Iowa had the most incompetent offense in college football last season. Despite their lack of proficiency, the Hawkeyes still managed to win 10 games, reach the Big Ten Championship, and finish in the Top 20.
Head coach Kirk Ferentz believes that the 10-3 record proves that his hard-nosed, defensive-minded style of play can still work. In a world of spread offenses, Iowa remains an old school bastion.
However, Ferentz has an important decision to make about the future. His son, Brian, will step down as the offensive coordinator at the end of this season because his offense was terrible.
Kirk will have to pick a successor and made it clear that Hawkeyes fans should not expect a flashy hire. They should not plan on their team lighting up the scoreboard any time soon.
To Ferentz, winning is more important than scoring a lot. To make his point, the 68-year-old took a shot at Lincoln Riley and his 7-5 record.
I think there’s a guy that entered the conference recently (Riley) that came with wide acclaimed offensive stats and all that. That’s usually how those guys become well known because of whatever they’re doing — throwing it, running it, wishbone.
— Kirk Ferentz
He didn’t directly name USC’s head coach, but it wasn’t a secret.
But then you look a little deeper: so what’s this guy’s wins per game? There’s usually a correlation. People who just throw the ball around, it makes it tougher to win and makes it tougher to be good on defense.
— Kirk Ferentz.
As Ferentz wraps up his 25th year as head football coach at Iowa, defense continues to be his calling card. The Hawkeyes had the fifth-ranked defense in the country to compliment their horrendous offense.
On the flip side of things, USC had the 12th worst defense in the country last season. Ferentz doubled down and pointed to the Trojans’ record while struggling to tackle.
There’s a school on the west coast right now that’s gonna recommit to defense. They gave up 42 to Tulane last year in a bowl game, at a place where Ronnie Lott played. So, now they’re gonna think about defense, you know?
— Kirk Ferentz
Although Ferentz’s comments were slightly defensive (no pun intended), he’s not wrong. Iowa was absolutely terrible on offense and won 10 games. USC was terrible on defense and lost five.
It will be very interesting to see how such polar opposite focuses come together in the same conference next year. Unfortunately, the Trojans and Hawkeyes will not play in 2024 so Riley will have to hold Ferentz’s bulletin board material until 2025!