The Iowa Hawkeyes will close out the pre-conference portion of their schedule this weekend at home against Arizona. Iowa is off to a 2-0 start after a win at Iowa State while the Wildcats are also 2-0 under former Hawkeye safety Mike Stoops. Ferentz says it’s always good to have former Hawkeyes home, but it’s better if you don’t have to compete against them.
Ferentz says it’s not a lot of fun competing against someone you have an association with, and he says it has happened quite frequently, probably due to the number of coaches that came out of Hayden Fry’s system. Ferentz says Arizona looks like a program that is on the verge of breaking out. One of the Wildcats’ victories this season came against a Central Michigan team that won at Michigan State last week.
Ferentz says they finished with momentum last year with some good wins and played USC close. He says they are talented and look good on film. Ferentz will continue to use two freshman at running back: Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher. He says they both have handled what they’ve been asked to do in good fashion, but still have a long ways to go. He says the good thing about younger players is they tend to improve in a more dramatic fashion, but they also tend to have a miscue along the way.
The Hawkeyes came out throwing the ball early against Iowa State and Ferentz admits the Hawks may rely more on the passing game this season. Ferentz says there’s an image that they just want to run the football, but he says the idea is to score points and secondly to not turn the ball over. He says field position is also important in football.
And because of that they need quarterback Rick Stanzi to get off to better starts. Stanzi has struggled in the first half of Iowa’s two games this season. “We need to come out sharper there, we really do,” Ferentz says. He says Stanzi is aware of it and probably cares about it more than anyone and will get better.