The cream of the crop in the Big Ten is full of national title contenders year in and year out. Last year provides evidence as the Michigan Wolverines were crowned champions of the College Football Playoff.
Up there this year is the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Sitting right behind them in that next tier, at least viewed by many, is the Iowa Hawkeyes.
During his weekly press conference, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was asked his thoughts about that gap and if it exists in the conference.
“Yeah, I’m not looking at it that way. We just take each week individually.”
“But it kind of goes back, we’ve been playing pretty well defensively. We’ve had issues with the offensive line. Then last year we obviously had some challenges at the quarterback spot. It’s yesterday’s news. If you’re going to play a team that is nationally ranked, top-10 team, and those teams you mentioned typically are in that neighborhood, I’m not saying you’ve got to be firing on all three cylinders, but it certainly helps. It gives you a chance.”
“I guess I look at it the other way. I look at last year, I’ll go back to that because I know has been written about how many points we scored about whoever it was a year ago, and I think maybe you look at it the other way, maybe we did a hell of a job winning 10 games. There’s two ways to look at every coin.”
“Talent ebbs and flows. I’ve been here 25 years, going on 26 now, and it’s true every year. Every year has got its own challenges. You deal with the challenges that are in front of you, try to play to your strengths and do the best you can on an annual basis.”
“Over the long haul, we’re proud of our record. How it all pans out, it’s a year-to-year basis kind of thing,” Ferentz said when asked about the gap in the Big Ten conference.
Kirk Ferentz, the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten and college football, currently holds a 199-120 overall record as the head coach of Iowa and carries a 123-85 record in Big Ten play.
Iowa’s last win against Ohio State came in 2017, Penn State in 2021, and Michigan in 2016.
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