Kirk Ferentz
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz felt his team took a big step backwards this past weekend and they can’t afford to let it happen, again. After rolling to a pair of lopsided victories to start the season the Hawkeyes suffered a stunning 23-21 loss to North Dakota State and now take a 2-1 record to Rutgers for their Big Ten opener.
“Historically September is a really big month for us”, said Ferentz. “You can go back and look at the history books and if we are not growing in September that is a bad sign.”
After playing nearly error free football the first two weeks the Hawkeyes were done in by a flurry of mistakes and missed opportunities.
“Little things add up to big things and that is really the story of football”, added Ferentz. “Especially in close games and we tend to be involved in a lot of those.”
Ottumwa native Chris Ash is in his first season as the coach at Rutgers and the Scarlet Knights are 2-1. Ash says two of the keys when playing the Hawkeyes are winning the battle of field position and matching them at the line of scrimmage.
“We are going to need to play a really good football game and be mistake free”, said Ash. “We are going to have to be ready for an 18 round fight up front on both sides of the ball. It is going to be a game that is won or lost at the line of scrimmage.”