Kirk Ferentz has been around the block and experienced just about every type of game a head coach can in their career. That is partly why the head man is so calm, cool, and collected going into the week two Cy-Hawk matchup against the Iowa State Cyclones.
Back in 2009, the Iowa Hawkeyes were sitting at No. 22 in the polls and welcomed in-state FCS opponent Northern Iowa into Iowa City. In what was expected to be a nice, easy way to open the season, the Panthers turned the game into a dogfight that saw the Hawkeyes lucky to prevail 17-16 only due to a few mishaps on Northern Iowa’s end.
Following this, Iowa rattled off eight straight wins beginning with a 35-3 victory over Iowa State. The Hawkeyes used this to propel themselves to an 11-2 record culminating with a win over No. 9 Georgia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl.
When asked about that team’s trajectory this week, Ferentz was aware of the similarities between the two season-opening wins.
“I think that’s kind of an illustration, I think all good teams develop during the course of the year, and I think certainly that ended up being a really good team, but we were hardly world beaters on that opener, that’s for sure,” said Ferentz when asked about former Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn comparing the two games.
“We’ll have bumps later on in the season, too, but it’s how you handle it, how you respond, and certainly the ’09 team did a great job, not only that week, but moving forward, and that’s where we need to be focused is what can we do to get better and improve and fast. That’s our topic or our task. That’s kind of the deal there,” continued Ferentz.
As Iowa prepares to kick off against Iowa State this Saturday afternoon, it can be nearly assured that the talk inside the walls of the Hawkeyes’ facility is solely focused on what is ahead of them with minimal looking in the rearview mirror.
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