What they said: Kirk Ferentz talks matchup with Michigan

Opening statement

Good afternoon. Thanks for being here. Looking back, it was great to get a road victory, first Big Ten win, and to do it on the road and at night, certainly a challenge the whole time. The biggest thing, we saw some growth in all three phases out there in the game. Pleased about that. I thought on special teams, kickoff coverage was a little bit better. Had a couple kickoff returns that looked decent, and good to see Drew Stevens on the field goal production. The run game was a little bit better the other night, probably the best it's been, and the defense came up with another good effort. All in all, a good team effort. Happy certainly for the two guys that were honored, Tory Taylor, recognized by the Big Ten, as well as Kaevon, so both those guys had big nights. Good to see their efforts be recognized. Captains this week, same four guys, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta, Kaevon Merriweather and Riley Moss. Then on the injury front, unfortunately we did get bad news on Jestin Jacobs. Didn't sound good the other night, and that's been confirmed. He's going to have to have surgery and he will miss the rest of the season. That's obviously a tough break. Tough for the team, but most importantly just tough on the individual, and that's the worst part about injuries. Keagan right now will not be going this week, so we'll take that a day at a time, week at a time, and keep moving forward there. With Michigan coming to town, we have a tough challenge here. Traditionally they've been one of the best teams in the conference and might as well say best teams in the country, as well. Had a really good year last year, and they've continued that play moving forward into this season, so they're off to a really good start. As always, an impressive team. They have a lot of talent, all three phases, and certainly are well-coached. You pick out the special teams, grab that one. They have three very veteran guys in terms of their specialists, the punter, kicker. One is a fifth-year guy, one is a sixth-year guy, and their deep snapper is a veteran guy, as well, senior. Excellent return guys. They do a nice job. It's the same thing offensively and defensively. They have a lot of really good players, and they've been very productive, very successful, and it's going to take our best team effort to have a chance in this ballgame. So it's a big challenge for us. Look forward to that on Saturday. Just a couple side notes, 20-year reunion for the 2002 group, so great to have them back. They'll be here Friday, Saturday, and be honored during the game. Really happy for them. Then moving down that road a little bit, great to have Tony be recognized with the ANF award. It's quite a wall there. The names on that wall are impressive, and Tony's name certainly fits up there, as well. As you can see, starting a new family, young family, so it's great to see the guys as they move on in life and start the next phase of their lives. Very happy for Tony, and his family will all be here over the weekend to be part of that, as well. Our kid captain is Adam Arp, a 16-year-old from Williamsburg, will be good to have him with us, as well. Looking forward to being back in Kinnick Stadium, and should be a good environment, so hopefully we'll be ready to go

On beating Michigan in 1981

I think that works sometimes in football. If you look in our conference, I'm more familiar with that. I think there are some series that have been like that a little bit. But to that point, that was a really big game I thought. We were coming off a loss if I remember correctly. I might be wrong on that; maybe the loss was the next week, but somewhere in there. But to go up to Ann Arbor and win like that, that was a hard-fought game, and that's one commonality with all the victories that we have had, they've all been really tough to earn. They go 60 minutes. That's what it's going to take this Saturday, too, but I do believe back then it was a big thing within the series, and as far as the impact of the series, then maybe more importantly just for the program, for where we were at at that time, it was an important win.

On being 5-1 against Top-5 teams at Kinnick

Well, the environment is easy. Our fans do a great job, and certainly it's gotten even better now with the north end zone. That's helped a great deal, as well. But the important thing for our team to understand is that the fans can only do so much, and they've been great, and we appreciate that. But we'd better be playing on the field. I think the challenge, the games you referenced and this one hopefully will be like that, our players need to understand each and every play -- it's like an NFL playoff game; each and every play, something can happen. So if you're not at your absolute best of kind of talent and ability they have -- and I cited their kicking game. That's a good example. They're going to make field position a challenge for us, and then they've got return guys that if you're not good in coverage, they can hurt you real fast. It's kind of like that at every position, offensively, defensively. They've recruited really well. They're a big, strong, athletic team, so if you're not on your game each and every play, big things can happen against you. The games you've referenced, our guys have had a good understanding of that and they've had a good appreciation for that, so can we close that gap between now and 11 am, that's the challenge that we have.

On beating Michigan in 2016

Surprised a lot of people, yeah. Understanding obviously the circumstances played into it, yeah. But you have to do everything right. That's a great illustration. Pretty much everything in that game we were doing what we could do. Not that every play is a great play, but we didn't give them anything easy and came up with a couple plays and then played some situations really well. Again, that's a good illustration because it felt like we were climbing a high hill the whole game.

On Michigan being a steep climb

Yeah. You look at these guys, it's hard to find a weakness. It's easy to find a lot of depth. A lot of impressive guys. They've recruited well; they should and they do. They have players that play really well. They're well-coached. It's not all talent and ability. They're very well-coached, and they play hard. It's going to be a challenge; there's no question about that.

On preparing for J.J. McCarthy

You might argue they're better. I don't know. They're both really good players. I don't want to call it a dilemma. It's been a discussion point, at least it sounds like, up in Ann Arbor and maybe points beyond that. From where I'm standing, it looks like it's tough to go wrong either way, and maybe that's the situation they're facing. I'm not sure who we're going to see, but they're both really good football players.

On playing the game against Michigan on the TV in the football facilities

It obviously didn't feel very good that day, that's for sure. Our challenge at that point back in December was to move forward -- like we do any game, you look at and study and learn from it and move forward, and we're not trying to shame anybody or anything like that. That's not the idea at all. We typically rotate three or four games of our opponents' TV games up on the screens during the week. As far as that game carrying into this game... we're looking forward, not backwards. But the one thing it did do probably for both teams, both staffs, is just give us a little bit more familiarity because we haven't played them in a while. Obviously we learned about their personnel and their football team last December just like they did about us. But all that said, now it's a different team. They have a lot of new faces as well as familiar faces. It kind of is what it is.

On treating the game against Michigan as a revenge game

It depends on the individual. Those words aren't coming out of my mouth. I'm looking that way. But it is a reminder, what I was talking about earlier. If you aren't on top of things and you give up a couple of big plays, all of a sudden the hill gets pretty steep. When you're trying to ascend a hill like that against a team that's that talented, it's tough. It's tough, and then they've got you where they want you. The first thing you have to do is just keep it close and make sure every play is sound, and if they're going to get something, make them really work and earn it, and we didn't do that necessarily last year. If somebody has motivation that comes out of that, I think we all want to do better, needless to say. But it's not as simple as hey, let's go get these guys. I wish it was.

On Blake Corum

They have a bunch of guys, but the running back is tough. He's tenacious, doesn't give up. Had an unbelievable game Saturday. It's not surprising. He's a high-motor guy. Another example that you can't measure guys with a yardstick and all that stuff. Football players are football players, and he certainly is one.

On what about this Iowa team that could cause an upset

We're going to have to play really well all three phases. Just a basic answer there, and every play. That's the biggest thing. Then hopefully we can get them to slip up or make a mistake or two, but they haven't made a lot of them this year, so it's going to be a challenge.

On whether he saw J.J. McCarthy in high school

Oh, yeah, we knew who he was, but were not in that discussion for long, which was like a lot of the players that they have on their team. Although I think they wanted Tony. We got one there, so at least we won one battle. But yeah, he's an excellent football player, and I think you just have to be cognizant of that when you're playing defense. You've got to realize this guy can pull it down and hurt you that way. Some quarterbacks can't, but he certainly can, and they've got a couple guys that are pretty adept back there moving around and making plays with their feet but also being able to throw the ball, even if they are moving around. It's tougher to defend.

On Mazi Smith

And he's like 350 or whatever he is? Looks like a refrigerator except he can move.