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No. 2 Michigan has made the Big Ten Championship Game for the first time since the Big Ten started the annual game between the two divisions back in 2011.
The Wolverines are set to take on one of the tougher tests they have faced this season when the 13th-ranked Iowa defense takes the field on Saturday. While the Hawkeyes have an offense that ranks towards the bottom of the country, the defense has carried Iowa this far, and it’s a big reason why Iowa was ranked No. 2 in the nation once this year.
Games are all played for a reason, but Michigan vastly has more talent than Iowa when looking at both teams on paper. Kirk Ferentz had some high praises for Michigan in his opening statement on Tuesday with the media, and he says this will be a big challenge for his Hawkeyes. Ferentz says this may be one of the best Michigan teams that he has seen, but he can’t see the Wolverines playing much better than they did against Ohio State — it can’t get much better than that.
“Looking at Michigan, my first experience in this game was in 1981,” Ferentz said. “They were awfully good then. And they had a lot of good teams in the ’80s. Since I’ve been back, they’ve had a lot of good teams, too. This team certainly looks like they’re right at the top of that list from what we can tell.”
“They’re extremely talented in all phases. They have good depth. Very talented and well-coached. And to me, this is typical of good teams. But Michigan has a real identity, offensively, defensively, special teams. You can tell their players fully believe in what they’re doing. They do it well and they do it with a lot of energy and play at a high level.”
“So it’s a real credit to their football team. They’ve had a great season. Got off to a good start. Had the one bump in the road and came right back and finished out the season in impressive fashion. I can’t imagine them playing a lot better than they did this past Saturday against a team that’s extremely talented and a very good football team. They played a tremendous football game.”
Iowa has the 110th-ranked passing offense in the nation, and while the running attack is ranked 106th, the Hawkeyes will want to lean on their run game on Saturday. Iowa is going to try and shorten the game by having long drives and running out the clock, in other words, the Hawkeyes need to run the ball. Ferentz says Michigan is so strong up the middle, and he knows that Iowa won’t gain a ton of yards, but he wants to see his team do it effectively.
“We’ll have to bang away at it, see what we can do,” said Ferentz. “Starts with blocking. Try to block them and pick runs maybe that are smart. And we’re still working on that part of it. These guys, they’re really big inside. They look like a pro-defense. They’ve got big, strong players inside.
“They roll a lot of guys through, depending on your personnel. The outside guy, 97 is not coming off the field. But on the other side, they’ll put a big physical guy in there if you’re in a run group if you will. So they match up strategically. They’re smart that way. So they pose a lot of problems for you, they really do. We’re going to have to — and I don’t think we’ll be running for 300 yards. That’s not realistic. But we have to try to find a way to run efficiently.”
Switching over to the defense, Ferentz had to answer questions about Aidan Hutchinson. Ferentz compares Hutchinson to two former NFL defensive linemen, and he says that Hutchinson’s counterpart is pretty dang good as well.
“Yes, and he’s got a running mate that kind of gets your attention,” said Ferentz. I don’t know what you do to neutralize him. He’s an outstanding player. And better know where he lines up. And it’s fairly predictable, but the only problem is the guy on the other side is, I don’t want to say equally dangerous, but it’s pretty close. It’s a 1-2.”
“I was thinking this morning, I don’t know how often we’ve faced a team that has two guys outside like that that can be as disruptive as they are. And I said to somebody in the last 48 hours, when I was in the NFL there were two guys — there a lot of good players in the NFL, needless to say, that’s an obvious statement. A guy like Reggie White doesn’t count because he’s so freakishly talented. His size, speed, strength, just extraordinary, plus a better person than he was a player. Two guys that always stood out in my career, my time, at least my six years, my long career at six years, right, but Howie Long was one of them. And John Randle played more inside than outside, he was a Tasmanian devil. Howie Long the same way. If you relaxed one play, he was going to be in there wrecking the play and really causing havoc.”
“They’re not the same players, those two guys I described. Hutchinson is not. But he doesn’t stop. And that’s part of the reason he’s so good. Plus he has a good skill set. He has a motor that’s really impressive.”
Ferentz was asked what it would take to win the game on Saturday against Michigan. He brought up the last time Iowa was a big underdog against the Wolverines, back in 2016, and Iowa knocked the maize and blue off. He says that Michigan is really good at every position, and his team will need to catch a break during the game, but anything is possible.
“I’m still trying to get my head around that a little bit,” said Ferentz. “We’ve played in some games, I’m thinking, just off the top of my head, the last, what, two times ago, when we played these guys in ’16, I think we were 34 underdogs, 26, something like that.”
“These guys are just so good in every position. They just put a lot of pressure on you. And I don’t mean like blitzing pressure or tempo pressure, you just know what they’re capable of. You really just have to try to make them earn everything. It’s easier said than done. And then we’re going to have to come up with something. Somewhere along the way, create a break or whatever. And somehow someway find a way to get it done.”
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