Oct. 18, 2015
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By DARREN MILLER
hawkeyesports.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — After beginning the season with seven wins — two of them on the road over nationally ranked opponents — the University of Iowa football team will “step up, get fresh air, and get ready for the second big round.”
The Hawkeyes (7-0 overall, 3-0 Big Ten Conference) join Alabama as the only team in the nation with multiple road wins against ranked opponents. Now it’s time for a mental and physical recess.
“We need to be smart about this week and give our guys who are banged up a chance to regroup and get recharged,” UI head coach Kirk Ferentz said Sunday during an exclusive interview with hawkeyesports.com. “It’s still an opportunity for us to move forward as a football team.
“We made it this far, now we have a chance to regroup and be ready for the second surge. We want them to relax and recharge and we’ll get back to thinking about football later in the week.”
Because of the quick start, Ferentz has been asked to compare this team to others from the past. Seasons that come to mind are 2002 (11-2), 2004 (10-2), 2008 (9-4), and 2009 (11-2). Take your pick, any link to those four seasons puts you in pretty good company.
Ferentz saw a bit of Saturday’s 40-10 win over No. 20 Northwestern in Iowa’s 45-21 win at Minnesota to clinch a Big Ten championship in 2002.
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“We made it this far, now we have a chance to regroup and be ready for the second surge. We want them to relax and recharge and we’ll get back to thinking about football later in the week.”
Kirk Ferentz
UI football coach |
“We won (Saturday), but there are a lot of things we can still get cleaned up,” Ferentz said. “I go back to the 2002 season and I remember the Minnesota game. You watch tape the next day and there are still a lot of things we can improve upon. That is the challenge in sports — if our team has a good attitude and continues to work on detailing things, hopefully we can make vast improvement in the next five games.”
Iowa’s remaining schedule includes a home game against Maryland on Oct. 31, at Indiana on Nov. 7, back-to-back home games against Minnesota (Nov. 14) and Purdue (Nov. 21), and the annual Black Friday game at Nebraska on Nov. 27.
“A trademark of the team seven games into it is the way it has handled adversity and the up and downs that take place when you’re doing something competitive,” Ferentz said. “We lost momentum in the second part of the second quarter (Saturday) and did a good job right before the half. We had a nice drive, we didn’t finish it, but we came out and got a stop defensively and then that drive for a touchdown to start the second half was big and got us on track.”
The 12-play, 80-yard series consisted of 10 runs and two pass completions. Sophomore Akrum Wadley carried the ball seven times for 42 yards and a touchdown; sophomore Derrick Mitchell, Jr., had two rushing attempts for 17 yards.
Ferentz is proud of the Hawkeyes’ effort away from Kinnick Stadium. They have won at Iowa State (31-17), at No. 19 Wisconsin (10-6), and at No. 20 Northwestern (40-10).
“To go into three hostile environments and come away victorious is a great thing,” Ferentz said.
For Hawkeye fans interested in purchasing tickets for the game against Maryland on Oct. 31, click HERE.
