It was a record setting win for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. The head Hawkeye earned his 100th Big Ten win on Saturday over Penn State. Since it was over a school he watched growing up in Pittsburgh, it was extra special. Ferentz discusses the historic nature of the win, travel issues yesterday in getting to Iowa City., and he discusses the play of Daviyon Nixon.
OPENING STATEMENT
It was a really good team win for us. Really proud of the guys. Been a long time to come out of here with a win and almost forgot how it feels. It’s not easy. It never is. Really proud of our team. This was a hard fought game. I thought our guys played tough out there and showed up ready to go and made plays when we needed to.
We are doing a good job with the turnover/takeaway margin. Not real happy about our turnover tonight, but our defense is doing a really good job with the takewaways and that’s good. Daviyon took care of that one for us. We converted on them and we got a fourth down stop at midfield and took the ball and scored on that.
I am happy to see our point production continue to be healthy. Bottom line, this is a really good step for us. It’s never easy in the second half in a Big Ten contest, especially with a team like Penn State and the talent that they have. Hopefully this will be a good building experience for us to feel some of the adversity and the bumps. Everyone kept playing and stuck together and hopefully that is something that will pay off for us as we move on.
That is the key thing right now. We will enjoy this victory today. The players have every reason to enjoy the ride home and feel good about it. I’ll go home and get a good night’s rest because we have another short week. After we watch film tomorrow we will move on and try to get ready for the next opponent. I’m really happy for our entire team.
Q: Getting 100th win in PA extra special?
KF: Somebody threw out the number 100 earlier this week. I didn't know before that. Doing it here is special because I grew up in Pennsylvania and followed Penn State football. But to do something like that, you only get there with good players, good coaches on the staff, and good people all around you at a special place like Iowa.
Q: More than the milestone, probably more the way you are playing right now. What does feel like as you turn the corner and the guys get to celebrate in the locker room?
KF: Culmination of a week's worth of hard work is seeing the guys let loose in the locker room. We've still got a lot to work on, but each win is hard fought, so it's great to see.
Q: All four turnovers came from defensive line. What impresses you about them?
KF: Just the growth. We were less than impressive early on in the season. That's all part of the growth process. We have younger guys growing and an older guy, but relatively new here like VanValkenburg really growing. Hopefully a lot more growth to come.
Q: Chauncey's interception when Penn State was making a run with Clifford in?
KF: Yeah, start wondering if it's one of those stories with a guy coming off the bench to win it. I'm a little demonic and start having those bad thoughts. Somebody has to find a way to get something done and our d-line too. If our front four are playing well like that it gives us a great chance.
Q: Northwestern beat Wisconsin today so they are 5-0, but Big Ten Championship aside what do you want to accomplish this year?
KF: Same as every season, just maximize every opportunity. You can't do anything about yesterday. Learned that from a very wise man. We are what we are. We were 0-2, earned that, but can only move forward week by week like we have the last three weeks. We'll do that and then dissect it once the season is over.
Q: You guys are route oriented. How did yesterday's travel affect you?
KF: The good news is we weren't in the air when it happened, they caught in on the ground. But we just went back and adjusted our meetings, got some in yesterday. It wasn't an 11 AM kickoff, so that made it easier. The last month, really the whole year, has been nothing but irregularity, but we've done pretty well with it.
Q: Kallenberger came out?
KF: He's a little bit hobbled. Hopefully not too serious, but Jack Plumb went in there and got some experience.
Q: Daviyon's play?
KF: Really impressive play by a really impressive player. Bad news is we're going to be hearing about that one for the next month now. But I'm really proud of him, how's he grown. Impressive play physically.
Q: Running game confident now?
KF: Yeah, the more we can be balanced the better. Not just our line, but fullbacks and tight ends and receivers did well blocking and backs are running hard.
Q: When you look across the field and see Penn State being 0-5. If you guys had gone down the wrong track, that could have been you guys. How important was it to get things back on the right track?
KF: If they can be 0-5 that means anybody can be 0-5. All you can do is worry about the adjustments you can make and try to get everybody to buy in. We've had some bumps this year, but one thing that's been constant is we have really good players who try their ass off. Things don't always go our way, but they work hard and have really bought in.
