Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says he would like the college football season to begin the final week of August. The season will expand to 12-games in 2005 and Ferentz says starting a week earlier would allow all the teams to schedule in a bye week. He says a poll of his players found they liked having Thanksgiving week off.
Ferentz says the players like adding another game to the schedule but he feels a week off at some point during the season is important. He says the move to 12 games was made without much thought to the consequences. He says he hopes they reshape the schedule a little bit.
Iowa opens next season at home September second against Western Michigan and with 12-games will not have a week off. He says they can either play after Thanksgiving, or drop the bye week and he says either option is “lousy.”
The Hawkeyes are in the midst of their bye week and will return to action a week from Saturday at Northwestern.