New updates:Iowa mentor dazzled with Tennessee, unamused with heading of school footbal
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he and his team are excited about their Citrus Bowl matchup with Tennessee, and he doesn’t understand why more people are no longer excited by non-College Football Playoff bowl games. And there’s a lot of other stuff he doesn’t like.
Iowa will enter the Citrus Bowl with a higher poll ranking that Tennessee, but the Vols are favored to win the game, and they certainly have the attention of Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz.
Ferentz spent part of the final press conference before Monday’s game discussing some of the challenges his team is expecting from Josh Heupel’s Vols.
“I have tremendous respect for Tennessee,” Ferentz said during a Sunday morning presser. “Josh has done a great job as local people know. He has done an outstanding job everywhere he has been. He has done an outstanding job, and no different at Tennessee. They are just a really good football team, put a lot of pressure on [you with] their offensive system. A lot of stress on your defense.
Defensive team, very athletic, good up front, a lot of big strong guys that are active and physical and special teams are very impressive, as well.
“Punter has done a really nice job. Really good place kicker, outstanding punt returner, and just a lot to prepare for. A lot of challenges out there for us tomorrow. We are just excited to be here and last game of the season.”
Ferentz’s Hawkeyes struggled all season offensively, ranking 130th out of the the 133 Division I FBS teams in scoring offense at 16.6 points per game and 133rd in total offense at 239.3 yards per game — 23.5 fewer yards per game than the next-worst team. But a statistically elite defense and strong special-teams units still carried Iowa to 10 wins and a Big Ten West championship.
Iowa isn’t just different from most solid teams schematically or statistically, though. It also bucked the trend to become a non-College Football Playoff team surviving largely intact for its bowl game. The Hawkeyes’ only notable absentees from Monday’s game will be injured players. None of their starters opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft or entered the transfer portal.