A four-hour flight to Los Angeles is nothing to Kirk Ferentz. Before taking to the skies as the head coach of the Hawkeyes, Ferentz hit the road often while at the helm of Maine University more than 30 years ago.
When playing against Rutgers in October 1991, the Black Bears made a near nine-hour drive down the Atlantic coast. Ferentz said the team split the trip over two days on the way there, but took a straight shot back to campus on the return trip.
“This is not exactly a big challenge that way,” Ferentz said with a smile. “The weather will probably be better, too.”
While the warm sun of The Golden State will be a nice change of scenery from the drab autumn skies of Iowa City, California’s iconic Rose Bowl stadium has been a house of horrors for the Hawkeyes. Iowa has represented the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl four times since its last victory in 1959.
In those matchups against Washington (twice), UCLA, and Stanford, Iowa was outscored, 164-78 – most recently falling in a 45-16 drubbing at the hands of Christian McCaffery and the Cardinals.
Ferentz was on the sidelines for three of those matchups. Up on the podium for his weekly press conference, he recalled a booming 70-yard punt from the late great Hawkeye punter Reggie Roby against the Huskies in 1981 – and then joked at how slow Iowa was in its coverage.
“We had the offensive line in those days covering the punt, so you can just imagine the visual, the gap between the ball and the wave coming to cover,” he said. “You talk about bad football.”
Besides the laughs, Ferentz doesn’t forget his counterparts on the opposing sidelines – Don James of Washington and Terry Donahue at UCLA, who sport a combined 363 wins at their longtime programs.
Ferentz passed Donahue’s 151 victories with the Bruins back in 2019 at the Outback Bowl against Mississippi State. Five years later, he cleared the 200-win threshold when Iowa topped Washington on Oct. 12 . He remains 10 victories shy of James’ 212, but has a more immediate goal on his mind – walking out of the Rose Bowl with a W.
“We haven’t had a good memory there,” Ferentz said. “I haven’t had one personally. It’s not like we get there that often, but when you get there, you hope you can have something good come out of it.”
Given their past futility at the Rose Bowl, short week of practice, and cross-country travel, the Hawkeyes have plenty of factors weighing against them as they aim for their third consecutive win on Friday night against the Bruins.
“We could sit here and make every excuse in the book,” starting quarterback Brendan Sullivan said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve just got to be able to take advantage of the rest we get. Obviously, we’re gonna have a day short … but we’ve got to take advantage of the rest we get and maybe watch a little more film to prepare us.”
Student-athlete Voters
Iowa defensive line coach Kelvin Bell wrapped up his press conference last week by stating that all 21 members of the Hawkeye defensive line room were registered to vote. Deontae Craig, a senior leader in the position group, said he appreciates the coach’s emphasis on civics just as much as his knowledge of the gridiron.
“He really does a great job of bringing the real world into the room and separating it from football a little bit,” Craig said of Bell. “So he’s a pleasure, and he’s definitely educated all of us on the necessaryness of this election and the vote.”
“We had guest speakers come in and talk to us about the ballot, and educate us on what to look for and what to see when we get to the polls,” Craig added.
Hailing from Indiana, Craig said and other out-of-state players cast absentee ballots for their home states while others voted early or on Election Day.
“It’s our fundamental right as a human being to get out there and express our opinion and make our votes count,” Craig said.
Running back family
The Hawkeyes had their best rushing performance of the season last week against Wisconsin, tallying 329 yards on the ground. Aside from Sullivan’s mobility, three Iowa running backs – Kaleb Johnson, Jaziun Patterson, and Kamari Moulton – collected at least 50 yards and five yards per carry.
For Patterson, his performance against the Badgers was his best since September. The second-year back said he was dealt with a lower-body injury for part of the season, but has now found his footing.
“Basically I’ve been keeping my head down and working behind the scenes,” Patterson said. “Whenever I get the opportunity, going out, running the ball as hard as I can to help the team.”
Alongside Moulton and Johnson, Patterson said the trio have formed a relationship wherein each feeds off the others’ talents. He said the group is competitive and not afraid to hold one another accountable. The culture for this room could not be established without running backs coach Ladell Betts, Patterson said.
Betts, a former Iowa standout and 10-year NFL veteran, has instilled a family-like atmosphere among the Hawkeye running backs. The group visits the Betts family on Thanksgiving.
“He’s like a father figure to us in the program,” Patterson said, “He leads by example. He’s already been through everything that we’re trying to accomplish, and he always puts us in the best position to do what we need to do. He’s a very understanding guy.”
Injury news and notes
Along with tight end Addison Ostrenga, wide receiver Reece Vander Zee, and backup quarterback Marco Lainez, Cade McNamara will miss his consecutive straight game after suffering a concussion against Northwestern.
“He will not be ready to go. Hopefully during the bye week we can get him up and running a little bit,” Ferentz said of Iowa’s preseason starting quarterback.
Ferentz added that tight end Luke Lachey, who was in uniform but did not play against Wisconsin, “has a chance” to return to action against UCLA.
“He’s a little bit limited right now, but practicing, and we’ll see how it goes this week,” Ferentz said. “I think he’s close, but we have to plan to go without him.”