Brandon Scherff (file photo)

Brandon Scherff (file photo)

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has not ruled senior tackle Brandon Scherff from this week’s matchup with Iowa State. KCRG TV reports Scherff underwent minor knee surgery that will keep him out a couple of weeks.

At his weekly news conference Ferentz refused to confirm that he had the procedure done. “He’s day-to-day right now, he was injured Saturday. We’ve got a couple of guys who are stiff and sore right now. We’ll see how it goes,” Ferentz says.

If Scherff can’t play redshirt freshman Ike Boettger will be the starter at left tackle. Ferentz says injuries are a part of football and the next guy has to go in and play and they have confidence in whoever comes in.

Ferentz did acknowledge that junior defensive end Drew Ott was injured in a moped accident. Ott did need stitches but Ferentz expects he will be ready by Saturday. “It’s a scary moment, we’ve had several players since I’ve been here that have been involved in those,” Ferentz says. “Fortunately, he’s doing well. Saw him this morning, he is sore.”

Ferentz says mopeds are popular with students because parking on campus is limited but they do not mandate that players where helmets. “We encourage it like many parents probably would,” Ferentz says. He says when he was growing up in Pennsylvania “back in the Dark Ages” they required people to wear helmets and that is something he says the state should consider.

Ferentz says injuries won’t change how they approach this game. “It’s just part of football. We’re not going to surrender if one guy goes down, or if five go down. We dodged a few raindrops in ’04, that one comes to mind real quickly where we got wiped out at the runningback position,” Ferentz says. “You find a way to win, you find a way to perform and that’s football, that’s the challenge of it.”

The Hawkeyes threw the ball 55 times in the victory over Ball State but Ferentz does not expect that to become the norm. He says if that happens it probably means they are losing, so he hopes that doesn’t happen. “We are not afraid to throw the ball, and I don’t think we’ve ever been afraid to throw it. It’s better to throw the ball when you feel like throwing it, and not just out of necessity,” Ferentz says.

The recent history of the Iowa/Iowa State series has featured close games and Ferentz expects this one to be no different. “It’s just kind of the nature of the series. It doesn’t seem to matter where you play the game, it doesn’t seem to be a big factor. It really comes down to which team plays best on Saturday and that’s the challenge that’s in front of both of us,” Ferentz says.