By Jordan Hansen | [email protected]
A return trip to the Rose Bowl is something Iowa fans have wanted since the first day of Kirk Ferentz’s tenure.
He finally brought the Hawkeye faithful to Pasadena, Iowa’s version of the Promised Land. Even more importantly, however, Ferentz had the Hawkeyes nationally ranked throughout their improbable undefeated regular season, which is part of the reason why Ferentz is the DI’s Coach of the Year.
After the spring practices of 2015, there was plenty of skepticism surrounding Iowa. The Hawkeyes were coming off a disappointing loss to Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl, helping to lead to Jake Rudock’s transfer to Michigan.
The offense under newly minted starter C.J. Beathard performed poorly in the spring game, adding to the speculation. It was obvious Iowa would have issues on the line and replacing two early draft picks at tackle took time.
By the time the season rolled around, things were starting to bubble over. Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta began to take huge amounts of criticism, and it seemed as though it would be a very important season for Ferentz to provide some results on the field.
First came wins against Illinois State and Iowa State. Those were followed up by huge night-game victory against Pittsburgh and a thrashing of North Texas.
Suddenly Iowa was 4-0, and the hype train never stopped rolling. By the time the smoke cleared, the Hawkeyes were perfect in Big Ten, something Ferentz hadn’t done since the 2002-03 season.
Perhaps just as meaningful, Iowa won every single rivalry trophy game. These games are fairly important for recruiting, and with many coming in their division, it also helped the Hawks gain early separation in the West.
He also did a lot with a little. The Hawkeye program has long been known to be a great developmental program, which became very apparent that season. Ferentz had little blue-chip talent to work with, so he made do with what he had.
A lot has been said about the chemistry of last season’s Iowa team and for good reason. It was very much a factor in many of their wins, and that type of leadership comes from the top down.
In hindsight, Ferentz also made a very good decision in keeping Beathard over Rudock, which ended up working out well for all involved.
It was a special season for Ferentz and Iowa football. Even though the Rose Bowl did not play out as anyone had planned, this was by far one of the most successful years the team has had in a long time.
Iowa City is back on the college football map, and Ferentz deserves quite a bit of credit for that.
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