Audio By Carbonatix
Very few things in life are as consistent as head coach Kirk Ferentz and the college football program at the University of Iowa. As Dana Holgorsen prepares to face the Hawkeyes on Saturday, he came to a mind-boggling revelation from more than two decades prior.
Nothing, quite literally not one single thing, has changed since the last time he was in this exact same position.
Holgorsen was hired by Matt Rhule as an advisor to the Nebraska football program earlier this season. The 53-year-old was very quickly elevated to the role of offensive coordinator after the ouster of Marcus Satterfield. Saturday will be his third-straight game calling plays for the Cornhuskers even though he began the year as an advisor at TCU and only joined the staff in Lincoln at the beginning of November.
Holgorsen last coached against Iowa in 2001. He was working as the wide receivers coach at Texas Tech under the tutelage of Mike Leach. The Red Raiders faced the Hawkeyes in the Alamo Bowl, 23 years ago. They lost 19-16.
Iowa football has not changed!
As Holgorsen started to prepare for his first opportunity for revenge, he was experiencing déjà vu. Everything about his upcoming opponent looks exactly the same as last time.
I remember my second year at Texas Tech in 2001, we played Iowa in the Alamo Bowl. And it’s the same thing twenty-some years later. It’s the same scheme, same coach, same everything. This is crazy.
— Dana Holgorsen
Iowa has made a few minor tweaks to its offense over the last two years but it is the same ground-and-pound system at its core. The defense has not wavered in its identity under a head coach who was hired in 1999.
What Dana Holgorsen saw on film during the third year of the Kirk Ferentz era is exactly what he saw on film during year 26. As the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and the Hawkeyes ain’t broke.
As Nebraska prepares for its trip to Iowa City on Saturday, Holgorsen hopes to leave with a different result. This is his first opportunity to avenge the three-point loss in 2001!