Kirk Ferentz Named Big Ten Coach of the Year

Ferentz has taken a team pegged for mediocrity to the Big Ten championship game against No. 5 Michigan State (11-1, 7-1) today, with a playoff spot likely going to the victor.

West Division champ Iowa (12-0, 8-0) is one of two remaining unbeaten teams (with Clemson) in the Football Bowl Subdivision and, along with Michigan State, was one of five FBS teams with multiple road wins over ranked foes.

Can Iowa keep the game close late?

Then, early Saturday morning, ESPN’s College Game Day will be outside Lucas Oil Stadium.

Blythe won three straight Iowa heavyweight state wrestling titles during his prep career at Williamsburg High School after finishing as a state runner-up as a freshman.

“I’ve watched the four games on the couch in front of the fireplace”, Ferentz said.

“You would think a game like this”, said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, “whoever wins would be in the playoff, but that’s for other people for figure out”.

The only thing stopping Cook and the Spartans from possibly getting to the ultimate goal is the team he first beat as a starter in conference play two years ago. The Hawkeyes are sixth in yards allowed per game and the Spartans are seventh.

“That’s another reason we wanted to compare ourselves to Iowa”, Dantonio said. According to secondary market ticket aggregator TiqIQ.com, Big Ten Championship tickets have an average price of $291.43 with a get-in price of $125 with no sign of trending down. We’ve played in a lot of big games, historically, and this team’s played in big games this year.

A big chunk of this year’s fifth-year seniors have been part of two trips to Indy, and that alone could be a plus for Michigan State.

All those buzzwords that have been attached to the Big Ten football long before Kirk Ferentz arrived at Iowa in 1999 or Mark Dantonio at Michigan State in 2007. Michigan State won the last meeting 26-14 at Iowa in 2013, a game in which Cook threw for 277 yards and a pair of TDs. A win and the Hawks are playoff bound.

Iowa is making its first Big Ten championship game appearance…. Yet this isn’t what many fans have in mind when they think about the glamor teams of the Big Ten. We know that we need to play our best football and play tough in order to beat them. “There’s a lot of good ones who have come out of that program and a lot of them are MI guys”. Iowa has converted on 87.8 percent of their red-zone opportunities for 35 touchdowns while Michigan State has converted on 85.1 percent for 34 touchdowns. Michigan State has wins this season over Western Michigan, Oregon, Air Force, Central Michigan, Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State and Penn State. Beathard certainly isn’t a flashy player, but he’s smart and makes plays in many ways.

On the defensive side of the ball, both teams have been nearly even statistically. Iowa fourth-year junior C.J. Beathard could have said it.

“Things get decided on the field”. He has also run for six touchdowns. The senior is one of four backs who share carries, but Canzeri might be featured more against Michigan State this week because of his quickness and experience.

In fact, the feeling from both Michigan State and Iowa is that theyll have their hands full Saturday trying to stop quarterbacks who simply know how to win.