposed to do and we certainly let them get some big plays and that’s not good. If we try that on Saturday, we’ll be down by about 28 points in the first half.”

The game will be broadcast by ESPN. Iowa has won four of its last five games against national ranked teams.