Was it coach speak or was he serious? It’s difficult to say with some coaches.
With Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, you tend to believe him.
In his post game press conference he was asked about the score of the game and whether he was surprised at how well his team played, or whether or not he thought Iowa State just wasn’t that big of a challenge.
His answer, needless to say, was a little surprising.
By Paul Schmidt
“I didn’t see it coming. I thought it was going to be an even game, I really did. I felt that way going to bed last night and waking up this morning,” Ferentz said. “It just seemed to be one of those days where we really had it clicking. I can’t put my finger on it. I can’t sit here and say our execution was outstanding this week. It wasn’t bad, I’m not saying that. We left some things out there on the practice field.”
Ferentz went on to talk about the respect he has for Iowa and how he thinks it was a great win.
“It’s a good sign,” Ferentz said. “Those things don’t happen too often. I think Iowa State is going to go on and have a good year, no doubt about that in my mind. I’m just happy we had it going today.”
The offense certainly had it going as well, and it impressed Ferentz a great deal.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve done something like that,” Ferentz said. “I couldn’t even tell you, 2002, quite frankly. Kind of felt like that a little bit at the start of the game. We certainly don’t want to repeat that second half.”
Ferentz was also impressed with his offensive lines
“The way it played out, you know, it looked like our guys up front did a good job on both sides of the football, especially in the first half,” Ferentz said. “I’m pleased as could be about it. Again, I didn’t see that coming. I didn’t think we had that kind of edge. We feel pretty good about our defensive line any game we go into right now. I haven’t seen our next 10 opponents on film. Those guys are good players. They work hard. They practice very well. It was the same way back in the spring. Probably the surprise right now would be on the offensive side. I think we’ve done a little better maybe than I would have predicted back in August.”
Ferentz was fairly pragmatic about the team’s win and didn’t really think that the fact that it was a rivalry game made a difference.
“I’d like to do that in every game, rivalry or not,” Ferentz said. “Again, we haven’t done a lot of that in the last couple years. Can’t remember a lot of games going that way.”
He then said what probably could be viewed as the motto for the rest of the season.
“That was great to see,” Ferentz said. “Just hope it continues.”