With the news that both the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies are going to be leaving the Pac-12 Conference a year from now and joining the Big Ten Conference, we decided that it is time for Oregon fans to learn a bit more about their future home.
Not only do Duck fans need to know a bit more about the history of the Big Ten, but they also need to learn about the teams that occupy the conference.
Fortunately, the USA TODAY College Wires’ network is ripe with journalists who cover the Big Ten. Whether it’s the Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan Wolverines, or Penn State Nittany Lions, we have access to some of the top reporters in the region who know their teams inside and out. To help learn about each team, we sat down for a Q&A with the numerous site editors in the Big Ten.
Check out our Q&A with: — Nebraska — Ohio State —
The Oregon Ducks and Iowa Hawkeyes represent two drastically different philosophies in the world of college football.
While Oregon’s main football tradition is the idea of change and ingenuity, the opposite could be said for Iowa. Head coach Kirk Ferentz has been with the Hawkeyes since 1999, and he stands as the longest-tenured college football head coach. Contrarily, Oregon has now had six head coaches since Ferentz has been at Iowa.
Despite the differences, both the Ducks and Hawkeyes have a tradition of winning. Iowa has 13 conference championships to its name and five national championships from back in the 20th century. The two teams have only met a handful of times on the gridiron, with Oregon holding a 2-1 series advantage.
To help give us a better sense of who the Hawkeyes are, and what some of the Iowa fans think about the Oregon Ducks, we sat down with Josh Helmer, the managing editor of USA TODAY’s Hawkeyes Wire. Here is that conversation: