Ferentz, Iowa focused on Northwestern
Nothing's come easy this season for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team. The Hawkeyes' last two victories on the way to remaining undefeated have required a last-second touchdown against Michigan State and some late-game heroics in a comeback against Indiana.
Now, it's Northwestern's turn to take a crack at the No. 4 team in the nation.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz assured the "Waddle & Silvy" show on ESPN 1000 Wednesday that his team isn't looking past the 5-4 Wildcats to its Nov. 11 matchup with Ohio State.
Northwestern has won its past two games against the Hawkeyes in Iowa City -- 22-17 in 2008 and 21-7 in 2006. It's something of which Ferentz is all too aware.
"We pride ourselves on playing well at home," Ferentz told the show, "and they've outplayed us twice in a row."
Asked whether he'd be angry if his team went 12-0 and did not get a chance to play for the national championship, Ferentz insisted he and his team are focused on the Wildcats.
"I'll worry about that if it happens," he said. "I can't imagine if you go 12-0 you'd ever be ticked off about anything. If we get to that point, we'll worry about it. Right now, that's so far down the road, we're not concentrating on that or even considering that. That'd be a great problem to deal with."
Ferentz also praised quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who struggled in the team's consecutive close-call wins against Michigan State and Indiana. Asked on the "Waddle & Silvy Show" whether he considered pulling Stanzi in the third quarter of the Indiana game after the quarterback had thrown five interceptions, Ferentz gave an emphatic "no."
"Not this past weekend and really not this season," said Ferentz. "[Stanzi's] been our quarterback from day one. I think I just read somewhere his record as a quarterback is 17-3 as a starter and I wasn't aware of that ... What I was aware of is that he's been our leader. He's done a great job and we've won more games than lost with him in there."
