Washington’s 40-16 loss at Iowa taught Jedd Fisch a lot about life in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes’ big, physical, well-coached team ran through the Huskies, who are still adjusting to life with a new head coach.
As the Huskies get a well-timed break with their bye week, Fisch took some time at his Monday press conference to reflect on his biggest takeaways from Big Ten play so far.
“It’s everything we thought it was going to be,” he said. “This is the Big Ten; this is different, and the guys are big, and the players look the part. They’re born and raised to play in the Big Ten, and that’s what it used to be. The Wisconsin offensive line, the Iowa offensive line, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, that’s what it’s been about, the size of those groups.”
“I would also say the mentality of the Big Ten. There’s a mindset of how you play football. There’s a mindset of defense, the running game, there’s a mindset of the physicality of the game. Coach [Kirk] Ferentz has recruited to that team for 26 years and has built that team exactly how he wants it to look, do to exactly what he wants them to do at exactly the right moment. That’s how he feeds them, that’s how they work out in the weight room, how they are in the training room, they probably haven’t changed their practice times in 25 years.”
While Ferentz’s program is a unique case, the first few weeks in the Big Ten appeared to have rubbed off on Fisch and how he wants to build his program moving forward.