Tag: Kirk Ferentz

Kirk Ferentz defends Iowa fans booing Penn State injuries

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz says Iowa fans ‘smelled a rat’ with Penn State’s injuries

It seems a war of words is upon us days after the game itself has been decided. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was asked about the recent drama and debate focusing on Iowa’s fans booing Penn State players who were injured at various points during the Week 6 matchup between the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions. While Ferentz didn’t come right out and accuse Penn State players of taking a dive to slow things down when Iowa was on offense, he did go to bat for the Iowa faithful suggesting Iowa fans are not stupid.

Iowa fans were regularly booing every Penn State injury during the game, feeling the Nittany Lions were actively attempting to slow Iowa’s snail-paced offense to a crawl after potentially big gains. The boos grew louder and louder as the game went on and more and more Penn State players were getting banged up.

Ferentz noticed a number of Penn State players returned to the field rather quickly (which happens plenty of times during every college football game) but did recognize there were some significant injuries Penn State experienced, including defensive lineman PJ Mustipher and quarterback Sean Clifford.

But Ferentz said Iowa fans aren’t stupid and they smelled a rat in Penn State.

Penn State head coach James Franklin did not take kindly to Iowa’s fans booing his injured players and sternly said Iowa does not have the type of offense faking injuries would typically come into play. And to this point, no video evidence has been made available suggesting Penn State players were being instructed to fall to the ground after a play to draw an injury timeout.

So, for now, this is all nothing more than a coaching version of verbal jockeying for a position. There is no evidence one way or the other and each side will believe what they want to believe.

Unfortunately for Penn State, the only way to get the last word on this will be t face Iowa for a second time in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz knows how dangerous Sean Clifford can be

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz praised Sean Clifford’s veteran leadership this week

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford has been off to a much better start than he experienced a year ago. As a result, he has certainly caught the attention of the head coach of Penn State’s next opponent, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.

While discussing his team and the upcoming showdown between Iowa and Penn State this Saturday, Ferentz was complimentary of Clifford. Ferentz is well aware of how confident Clifford appears to be this season and has stressed the importance of not allowing Clifford to get going with his feet for very long.

“Offensively, their quarterback is a veteran player, can make any throw that they ask him to make,” Ferentz said when discussing Clifford with the media this week. “Besides that, he’s a dangerous runner. They’ll run with him a little bit by design.”

Clifford has rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown in the first five games of the season. As noted by Ferentz, Penn State and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich have called don Clifford to take off and run on some designed plays, but much of Clifford’s rushing production has seemingly come on the fly when he doesn’t see something he likes through the air and takes off to take advantage of the open field.

Penn State has actually struggled to get much consistent production on the ground, but Clifford has accumulated some yards with his decision-making to take what the defense may be giving him.

“As dangerous as anything, if it’s not there for him, something opens up, he’ll pull it down and go,” Ferentz added. “He’ll throw off the run or take it and make the yardage necessary for a first down or even more than that. That’s where it all starts.”

That ability to take off or extend a play until a receiver can find some open space was praised by one of the players who reaps the benefits of Clifford extending plays, wide receiver Jahan Dotson.

“[We] know that we just have to stay alive and scramble drills. We literally preach it every single Sunday,” Dotson said after Penn State’s win over Indiana in Week 5. “So just staying alive with him, making sure you keep your eyes on him while he’s scrambling we know he’s gonna make a play make the right decision.”

“Again, he’s a veteran player, a leader, a guy they look to,” Ferentz said.

Clifford will be in for his biggest challenge yet. Iowa leads the nation with 12 interceptions in its first five games. The Hawkeyes picked off six passes last week against Maryland.

Clifford and the Nittany Lions visit Iowa this Saturday, Oct. 9 in a matchup of top four teams.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion.

Where does James Franklin rank among Big Ten coaches according to Big Ten media?

Where did Big Ten media rank Penn State head coach James Franklin among Big Ten coaches in 2021?

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Penn State head coach James Franklin is coming off his first losing season in Happy Valley, but he remains optimistic about what his team will do in 2021. But despite taking his team to 11 win seasons in three of the last five seasons with pair of New Years Six bowl victories and a Big Ten championship to his name, Franklin is not quite viewed as one of the top coaches in the Big Ten.

Voters in a preseason poll organized by Cleveland.com recently cast their votes for the top head coach in the Big Ten, and Franklin barely came in the top half of the final vote. Voters ranked their top three head coaches in the Big Ten. Franklin appeared on eight of 34 ballots.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day narrowly edged Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald for the top spot in the poll, receiving one more vote to be named the top coach in the Big Ten. Fitzgerald actually received one more first-place vote (17) than Day (16), but Day accumulated more second-place votes to edge Fitzgerald by two points in the final voting.

Franklin finished with the sixth-most points in the poll, which put Penn State’s head coach behind Day, Fitzgerald, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Wisconsin‘s Paul Chryst, and Indiana’s Tom Allen. Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck and Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano each received one point in the voting.

Notably absent from the poll was Michigan‘s Jim Harbaugh, who failed to appear in the top three of all 34 voters in the poll.

In the interest of full disclosure, I voted in the Cleveland.com poll and did include Franklin on my ballot. Day was my first-place vote and Franklin received my second-place vote. I voted for Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst with my third vote.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion.

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James Franklin drops in Sporting News top 25 coach rankings for 2021

James Franklin slipped in Sporting News’ ranking of the top 25 FBS coaches entering 2021, but he’s still higher than Harbaugh.

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It goes without saying that Penn State had a tough 2020 season. And when you pair that with a few really good seasons by some other programs last year, it makes sense to see Penn State head coach James Franklin drop in a ranking of FBS coaches heading into the 2021 season.

Sporting News released its ranking of the top 25 FBS coaches for the 2021 season. And this year, Franklin has fallen out of the top 10, falling from No. 9 in 2020 to No. 11 this season. Not surprisingly, Penn State’s underperforming 4-5 record is a big culprit.

Here’s what Sporting News said about Franklin and his ranking;

The Nittany Lions are coming off a disastrous 4-5 season, which knocked Franklin out of our top 10. That took some momentum off a four-year stretch where Penn State had a 42-11 record that would be more conducive to a 12-team Playoff setup. Franklin still consistently puts out the biggest threat to Ohio State on the field in the Big Ten, and that continues to be the elusive next step for the program.

Franklin is still ranked admirably among his peers in college football, but he was passed by two coaches making big gains since last year. North Carolina head coach Mack Brown jumped up four spots from No. 14 to No. 10 after taking the Tar Heels to the ACC championship game last fall. But it was Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell making the monster jump in the rankings by moving from No. 24 in 2020 all the way up to No. 9 this year. Campbell also coached his team to its conference championship game, but both Brown and Campbell came up short in their respective conference championship games to Clemson and Oklahoma, respectively.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban remains the No. 1 coach in FBS after winning another national title. Ohio State‘s Ryan Day is the highest-ranked Big Ten coach at No. 6. Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald comes in just behind Franklin (the second highest-ranked Big Ten coach) at No. 12, and Michigan‘s Jim Harbaugh is ranked No. 15 by Sporting News. Wisconsin‘s Paul Chryst is ranked No. 17 (arguably too low, but he did drop five spots from last year).

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (No. 20) and Indiana’s Tom Allen (No. 21) also appear in the top 25 to give the Big Ten seven of the top 25 FBS coaches in 2021, according to Sporting News.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion.

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Three bold takes and one guarantee for the 2020 Big Ten conference-only season

The scheduled kickoff for the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season is now only 47 days away. Yes, there are still question marks…

The scheduled kickoff for the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season is now only 47 days away.

Yes, there are still question marks about what the schedule will look like and if September 4 is a realistic date to start the season. But from what we know now, the Badgers and the rest of the conference will play a conference-only schedule and (hopefully) a conference championship and bowl season.

A lot about the season and each team’s chances changed when the Big Ten altered their schedule, so I went through the top teams in the conference earlier this week and analyzed how their stock was affected by the change. Long story short, the elimination of out-of-conference games has a profound affect on the season outlook of many of the conference’s leading programs.

Today we’re going a little more into the weeds and making three bold claims and one guarantee about what is to come during the altered season.

First, the three bold claims:

 

No. 1: The Indiana Hoosiers will finish the season No. 3 in the Big Ten East and with a better record than Michigan

NCAA Football: Indiana at Maryland
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) looks to pass during the first quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

I never thought I would ever type those words out, but when you look at each team’s schedule and different preseason situations it makes a lot of sense.

First, Indiana has only four challenging games on their schedule: at Wisconsin, vs Penn State, at Ohio State and at Michigan.

Michigan, on the other hand, has five: vs Wisconsin, vs Penn State, at Minnesota, vs Indiana and at Ohio State.

What’s the difference between those schedules? Most of Indiana’s tough games are on the road in what will likely be empty stadiums and most of Michigan’s will be at home in front of an empty stadium.

So the playing field is leveled a bit to start.

Second, and the biggest reason the Hoosiers are trending upward while Michigan is going the opposite direction, is Indiana welcomes back Michael Penix Jr. after an 8-5 2019 season while Michigan needs to groom Dylan McCaffrey to take over the starting job after going 9-4 last season.

Having talent and experience return at the quarterback position is pivotal this year as the preseason is already different and shortened in addition to the fact that out-of-conference “cupcake” games that are usually important to preparing a quarterback for conference play are no longer on the schedule.

I’m buying Indiana’s stock with Penix Jr. under center, a veteran offensive line and an improving defense and selling Michigan’s with a new quarterback and a gauntlet of a schedule.

 

Next…one of the Badgers’ division rivals who will be taking a step backwards this season

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Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz suspends coach after ex-players speak about racial inequity

The Iowa football program has suspended strength coach Chris Doyle after former players reveal racial inequities.

While the NFL is trying to figure out how to deal with a rapidly increasing activism among its player population, that issue is not limited to professional football. In college football, where the players do not have as many rights and often are not allowed to speak on social media, it took the words of several former Iowa Hawkeyes football players to activate change in the program.

After the death of George Floyd, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz put out a statement that specified the need for his players to come to a uniform conclusion as to whether they would kneel for the national anthem before games in protest of police brutality.

“We want them to be uniform, whether it is their uniform, or the way they do things, the way they conduct themselves,” Ferentz said. “To me, there’s a certain game-day protocol, if you will. In conjunction with that, I’ve always kind of felt like the sports arena is not a time to shine a light on an individual cause or an individual thing. No matter what the topic might be, that’s kind of been my approach.

“As we move forward right now, I think it’s important that we’re all together. But, whether it’s appropriate or not in a sports venue, that’s a discussion to be had. And certainly when we come back, we’ll talk about that as a team as well. I guess if I were to frame it out, I guess my goal, or my hopes, as a coach, is whatever we decide to do, and if it’s pertaining to that particular thing, I would just like to see our team to be together. Everybody’s taking a knee, or everybody’s at attention. Either way. The big thing is to be together, to me, on game day and present a uniform appearance as a football team.”

Ferentz could have not have imagined the storm that statement would cause. Soon after, several former Iowa players spoke about the racial inequities they encountered — a process that led to the suspension with pay of Iowa strength and concitioning coach Chris Doyle — the highest-paid coach at his position in the NCAA.

Bears offensive lineman James Daniels:

Vikings defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson:

Safety Jordan Lomax:

Titans safety Amani Hooker:

Lions defensive tackle Mike Daniels:

Illinois State linebacker Aaron Mends, a transfer from Iowa:

“Over the past 24 hours I have seen some difficult and heartbreaking posts on social media,” Ferentz said in a statement. “I appreciate the former players’ candor and have been reaching out to many of them individually to hear more about their experiences in our program. I am planning on talking to all of them in the coming days. This is a process that will take some time, but change begins by listening first.

“Many of the discussions have centered around our strength and conditioning program and coach Chris Doyle. I have spoken with him about the allegations posted on social media. They’re troubling and have created a lasting impact on those players. Therefore, Coach Doyle has been placed on administrative leave immediately while an independent review can take place. He and I agree that all parties will have their voices heard and then a decision about how we move forward will be made.”

If there’s one thing that has become evident in the last week or so, it’s that athletes at all levels are far bolder about speaking out about their own rights, and the responsibilities of those who are supposed to be coaching and mentoring them. This is a crucial dynamic in professional sports, but even more so at the college level — where players are not paid, have very few opportunities to speak out, and, as in the case of Iowa’s players, didn’t even have the right to speak their minds on social media.

And for those who have moved to limit those rights, to intimidate players in their charge, and to otherwise abuse the privilege they’re afforded and the responsibilities they’ve been given, it could be a very tough time. As it should be.

Big Ten Bowl Impact: Iowa vs USC

We look back on the Pinstripe Bowl between Iowa and USC and see how it impacted both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

With the 2019 college footballs season complete, we look back on how the Big Ten did in bowl games.

As we go through all the bowls, in no particular order, we will focus on two main things:

1. How did the bowl performance end the 2019 season? Was it a fitting end or a poor performance, etc.
2. What impact, if any, will it have on the 2020 season.

Now that we’ve gone through all four Big Ten losses (not including the CFP), let’s move on to the wins.

2019 Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs USC

The matchup

No one quite knew what to expect from this matchup, because no on quite knew what to expect from USC at all this year. Kedon Slovis was a revelation in Pac 12 play, looking like the next in a long line of great USC quarterbacks. USC had a middling season (relatively), but there’s clearly massive potential.

Iowa, meanwhile, can’t ever shake its Ferentz-ball stereotype. The Hawkeyes are viewed as a slow, run-first team that relies on huge linemen to cover for a lack of speed at skill positions. Sure, players like Josey Jewell or or Kevin King come through, but they’re seen as individual anomalies, not fundamental parts of the program. It also doesn’t help that in Iowa’s last real high-profile bowl game, the Hawkeyes were embarrassed by Stanford in the Rose Bowl. The fact that that bowl loss was sandwiched between two other embarrassing bowl losses to SEC schools just exacerbated the issue.

What went right

Well, Iowa shed just about every Iowa stereotype in this game. Not only did the Hawkeyes not get blown out against a fast and athletic team, but they dominated the game entirely. The Iowa offense was unstoppable in the first half, scoring touchdowns on all four drives. The defense was stout, and there’s no shame in giving up some good plays and drives to an offense as talented as USC’s. It’s almost impossible to guard Amon-Ra St. Brown, but Iowa did a pretty solid job of completely shutting down the USC run game. With the Trojan offense entirely one-dimensional, Iowa got plenty of stops–even if the Slovis to St. Brown connection was there all game.

What went wrong

The Hawkeyes did go three-and-out three times in the second half, but they were clearly controlling the game by then. The worst thing that Iowa did–and this is a huge sin for a Ferentz-coached team–was that the Hawkeyes weren’t prepared for a USC onside kick early in the game. You have to be ready for those, though it didn’t hurt much in this one.

Next… 2019 wrap-up and 2020 impact

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