Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz is confident better days are ahead for the program. At 4-7, the Hawkeyes are headed for their worst season since the 2000 squad finished 3-8 as the get ready to host 14th ranked Nebraska.
“I believed that 14 years ago, and pick any of our best years, if you want to do that and I could probably list 10 things that we could have done better too. That’s the nature of sports,” Ferentz.
Ferentz says there is not just one area that has led to a disappointing season. “Typically it’s never quite as bad as you think, never quite as good as you think,” he says. He says Nebraska is really playing at a high level right now and the challenge is to get ready for them.
Saturday will be the final game for a group of 19 seniors. That includes quarterback James Vandenberg, who was coming off an impressive junior season. He says it’s not a script Vandenberg would have written, but says he has handled it with “class, dignity, shown great leadership skills and nobody is working harder.”
Nebraska is 9-2 overall and Ferentz says this Husker team reminds him of their glory days. He says they have always been good on defense and are playing that way now.
Ferentz expects the series with Nebraska to become a good rivalry some day. He says they played games in the past and have only played two in the recent years and he expects it to continue to develop into a good series.