Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz admits there are a lot of similarities between this year’s team and the 2008 squad. In both years the Hawkeyes were coming off disappointing seasons that ended without a bowl trip and bounced back to finish 8-4 and just like 2008 the season will finish at the Outback Bowl in Tampa.
“The short answer is they are one game away from proving it, the long answer is that…I thought there were a lot of parallels,” Ferentz says. He says the 2008 group had a lot of great stories, as does this group and like the ’08 group, Ferentz says the seniors in this group will be anxious to finish on a strong note with a bowl victory.
Iowa plays LSU on New Years Day and Ferentz is happy to be working during the holidays after missing out on a bowl game in 2012. “It was nice sitting at home for awhile…you know I love may family dearly, but if you are a football coach, you want to be working,” Ferentz says.
Ferentz says while getting back to a bowl game was their goal and they were not satisfied after getting their sixth win at Purdue. He says they wanted to improve their lot along with getting the 6th win. He says they finished the season strong and it’s a real compliment to the players.