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What Kirk Ferentz said on Sunday after Week 1 win over Northern Illinois
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Week 1 wasn’t kind to every Big Ten team, but it was kind to Iowa.
The Hawkeyes kicked off its 2018 campaign with a home game against Northern Illinois and the team came away with a convincing 33-7 win. Coach Kirk Ferentz earned his 144th career victory at Iowa, passing Hayden Fry’s 143 total wins for the program’s all-time lead.
Nate Stanley threw for just 108 yards and 1 TD, but the team’s defense was the real story. Northern Illinois went 3-of-12 on third down and totaled 211 total yards.
Iowa converted 8-of-16 third downs and garnered 352 total yards.
On Sunday, one day after the team’s season opening win, Ferentz talked with hawkeyesports.com about the game.
What Kirk Ferentz said after Iowa’s win over Northern Illinois
“We started a little rough in the first offensive possession,” Ferentz said. “We had a chance to convert a third down and didn’t do it. That was costly, then we turn around and give up a blocked punt and that is never good to do in any ball game. We were able to survive that; the defense got the stop.
“The defense did a good job in the first half keeping us in the ball game; I can’t say enough about the way they played in some tough circumstances. It was good team defense, it wasn’t just one phase, but as the game went on our defensive line gained momentum.
“We are inexperienced at a lot of positions, so to get more guys involved is going to be a good thing. One of the things I was most pleased about was the effort our guys played with and going into it knowing we had a lot of inexperienced players, whether it was a fifth-year senior like Dalton Ferguson (left tackle) or our younger guys like (sophomore) Cole Banwart playing (right guard).
“To see (Colten Rastetter) rebound the way he did, especially after a blocked punt — that probably would have rattled him a year ago. But he came right back and played an outstanding game.
“Kudos to our field crew for getting the field ready. We were wondering about out conditions when we had that heavy rain during the week, but our guys did a great job of getting the field ready to go.
“The other thing about the stadium, it was great with the new addition with the north end zone being completed. We could feel it from our bench area how loud it was and how vibrant the crowd was. We appreciate that, it should be a great environment Saturday.”
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.