This won’t be a full blown matchups article. I haven’t been able to see as much of Eastern Illinois as I would like and they are playing many new faces. They are also playing a new offense transistioning to the “pistol” version of the shotgun style of the spread. This is similar to the offense that Indiana runs.

EIU comes into this game undermatched and they are already banged up coming out of fall camp. They are missing their most talented offensive player Mon Williams who is a Florida transfer. Brian Nielson of the Journal Gazette & Times Courier is reporting two returning starters from last season’s o-line and a projected starter may miss this game here. Add to this #10 Brandon Large will be making his first start at QB for the Panthers running this system and his backups are untested in this system, Iowa’s defense would seem to have every advantage heading into this game. If 61 Willie Henderson (6’2 273 JR) projected at center and 76 Eric Zink (6’6 284 JR), projected at guard are ruled out then EIU would be starting five new faces along the offensive line when they roll into Kinnick on Saturday to face Clayborn, Klug, Daniels, Ballard, and Daniels. That is tough sledding for any offensive line but may be overwhleming for a group that will have consist of mostly second and third year players with little game experience.

Tailback 2 Jimmy Potempa does have some experience but he was used more as a receiver last season. At the other skill spots EIU returns 4 Kenny Whittaker (29 rec 2 TD), 81 Chris Wright (21 rec 4 TD), 18 Charles Graves (24 rec 3 TD), 3 Lorence Ricks (19 rec 3 TD), and 22 Eric Lora (23 rec 2 TD) all at receiver. The tight ends will be pretty inexperienced.

On defense the Panthers run a base 4-3. They return quite a bit of experience on this side of the ball. They seem to want to focus on stopping the run. An interview with Coach Spoo led me to believe that Iowa will see quite a few eight-man fronts and that Iowa’s outside receiver’s will have an opportunity to make a few plays. Here is a link to that interview.

EIU’s defensive line bring’s back one talented starter- 98 Perry Burge (6’2 234 JR). Last season he had 7 sacks and an additional 4.5 TFLs. He will be joined by three new starters who have some game experience. Burge is talented but undersized as is the other listed DE 32 Artavious Dowdell (6’2 236 SO) The top three DTs listed on the the depth chart have decent size. Iowa’s o-line should be able to have some success establishing a push on the edge versus this d-line.

The Panther’s return four experienced Linebackers, all three starters and a backup. Sam ‘backer 56 Nick Nasti (6’1 237 SR) lead the unit last season with 83 tackles and was the only one to grab a pick. Will 8 Cory Leman (6’1 216) had 63 tackles and Mike ‘backer 46 Gordy Kickles (6’0 219 JR) racked up 62 along with 4.5 TFLs. Backup 49 Sean Campell managed to get 41 tackles and 3.5 TFLs in limited action.

The Panthers possess a couple of good corners in 21 CJ James and 26 Rashad Haynes. James managed to pick off 5 passes last season while deflecting 4 more, while Haynes only had one interception he did deflect 11 other passes. The pair combined for 90 stops. They are joined in the backfield by 6 Carlos Reyna and 19 Nick Martinez who are first year starters but have seen some action. Look for Martinez to line up in the box or walk up on the strong side of Iowa’s formations on the early downs. Reyna will have a lot on his plate on Saturday.

Kevin Cook is scheduled for double duty Saturday as both the punter and the placekicker. He handled the punting chores for the Panther’s last season averaging 42.0 yards per punt but didn’t attempt a kick last season.

Ultimately this game shouldn’t be close. Iowa has too much depth for this team and Iowa is much, much more talented. I have already written why it won’t be UNI again. I think it will be more like Ball State 2005.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – - The University of Iowa announced today it will extend Kirk Ferentz’s contract with the intention that he will be like his predecessor, Hayden Fry, and serve as the head coach of the UI’s football program for more than two decades. UI officials expect the contract to be signed Friday.

Ferentz will begin his 12th season as Iowa’s football head coach Saturday when the nationally ranked Hawkeyes entertain Eastern Illinois at historic Kinnick Stadium. The extension puts Ferentz under contract with the UI through the 2020 college football season.

“I’ve said publicly, and privately to Kirk, that it would be my goal to have him retire at Iowa. This contract is a statement supporting that commitment,” said Gary Barta, the UI’s director of athletics, who also noted that Ferentz’s experience at the UI also includes eight years in the 1980’s as a member of Fry’s coaching staff.

“Kirk’s ‘fit’ at Iowa and his desire to live and work here is as strong as any I’ve seen. The continuity and leadership he brings as our head coach and the same among his staff of assistant coaches provides us a great foundation and important stability,” Barta added.

“I am grateful to the University of Iowa and thrilled to begin my 12th season as head coach and 21st overall with this world class institution. The coaching staff, players and I are looking forward to competing this season,” said Ferentz.
Much like Fry – and former UI coach Forest Evashevski, who will have a street on the UI campus named in his honor Friday morning – Ferentz has raised the level of achievement by the Hawkeyes while providing the UI Athletics Department significant stability in a key leadership position during the last 11 seasons, a stay that ranks second only to Penn State University’s Joe Paterno in years of service among Big Ten Conference head football coaches.

Ferentz is one of only eight coaches in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision who has been head coach at the same school since the 1999 season. The members of the “Class of 1999” who are still at the same school that hired them includes only Ferentz, Mack Brown (Texas), Randy Edsall (Connecticut), and Bob Stoops (Oklahoma).

The average years of service for the 10 position and strength and conditioning coaches that report directly to Ferentz is 10 years. Like Ferentz, offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe, defensive coordinator Norm Parker, and Chris Doyle, the football program’s director of strength and conditioning, all are entering their 12th season in Iowa City. So, too, are position coaches Phil Parker (defensive backs) and Eric Johnson (tight ends and recruiting coordinator).

In addition, Iowa is one of only 11 NCAA FBS programs to have the same full-time coaching staff in 2010 for the third straight year.

Ferentz’s total annual compensation under the new agreement will be $3,675,000. This total is comprised of annual base income of $1.87 million, an increase of $250,000, and annual supplemental compensation of $1.48 million, an increase of $80,000. Ferentz will also receive annual longevity compensation beginning in 2010. That amount starts at $325,000 and increases annually.

A three-time winner of the Big Ten Coach of the Year award and the Associated Press National Coach of the Year in 2002 when Iowa made its first of two appearances in a Bowl Championship Series event, Ferentz will enter 2010 as the highest paid coach in the Big Ten Conference and will rank among the highest nationally.
Ferentz and the members of his staff will also continue to be eligible for bonuses based on performance. Barta said those bonuses are competitive with those available to coaches across the country who have achieved at the level Ferentz has as head coach of the Hawkeyes.

“Kirk’s leadership is invaluable, and our success in the sport of football has a direct and significant impact on all of our other 23 sports,” said Barta.
Ferentz’s 2010 Iowa squad is coming off an 11-2 season a year ago that included a 24-14 victory over Georgia Tech in the 2010 FedEx Orange Bowl. That win was Iowa’s first in a Bowl Championship Series event since Evashevski guided the Hawkeyes to a 38-12 victory over California in the 1959 Rose Bowl.
The Hawkeyes enter 2010 picked among the teams to contend for the 2010 Big Ten Conference championship and the conference’s automatic entry in the Rose Bowl game. A championship would be the Hawkeyes’ third under Ferentz; Iowa won or shared titles in 2002 and 2004, and placed second to Ohio State a year ago after having taken the Buckeyes into overtime in the team’s game last season in Columbus, Ohio.

The significant impact of the success of the 2009 Hawkeyes was highlighted last month when the UI Athletics Department announced that all seven games on Iowa’s 2010 schedule had reached sellout status. Iowa will enter Saturday’s home opener having sold out 42 of its last 44 home games, a total that includes a stretch of 36 straight sellouts from 2002 to 2008.
Iowa is one of eight college football programs in the nation to compete in six January bowl games in the last eight seasons. The Hawkeyes have also been bowl eligible in each of the last nine seasons.

Under Ferentz’s direction student-athletes in Iowa’s football program have also competed successfully in the classroom. For example, the football program’s most recent Graduation Success Rate of 74 percent ranked second best among the 10 teams that competed in the five 2010 BCS games.

“Kirk is arguably the best football coach in the country. Beyond that, he and his wife, Mary, are world-class people who care deeply about the University and the state,” Barta said.

NCAA FOOTBALL BOWL SUBDIVISION (120 total)

Coach   Institution  Total   First Season

1—Joe Paterno Penn State     44  1966

2—Frank Beamer Virginia Tech  23  1987

3—Larry Blakeney Troy   19  1991

4—Pat Hill  Fresno State  13  1997

5—Kirk Ferentz Iowa   11  1999

      Mack Brown Texas   11  1999   

      Bob Stoops  Oklahoma  11  1999

      Randy Edsall Connecticut  11  1999 

BIG TEN CONFERENCE (11 total) 

Coach   Institution  Total  First Season

1—Joe Paterno Penn State  44  1966

2—Kirk Ferentz Iowa   11  1999

As it relates to me, that weekend has always been a time to sort of decompress from the work of the football season, sit back and watch some great games from around the nation.

LSU-Arkansas and Texas-Texas A&M come to mind. There are others, but usually any football game will do just fine, as long as I get to sit back and enjoy it. Now, starting this season actually, the Iowa & Big Ten football season will extend to Thanksgiving Saturday.

That’s OK; many of you have to work on Saturday, too.

Covering an Iowa-Nebraska game that weekend? Not too shabby. Because I think this game has a chance to become something Iowa fans come to cherish. I think that will be the case for Husker fans as well.

Don’t take my word for it, have a look at what Tom Shatel of the Omaha World Herald had to say about the Thanksgiving Day set up between Iowa and Nebraska from his September 2nd column. Please take the time to give this link a click to read Shatel’s item, as there is more Iowa-Nebraska commentary in it.

You heard it here last: Huskers and Hawks will be a better rivalry than Nebraska vs. Oklahoma. Yes, I said it. For one thing, it will be a true rivalry. Iowa-Nebraska will never have the national implications that OU-NU did or be the must-see national TV game every year…. But NU-Iowa will have what the old red rivalry never did: true emotion. Did I mention hate? Nebraskans and Iowans never knew how much they disliked each other because they never had reason to pay attention to one another. The Big Ten gave them that reason last night. Now, they’ll not only play, they’ll play for the right to win a division — one that looks imminently doable with Michigan in Rich Rodriguez mode.

This is going to be a grocery store rivalry. That’s where you bump into your rival standing in the checkout line. You never saw many Sooners in Omaha. Nebraska-Iowa will be 24-7-365. It will be hot. It will be intense. And it will be great fun. A real rivalry, with real bruises, emotional and otherwise. This will be the true blood rivalry that Nebraska has never had. Putting the Hawkeyes at the end of the schedule will only enhance a sweet fall soundtrack of woofing over state lines. Question: If Oklahoma-Nebraska was such a good rivalry, why did OU walk away from it? Answer: In the end, one side cared more than other. Interstate 80, from Lincoln to Iowa City, goes both ways…..

I feel the same way Shatel does, and have since June 12th, the day Nebraska was officially a member of the Big Ten, for most of the reasons Shatel cites.

Some people say that rivalries develop over time, that you can’t just throw two teams together and create something over night.

In the case of Iowa-Nebraska, I don’t think that will be the case. Certainly not in central and western Iowa.

Speaking of western Iowa, this is big for them. I have gotten the feeling through the years that Hawkeye fans living there have felt a bit overlooked, or hardly thought of…they are farthest from Iowa City and they aren’t near any of the larger Iowa cities or media markets.

However, this pitting of the Hawks and Huskers puts them on the front lines. Gary Barta and the Iowa Athletic Department may spend more time in western Iowa, to rally the troops, to thank them for fighting the good fight at their offices, barbecues and Omaha talk radio shows.

Forgotten and left out no more.

For those of us that live in central Iowa, get ready to see more Nebraska flags, window dressing and Husker shirts than you ever have before. Get ready for water cooler smack that could make the Iowa-Iowa State talk you have experienced seem like friendly banter.

Iowa-Nebraska may get mean spirited from the get go, because fans from both programs see themselves with an inflated status compared to what the rest of the nation may think of them. Hey, I include myself in this. I am proud to be an Iowa fan and love the Hawks. I think Kirk Ferentz is the best head coach in the nation and believe Iowa has done more with less blue chip talent than any program over the past decade.

The rest of the college football nation might not know the difference between Ames and Iowa City, unless they have visited each location. Even then, they still get it wrong sometimes. However, Iowa fans and Nebraska fans take pride in their own and when you pit that pride in a head to head week long build up it should be a blast.

Having the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry in September with a Nebraska game to end the regular season? Good stuff. Shaping your thanksgiving holiday plans around an Iowa-Nebraska football game? Excellent.

Iowa will have to work something out on student tickets for this game. Several students will go home for the holiday weekend. A system should be put into place where the students can turn those tickets back in for some kind of refund or voucher and then those tickets can go to other Iowa fans that would like to go to this game, preferably by late October. Or, give the students the option to purchase a season ticket plan that does not include the Thanksgiving weekend game. But those are details for someone else.

For me, the game is the thing…a great new tradition will begin next year and hopefully it’s something that grows and grows for the rest of my lifetime and beyond.

Iowa vs Nebraska, Thanksgiving Weekend…a veritable football feast in the Heartland.

X DIVISION
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Purdue
Illinois
Indiana

O Division
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Nebraska
Minnesota
Northwestern

OHIO STATE: Do they really care? They are Ohio State and have things rolling at an unprecedented level for even their illustrious history. They get to keep their annual game with Michigan as the last regular season game of the year, setting up potential rematches with the Wolverines for a trip to the Rose Bowl or more. This also offers up a scenario where the loser of that game could still meet the winner of that game for the Big Ten title and perhaps turns around and gets revenge, maybe knocking the Big Ten out of the national championship picture. More often than not, that won’t happen. The two teams would have only had a championship game rematch just three or four times since 1993. They have to feel good about things as they have owned Illinois and Purdue since 1993, while Wisconsin has been a thorn in their side from time to time and Penn State is another 800-win program. But on the whole, I am guessing Ohio State fans didn’t care about anything other than playing Michigan in the last regular season game.

PENN STATE: They will play Ohio State and Wisconsin every year, as well as a protected rivalry game with Nebraska. They’ll also play Iowa the first two years of schedule that was released on Wednesday, a team that has beaten them seven of the last eight times the programs have met. In 2011, they will end the season home against Nebraska, followed by road games at Ohio State and Wisconsin with a road game at Iowa to start things off. Yo. Black Shoe Diaries, a Penn State blog, has some thoughts. They seem comfortable with it. Their contrived rivalry game with Michigan State that was played for the Land Grant Trophy goes away. No loss there. Big bonus: They won’t have to face Iowa every year.

WISCONSIN: This is the one team that I think took it in the shorts the most. Oddly enough, Barry Alvarez seemed to be the unofficial spokesman for the Big Ten with regards to leaking things here and there. I feel comfortable in saying that was not any planned arrangement. They maintain their rivalry with Minnesota, but are in different divisions and it’s their protected rivalry. The trophy game with Iowa goes away, which seems to be the biggest rivalry casualty in all of this; the teams have played 86 games and Iowa holds a 43-41-2 advantage. Nebraska is not in their division and that is something Bret Bielema campaigned for right out of the gate, tweeting on June 12th that he had hoped the Huskers and Badgers could be an end of season rivalry game. They will play the next two years, but that will be in an out of division rotation. Some Badger fans feel like this could negatively impact Alvarez’s legacy.

MICHIGAN: They have to feel pretty good. First off, they keep ‘The Game’ where it’s been for more than 70 years. They also get to start a series with Nebraska, pitting two of the seven 800-win club members against one another, like we have with Ohio State and Penn State. They get to play Michigan State every year in the division, which is a nice bonus. They keep playing for the Little Brown Jug with Minnesota, a team they have lost to just twice in close to the last 30 meetings. Their schedule next year was also a gift, in my opinion. If Rich Rodriguez can turn things around this year and is Michigan’s coach next year, they are my favorite to win the ‘O Division’. That’s a big IF, however. On the whole, they get their cake and eat it too.

MICHIGAN STATE: They keep their game with Michigan, which had to be the poker chip they played. They don’t have to play Penn State every year. They have the talent on an annual basis to compete with every team in their league. However next year, they have to play at Ohio State, Nebraska and Iowa plus Wisconsin comes to East Lansing. Give and take, as that schedule is loaded. Then again, most of these Big Ten schedules are going to be loaded, the way it seems to be in the SEC.

NEBRASKA: Welcome to the Big Ten. You get a rivalry game with Iowa that will be featured at the end of the regular season…that’s a nice wedding present, since it seems your fans wanted this. You are also near Minnesota, it’s a cheap flight from Omaha to Chicago to play Northwestern…good stuff. However, there had to be some ‘take’ with the ‘give’ and that comes in the form of the 2011 schedule: at Wisconsin and Ohio State at home right out of the chute, then you close with a pair of road games at Penn State and Michigan before hosting Iowa. Your protected rival is Penn State. Decent on balance, but next year looks like a bear.

IOWA: I wish you could have seen my face when I was handed the lineup sheet when arriving at the Big Ten Network studios around 12:30pm on Wednesday. A big, big smile. I was glad to see Iowa in the same division as Michigan, Nebraska and Minnesota. All time, Iowa has beaten Ohio State more times than it has beaten Michigan. I realize we are talking about the winningest program in the history of the sport. But even when Michigan has beaten Iowa over the last 30 years, most of the games have been competitive. I would rather be in their division than Ohio State’s, and I would have written the same thing before Rodriguez came to Ann Arbor. The year ending game with Nebraska? Perfection. Since the Huskers were announced to the league back on June 12th, it is what I was hoping for. The level of acrimony that may ensue should be a lot of fun. The Iowa State rivalry game on the front end of the schedule and this one to close it down? It doesn’t get any better than that.

The protected rivalry with Purdue? Meh. Clearly, the Hawkeyes and Boilermakers were the rivalry ‘leftovers’..like being at a grade school dance and you are the only guy left without a dance partner when ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ came on (the longest slow dance song of all time) and the only girl left had a psychotic crush on you…not that I am speaking specifically here. On the whole, I was real happy.

ILLINOIS: Not too bad actually. They get decent chances at wins with Purdue and Indiana each year, plus their protected rivalry with Northwestern, plus Minnesota on the schedule the next two years. They can realistically map out annual bowl plans if they can ever figure out how to be consistent.

PURDUE: If I am a Boilermaker fan, I might wonder where my athletic director was when these discussions went down. OK, they keep the rivalry game with Indiana, but that seemed a given. However, they must play Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa each year. They can feel OK about the Iowa game, because those have been closely contested contests for the most part since Joe Tiller took over the program in the 1990′s. But on the whole, I’d feel a little empty.

NORTHWESTERN: I think they have to feel good. No Ohio State or Penn State for at least three years, and they have avoided Ohio State the last two years. They have Iowa in their division, something they probably feel good about. They get Illinois every year as well as Minnesota. Not too bad at all.

MINNESOTA: They keep their three primary trophy games in place, an easy road trip to Nebraska plus they play Purdue and Illinois in 2011 & 2012. But they have to do their part and carry their weight, or none of this makes any difference.

INDIANA: In a six game stretch to start next season, they will host Penn State and Illinois, then play at Wisconsin and Iowa, home against Northwestern then at Ohio State. Ouch. Like Minnesota, they have to do their part or it doesn’t matter

On the whole, I think things are pretty fair. Not everyone was going to be happy about this, but more programs can feel comfortable with the layout than not. Wisconsin appears to be the fanbase that may feel the most jilted of the ‘Top Six’ schools, without question.

It’s a question that Big Ten fans have been wanting to know the answers to for months, dating back to June 12th when Nebraska was officially welcomed into the league. Commissioner Jim Delany will be a part of the program, as with ‘The Pulse’ duo of Jon Miller & LeCharles Bentley, as well as others. Don’t miss this live, one-hour special on the Big Ten Network, live at 6pm

HawkeyeNation.com

Ferentz on the Side Transcript
Ferentz Main Presser Transcript
HN.com Chat Replay
Webb: Why EIU Won’t Be Another UNI

Wegher Likely Won’t Play this Year; Prater Hopeful for Saturday
Helmetless Hawkeyes Worry Coach
Running on Not Quite Empty
Player Video
At Least Four True Frosh to See Action
More Player Videos
Sharm Sheuerman Dies

Several Player Videos from HawkeyeInsider.com
Hampton is Back

9/1 4:55am Update

Football First, then Birthday Party for Stanzi
Five Things to Watch in Iowa Opener
Prater’s Patience Getting Hamstrung
Seniors Know Success Can Crumble
Hawk Nearly Punts Away Career

Kirk Ferentz: We are in a gray area. A gray area.

Q: What have you seen out of Marvin to have him in the mix for punt returns?

Ferentz: He has welcomed the opportunity and done a good job. Two things back there; does he have the ball skills and judgement skills and secondly, the guy has to be enthusiastic about being back there. It seems like those two traits are important. He has done a good job in practice.

Q: With Murray battling at kicker have you ever have a player nominated for a national award before being declared a starter?

Ferentz: I don’t know. I am not making light of those things, but it seems like…have those grown over the years? It seems like if you are a good returning starter gets nominated for those. It seems like I read a lot more about those. I don’t mean mean to diminish his candidacy, but we are judging what we see on the field.

Q: Can that complicate things in a kid’s mind?

Ferentz: I don’t think it does.

Q: Frank Beamer said this week that he wouldn’t mind some preseason scrimmage.

Ferentz: It would be fine. It was a nice thing in the NFL to have practices and scrimmages with other teams. My guess is that would mean eliminating some spring practice, travel costs, etc. I haven’t thought much about it. It would be a nice change of pace. It could be a bad change of pace.

Q: What has Prater been able to do since the open practice?

Ferentz: He is working his way back. I don’t know if he will make it by showtime or not, we will see. Those things are tricky and tough to predict. He has a soft tissue issue.

Q: Are you starting to think that someone somewhere has it out for your running backs?

Ferentz: No. I am not ready to think about that yet. Stay tuned, right? How far as you going back, 2004? I haven’t thought about that. Thanks a lot.

Q: Are you comfortable with two?

Ferentz: We dodged a bullet in 2002 and 2008. Maybe it’s even years we have no problems. Wait, 2004 violates that.

Q: Are you good with two guys?

Ferentz: I am good with one. If we have one, that is good. Fred Russell.

Q: Who is #3?

Ferentz: Paki is.

Q: This week, you have Adam and Paki, who is three?

Ferentz: I haven’t thought about that. That is a good question. It would be Jason White.

Q: Julian Vandervelde is a captain, how would you describe him?

Ferentz: He is a very experienced player. He had a tough start last year with the summer injury and he couldnt go full speed in camp. He has enjoyed being able to go full speed all camp. He is ready to go. The players vote on the game captains. That is a good sign of respect he has garnered from his teammates.

Q: We saw Stanzi’s interception on the Big Ten Network special. How has he been in camp?

Ferentz: I think pretty good. The sky is not falling yet.

Q: How in depth do you get with practice statistics?

Ferentz: We chart everything. We chart every pass they throw (not in warm ups) in competitive situations. The entire group has done well.

Q: This is Marvin’s second full year at wide receiver. Do you expect him to take that next step?

Ferentz: I think he took a big step last year. We are hoping that experience leads to even better performance. that is what you have to have from your older players and your experienced players. I have every reason to think that he will.

Q: What kind of vehicle was Koeppel on?

Ferentz: I am not sure. I didn’t even ask him. I just know he was not protected.

Q: Obviously your players ride on scooters around campus. You can’t get around that. How do you feel about that?

Ferentz: I have been worried for 11 years on a couple fronts. Very few of them wear helmets. That is number one and secondly, they are just not protected when they are on those, even on a motorcycle. You worry about it, but I understand it too. Anyone that has ever worked on a campus that it’s a nightmare to park. That is why they are popular with the players. They can park them easier on campus or here. We encourage them to be careful and to wear helmets.

Q: Ever considered banning them?

Ferentz: I don’t know if we could and I wouldn’t consider it because of the parking issues. A bicycle would be good, but those are old fashioned now. They are not popular.

Q: What goes into the decision whether or not to play freshmen?

Ferentz: Part of it is how the older guys are performing and how the competition is there. I think the one thing you try not to do is waste a year of eligibility. There is no clear cut answer if we wasted AJ Edds year in 2006. I think he really benefited from it. You could argue it…Greenway and Hodge, they wanted to redshirt and we had an interest in playing them. You get that benefit at the other end. If a guy does play as a true freshmen it speeds up his route to a starting position. Hopefully you can interject some special teams play with it and get them some game experience. There is no black and white answer on it. It’s a gut feel and a judgement call and we are interested in how the players feel about it.

Q: Are you still toying with playing some guys that are closer to the ball?

Ferentz: There are a couple guys we are considering. Seth Olsen practiced with our second team his entire freshman year and didn’t play and Mike Jones practiced half a year and we had to put him in against Ohio State the next week. That may be a possibility to work some guys with the twos and not play them.

Q: If they are on the fence, isn’t there an urge to get them out there sooner to get more out of them?

Ferentz: If you get your haircut, you can’t put more back on. If he goes out there, he is out there. You have to be conservative if you are not sure.

Q: Are you going to go into the game without making a decision at kicker?

Ferentz: I doubt that. I would like to let the guys know on Friday what the batting order will be.

Q: Is Mike Meyer in the field goal debate?

Ferentz: He is a long shot there, but possibility. I doubt he will be the first guy out there. Since he is probably going to kick off, that puts him in the mix.

Q: Did you ever take time to look back at the transformation the program has made from 1999 to now?

Ferentz: It can go right back real fast, so I don’t think about it. We had a dip just a few years ago. It can happen fast. You talk to the players about it. There are not many teams that haven’t gone through things like that. That 1985 team responded after getting beat in Columbus and responded the right way. That is what good teams do. That is what we want to do.

Q: Now that Wegher is away is he still on scholarship?

Ferentz: Oh yeah, he is still on scholarship. My encouragement for him is to go to class. I hope he has a great year academically. He can decide during that time if he wants to play football or not. I am not sitting by the phone waiting for a decision. It’s all on his hands. the only critical factor here is to not do something that will deter your future; go to class. Don’t shut the door on possibilities.

Q: Do you have anyone keeping an eye on him?

Ferentz: We are communicating right now. We have other things too. We have 100+ guys on the team that are working right now so that is where our time and attention is. We are encouraging him to move forward and keep his options open, whether or not he comes back to football or not.

Q: Is Hundertmark going through the same decision process?

Ferentz: He is trying to figure out what his future is right now.

Q: Has he had some heavy duty injuries here?

Ferentz: I don’t know about that, but he has had some setbacks. that is hard to deal with. It’s one more thing. You think football players are made of armor, but injuries are tough to deal with and they can affect you mentally sometimes. You can’t get better when you are not out there.

Q: Was that part of Austin Grey’s decison?

Ferentz: It may be.

Q: Did that come out of nowhere?

Ferentz: He had a girlfriend at home. There are some factors there that made some sense so it wasn’t a surprise when I got the news.

Q: Klug came in here at 207 pounds. Do you have growth charts in mind?

Ferentz: Yeah. King and Kroul were not that lean, 240’s at least. First of all we projected him wrong. We thought he would be an end. Howard Hodges came here at 200 and played real well for us. We thought he was a good player that had growth potential to be a good defensive lineman. We thought he would be outside and he is inside.

Q: How does it work with 270 pounds in there?

Ferentz: Last year he was 260. I will go back to Babineaux. He was bigger than Karl in high school but he played here about 270. If you have good leverage and strength and really understand technique you can perform pretty well. Jonathon had that knack and Karl does too. Both play really hard. They keep coming at you.

Q: When you recruited Bret Morse, did you see his as a fullback?

Ferentz: We thought linebacker and if not maybe fullback. We have had some success with that with Busch and Cervantes. The thing about Morse is that he was a leader, strong personality guy. His high school coach gave me a passionate plea. I was doing a clinic there one summer and he came up after and echoed what he had told Lester Erb. That influenced me. When someone is that strong of a young guy…NFL people can sense from us too…when you talk about Karl or Adrian, it’s easy to get excited.

Secondly, just following up on the weekend events, as Phil said, the dedication this weekend is certainly exciting.  We’ll have a lot of players from the 50s here and the ’85 Rose Bowl team will have a reunion.  It’s quite an historical weekend from that standpoint.

Our captains this week are Adrian Clayborn, Karl Klug, Ricky Stanzi and Julian Vandervelde.

Injury front, Tarpinian, it’s been reported he had a fracture in his hand, so he’s returned to the practice field this past weekend.  He’s has a splint and a padding over the top of it, so it limits him a little bit.

I think it’s already been well documented that Josh Koeppel was injured yesterday. Fortunately, on the big scope of things, I think it was an unfortunate accident obviously but he was very fortunate to walk away from it.  He was taken to the emergency room and got back here from a function yesterday and I actually caught him leaving the building about 1:30.  He was walking out of the building and saw him again this morning.

You know, not to make light of it, but it looks like he just walked out of our wrestling room a little bit.  He’s got a lot of scrapes, and as you might imagine, he’s pretty sore right now, but the good news is, everything checked out, X-rays, CT scans, all those types of things.

I don’t think it’s realistic to think he would play this week, but I think hopefully soon in the near future we’ll have him back.  The most important thing is he’s healthy and ready to go and that’s a big thing.  Could have been a lot worse, certainly.

And then we have several guys, probably three or four guys that we’ll watch during the course of the week, mostly soft tissue type injuries or joints, that type of thing, and I think all of them have a chance to make it for Saturday.

But overall we are pretty healthy and we’ll see how the week pans out.  I think the last other thing, just as far as our team goes, we have several first-year players that we are planning on playing at this point.  Defensively a couple linebackers, James Morris, Christian Kirksey, we intend to play those guys, C.J. on offenseand then our place kicker, Mike Meyers.  Mike will be playing, also.

So those four guys are right now as of this point set to go and we have got another probably four to six guys that we are looking at.  We’ll just see how the week develops and take it a week at a time.  But I think those guys have caught on pretty quickly and done some good things.

And last but not least, a couple words about Eastern Illinois.  It’s like any first game, where you are not 100% sure what to expect and I’m sure they feel the same way.  They returned six starters each side of the football and then they have some new faces that we don’t know a lot about that will be playing Saturday.  So we’ll be feeling them out a little bit just like they will be doing the same with us, I’m sure, you know, we’ll go from there.

But certainly their program has great success, traditionally. Bob Spoo has done a tremendous job there and he was an outstanding coach in this conference, at Wisconsin and Purdue back in the 80s.  He was a long time at Purdue before he went to Eastern Illinois.  He did a great job at Purdue and has done a great job at Eastern Illinois.  Both his coordinators have been there ten years plus, have great stability.  I think they have won the conference three out of five years and participate in the FCS playoffs on a routine basis.

They are a well-coached football team, disciplined and they play hard.  We expect a very tough contest.  All we have to do is look back to last year’s opener and I don’t think we have to say much more than that just in terms of what’s in front for us.  It’s good that we are finally in a game week.  I think probably like everybody in the country, we are probably eager to get started here and find out where we’re at and we’ll go from there.  With that, I’ll throw it out for questions.

Q.  Has Trent Mossbrucker established himself as kicker or is that something you’re going to –

COACH FERENTZ: We are going to go through the week and make a decision probably at the end of the week right now but it’s been pretty close with competition.  I think Mike Meyers plugs in on the kickoff, he’ll be doing our kickoffs it looks like right now and he’s still in the race a little bit, at field goal, as well.

Q.  How about your returners?  Who are you looking to put back there for that, kickoffs, especially?

COACH FERENTZ:  We will probably start out with Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and Keenan Davis there and in the punt game, it will be Colin Sandeman now and Marvin McNutt will back him up.

Q.  Anything new on Brandon Wegher at this point?

COACH FERENTZ:  No, absolutely nothing.  So two thoughts there.  I’m hopeful that he’s going to class on a routine basis.  As far as I know he is.  He’s in class and working for it.  And then secondly — we are thinking long term now rather than short term and as I said before, there’s really – I haven’t had any indication what he’ll do and I wouldn’t want to try to project it.  We are in the season now and have to move forward with the team but our thoughts are still with him.

Q.  Have you spoken with Brandon recently?

COACH FERENTZ:  It’s been over a week.

Q.  I guess senior quarterback coming back in Ricky Stanzi, what appears to be pretty solid depth at wide receiver and tight end, do you feel like with your passing attack that this will be one of the more explosive ones you’ve had in recent years?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think we have a chance to be better in the passing game, and you know, when you have that kind of experience, you hope that’s a by-product of the good production.

So for the most part, I think the receivers have practiced well and I include the tight ends with that group.

I think our quarterbacks have done a pretty good job, too.  So our goal is to be balanced and hopefully we’ll get good production in the passing game.

Q.  You’ve spoken at length already about the lessons from last year’s opening game.  Do you get the sense that players are talking about it as much as you are?

COACH FERENTZ:  We will know more as the week goes on.  I think everybody, up until the weekend at least, everybody has been focused on the overall season and doing a good job with our preseason practices.

Now it’s good to get into a game, a week routine, and we have not talked great length specifically about their program and team.  Did a little bit on the weekend but certainly we will pick that up.  I’m hopeful we’re a little bit better prepared this time around.

Q.  Is Christian Ballard more of a tackler and end in the first game or is that still up in the air?

COACH FERENTZ:  He’ll probably play both but our intent would be to start him outside and start Mike Daniels inside.  Mike had a real good camp and followed up a real good spring with a good camp.

Q.  How has he responded making the transition going back?

COACH FERENTZ:  He’s a real versatile guy mentally and physically and I think he’ll be just fine out there.  So I think it’s probably going to be part of our rotation throughout the season, I could foresee that, just because of the way Mike Daniels has come on.  I think we have got some good flexibility and that’s a healthy thing.

Q.  What does that say to you about Christian’s versatility, being able to play him and being able to play tackle when you need him to?

COACH FERENTZ:  I tell you, I was really impressed a year ago spring when he moved inside.  There’s a Kodak Moment a year ago spring, not this past spring where he and Clayborn both jumped down inside there during one of our practices.  We had a couple injuries and those guys, without anybody saying anything, jumped in there so we could keep going.  That was a pretty good indication they were both thinking right.  They have been that way ever since.  Christian Ballard has just been very accommodating and works hard where he lines up.  If we needed Adrian Clayborn inside, I’m sure he would do the same thing.

Q.  When that decision was made to move Ballard down and not Clayborn, was there talk of moving Clayborn down?

COACH FERENTZ:  Not really.  Just that’s the way it worked.  I don’t know if we are that smart to take credit for it.  It’s just how it worked out.

Q.  What’s the status of Shaun Prater?  Does he have a chance –

COACH FERENTZ:  He would probably play pretty well on that side, Clayborn would, I think.

As far as – we are hopeful.  We’ll see what happens.

Q.  Can you talk about Greg Castillo a little bit last year, he looked inexperienced at times but really seems to have come on.

COACH FERENTZ:  I think he’s eager and older now.  He’s had a lot of time and repetition with the first and second team defense.  Greg is a real sharp guy, a very detailed guy, and he’ll give himself every chance to play well out there.  Certainly I think the experience level is a little bit higher now than it was a year ago, so we are optimistic about his play.

Q.  How is Adam Gettis coming along?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think he’s had a good camp.  He’s had a good camp and I’m hopeful it will reflect.  The big thing for him, he played pretty well at times last year when he was in there, the Arizona game, early in the season, the first couple three weeks of the season, more so.

The big, big thing, the challenge for him has been consistency.  And that’s been the big thing we noticed since camp got going, really seemed like he had really leveled out his play and was doing a good job consistently.  So I think we are optimistic he’s going to have a real good couple of years here.

Q.  Are you settled with your five starters on the offensive line, and do you feel there’s still possibility for movement and shuffling?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think we are fairly settled and injuries always play into everything.  We have a couple of guys nicked up right now so we’ll see how the week plays out.  But the picture becomes more clear I think with each day; that being said, though, we are still trying to decide a few things.  But I think we have a pretty good idea who our top seven are for sure, and then after that it’s a little bit cloudier.

Q.  How about Zusevics, talk about his development.  Is there where you thought he would be at this stage of his career?

COACH FERENTZ:  Not sure I knew where I thought he would be – we knew he would have an opportunity to play.  That’s why we recruited him.  The big question, both he and Adam are not the same but they are similar in that they are both quote, unquote, undersized, and when we recruited both of them.  And they have worked hard throughout the years and they are both big enough and strong enough I think to compete well in our conference.

They both have displayed the consistency I think on the practice field that you’re looking for.  So Adam – or Zeus did a good job back in the spring, and I think he’s just continued that right on through with this past couple of weeks, three weeks.

Q.  How do you take with this kind of receiver depth, how do you balance that with your general philosophy?  Usually pound it out first.  Do you alter it a little?

COACH FERENTZ:  In a perfect world we would like to be very balanced.  That’s our goal.  We’ll go into every game thinking that and how that plays out and that will determine what we end up doing.  In a perfect world we would like to have that opportunity and we do have that opportunity this year.  It’s realistic to think that could happen.  To me we are playing our best offense when we have capabilities of doing both.

Q.  What has Fiedorowicz shown you in camp so far?

COACH FERENTZ:  He’s just done a good job.  He came in with pretty good stills, and he’s been able to learn rapidly enough to envision him playing and playing well on the field.  It’s one thing to throw a guy in there, but also you want him to go in there and have success and be able to compete at a good level.  We are trying to win football games right now, so we are not just trying to get somebody’s feet wet.

He’s done a nice job making the adjustment, and hopefully we can put him in situations where he’ll be able to handle what’s in front of him and then just start building from there hopefully.

Q.  Is Marcus Coker coming back?

COACH FERENTZ:  He’s still in rehab.  He’s starting to run now.  They are going to X-ray it this week, I believe on Friday.  So we are getting closer but we are still really a week, two weeks away from him being involved full speed.

Q.  How have you handled that, not knowing what he was going to do; how did you handle that I guess in camp and practice?

COACH FERENTZ:  Whoever is out there is practicing.  That’s really basically what it is.  Because as Andrew is talking about our receiver depth, I’m thinking about our running back depth that we are all so worried about, the logjam over the months.  So I hope we haven’t jinxed ourselves there, there.

Anyway.  Whoever is out there is practicing and I think all of the guys have practiced really well, you have Jewel Hampton and Adam Robinson certainly, and Poggi and then De’Andre Johnson has gotten a lot of work and the fullbacks have rotated through there, too.  We have not had – with Brandon Wegher not being there and with Marcus Coker being out, that deep, deep pool of guys kind of got shelved real fast.  When you’re practicing, it makes it tougher.

Q.  Will you see how Saturday goes with Robinson and Paki O’Meara and decide on younger guys after that?

COACH FERENTZ:  Right now I think we are probably better suited just to hold him out, and that’s our plan, at least.  We’ll see what happens.

Q.  You were saying after the kids day scrimmage that the kicking can use a little work.

COACH FERENTZ:  It got a little better last week, which is good news.  Through the end of the week and through the weekend, I thought we were a little better.  It’s all very close right now with all of the guys and we’ll just see what happens here.

Q.  Have you given Brandon Wegher any kind of timetable about when he needs to decide about this?

COACH FERENTZ:  No.  Not at all.  I think it’s pretty obvious right now we have to move on; it’s pretty obvious from him not being here, he has no intentions of playing right now.  So we’ll just cross the bridge whenever we get to it if we get to it.

Q.  You mentioned Derrell at kids day as a guy who had shown you the leadership you were looking for.  Did that continue through camp, and is that something you’re looking for as things progressed?

COACH FERENTZ:  He had performed really well through that point, and you know, he’s had some injury issues through that time so he’s missed some time which has deterred his progress.  But that being said, he’s got a good experience level right now and when he’s been out there, he’s been working hard and doing well.  So we expect him to play well, yeah.  We expect him to play well.

Q.  Can you talk about Lance Tillison, I believe he’s still a walk-on at this point?

COACH FERENTZ:  It is.  He’s a good story, he left a year ago – that’s not a good story.  But the fact that he chose to come back, just didn’t work out the way maybe he had been led to believe it going to work out where he went.  So he came back and joined us in the spring and Fred Mims was really helpful with him getting back and getting his feet on the ground and helping him with his academics and working through that because of the transfer and all of those type of things.

To Lance’s credit he’s worked extremely hard and he’s eligible to play this year.  This will be his last year.  On top of it, he incurred a couple wrist issues and hand issues in the spring and he has a little one he’s dealing with right now.  But he’s had a great attitude.  He really has been a great addition.   It’s good to get him back.  And he’s backing up Jeremiah Hunter right now and might play on special teams, might be on some substituted defensive packages prior to leaving.  It’s good to have him back on the team.

Q.  He was playing kind of linebacker two years ago –

COACH FERENTZ:  You know, Lance has always been kind of in that in-between area.  He’s been really big for a safety and maybe not quite big enough to be a linebacker.  I think he’s plenty big to be a linebacker now.  He’s just kind of always been in that middle range, if you will.  I think he’s where he belongs, personally, and I think he’s doing a really good job with it.

Q.  More than a year after Hampton’s ACL; is there a magic formula you have in your mind?  I know ACLs have changed over the years.

COACH FERENTZ:  I think maybe in the old days it was an issue, but most players that we have had that have had to have those surgeries have come back stronger than before they left; and that’s the one good thing about getting them up.  But it’s been our experience, and I think based on what we have seen of him at practice, it looks like that’s not going to be an issue at all.  I think things have really improved certainly from 20 years ago.

Q.  Would you say he’s stronger than he was?

COACH FERENTZ:  Most guys come back from them stronger, and, you know, if he’s not, you can fool me.  He looks older and stronger than he did in 2008, which you would expect.  He’s been training hard and looks good.  I think he’s here to play.

Q.  Lonny and Jason Olejniczak are probably the big names out of Decoroah to come here, but Brett Van Sloten is coming on as a red-shirt freshman, does he have a chance to do something?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think he does.  Brett did a nice job working hard as a red-shirt player.  He’s extremely coachable and competitive and he’s grown into that body.  He has a big frame and had that in high school, certainly.  We are really pleased with thinks progress and great attitude and I think he’s got a real good future.

Q.  Did you learn anything from the opening game last year in terms of how to prepare a team for a I-AA opponent?

COACH FERENTZ:  I don’t know.  We handled it better against Maine probably and Montana, going back, looking backwards, if I’m leaving somebody out.  Not that those games are easy.  I think the moral of the story is there are just not a lot of easy games and if you go into a game thinking it’s going to be anything less than competitive, you’re going to suffer for that.

I’m not saying that we did that last year but as it turns out, we played a team that was very good and they were ready to play and we – I don’t think we looked great.  Just fortunately we improved as the year went on.  You know, they were an excellent football team a year ago, and we expect Eastern Illinois to be a really good football team to be coming in here on Saturday.

Q.  Do you hope you might get out to a bigger lead so you can play more guys?

COACH FERENTZ:  I hope we get off to a big lead in every game, but I don’t know how realistic that is.  That would be great.  But just the game will dictate.

There are a lot of things we are concerned about right now, also; the first game, a lot of new players out there at a lot of positions.  You’re just never quite sure what’s going to happen and how thing are going to materialize.  My biggest hope is we come out and play good, sound football and play clean football where we are not doing something to hurt ourselves:  Turnovers, give up a big play, just leave somebody go unblocked or uncovered.  Those are the types of things you worry about in the first game a little bit.

Q.  How has Adam Robinson responded to having Jewell Hampton back?  I know he had competition last year, too.

COACH FERENTZ:  I have seen those guys interact similar to what Wegher and Robinson did last year.  That’s football.  You know, if we get three good players, we would find a formula or we will find a formula for three players at one position.  Our guys have all been good that way.  We will let it play out but the dynamics I think have been just fine.

Q.  Is there a similar growth in Adam –

COACH FERENTZ:  The positive with all of the stuff was that everybody is going to be a year older and more experienced, all three of those guys are similar in that they played their first years, obviously one was a true freshman.  But the good news is all of them were going to be more experienced this season.  So I think we are seeing that both Jewell and Adam.  Adam has practiced very well and we are all expecting to have a good season.

Q.  Has the team through the summer and now camp handled all of the outside expectations good in your opinion?

COACH FERENTZ:  All I can do is judge what I see on the field and see around the building what have you, and we see a lot of them around the building, at least up until last week before school started.  And it seems like we have had very few bumps in the road, guys being late for something, a meeting, or missing an appointment or something like that.

For me, for the most part, the signs of people thinking right have been there – going back to January, overall, the focus seems to be there, and you know, as I said back in August, early August, I think our older guys, the guys that have been out there and know how tough it is to win; I think they have a little better sense of things and I’m hoping the younger guys get that appreciation.  But I have not seen anything that’s really overly alarming at this point.

Q.  Have you had a voice when it comes to the discussions on the Big Ten realignment, have you been given a timetable or anything?

COACH FERENTZ:  No.  I just – I really haven’t had much voice on it.  I don’t know if any of the coaches have.  I haven’t been worried about that.  Whatever happens is going to happen as far as the timing.  I would imagine it’s going to happen fairly quickly because I think of a guy like John Streif, I’m sure he’s got like 15 hotels on speed dial right now.

There are a lot of logistical work that has to get done.  So I think just from a practicality standpoint, my guess is that we will hear about it pretty soon and it will be a new story and then we’ll move on.  I doubt any players or coaches are too worried about it right now because we have 12 weeks looking at us right now that are more important than what happens big picture wise.

Q.  Morris and Fiedorowicz, do you see them breaking in as special teams or position players?

COACH FERENTZ:  Playing more, the defensive guys especially, special teams.  Certainly with C.J., it’s a little different with tight ends, we’ll play two or three of them at a time.  So he may have an opportunity to be out there on scrimmage plays.  In a perfect world, if you have a tight end playing, you want to get him involved in special teams, too.  We will try to make it worth their while to be red-shirt or green shirt or whatever you want to call it, playing.

And similar I guess, looking at the linebackers like A.J. Edds when he was a true freshman, we tried to get him out there as much as we could.

Q.  Is C.J. Fiedorowicz a guy who is physically and athletically blessed with whatever you could live with, the freshman mistakes he is bound to make?

COACH FERENTZ:  C.J.?  We have made that decision based on what he’s done that we think he can – he’ll make some mistakes and we’ll have a lot of guys make mistakes.  But hopefully we can work around those and I think he’ll do a good job based on what we have seen in practice.  I think he’ll do a good job.

Q.  What’s your thoughts on having the 1985 team be recognized this weekend and just their place in history?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think it’s great, the unfortunate part, because I was here in  ’85 and what a great group of guys and see a lot of them around frequently.  The unfortunate part, I’m going to miss all that stuff, because we are working, unfortunately.

But I think it’s fantastic and it’s one of the nice things, we have such great traditions here and so many great teams that have done so many good things and have continued to do things.  It’s really nice I think and it ties up with Coach Fry being here this weekend, too, which is great.  I know he’ll enjoy it and Coach Brashier is still in town.  So it’s all good.

It’s all good and it was a unique opportunity last year, it was great having Chuck Longback here to be an honorary captain for the Michigan game because he’s been working and had that opportunity.  I know he had a wonderful weekend and got to reunite with a lot of his teammates and that will happen this weekend even in larger numbers.  That’s fantastic.

Q.  That team – how did they cope with everything that happened to them?

COACH FERENTZ:  My memory is not that good, but it just seems like that season started – I think some things I remember.  I remember it was 14-3 or something like that at half-time.  We opened up with Drake.  I think we scored right at the half to go up by our second touchdown, and we played better in the second half.

You know, that team, they had a good group of leaders, senior leadership base was tremendous, and they just, you know, really did a good job all season long and then we had that disappointing loss in Columbus and came back and had a pretty resounding win the next week.  When they did face disappointment, they certainly responded in a very positive way.  It was a pretty convincing win in Kinnick the next week, against a team that had just tied Michigan, if I remember correctly.

And that really spoke of the character I think of that football team.  You would wonder why they are champions; that was a pretty good Kodak Moment I think.  That’s a challenge for any football team, to keep the focus where it needs to be, and then when you do — if you do get derailed, at least be able to come back from it and recover and respond in positive way.  Certainly we can all learn lessons, we as players and coaches can learn lessons from that team and probably any of the championship teams that have come through here.

Q.  Any similarities between this team and that team?

COACH FERENTZ:  Way too early to tell.  We have got some good players and we are thrilled about that and that team had some good players, you think about three first rounders, Chuck Long, Mike Haight, Ronnie Harmon, all outstanding players; they were seniors.  So we have some guys that are up front and trying to help do what they can.  But there are so many steps along the way and so many things that have to happen.  That team got it done and mastered it, and that’s a challenge that’s ahead for us right now, or any team.

Q.  What about Allen Reisner and what is he capable of?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think Allen fits right in there.  He’s different than those two guys but he’s really quietly done a good job here already, and he’s practiced well this camp, as you might expect.  The first thing I would say, we had to play him too early, talking about guys who were going to play, I think C.J. is ready to go but we had to throw him out there in the field in ’07 before he was ready.  We just ran out of players.  That’s unfortunate.  He made the most of it.  He really competed well and he’s caught up physically and he very quietly has played very well.  I’ve talked many times about, you know, Bulaga being out last year and Reiff stepping in and doing a great job, and Allen did the same thing with Tony Moeaki was out.  So I think he’ll play well for us and we are excited about that and Brad Herman has done a good job behind him.  We feel good about those two guys certainly.

Replay the chat we held from earlier on Tuesday that includes all of Kirk Ferentz’s quotes.

UNI is an in-state opponent and a high level FCS team. They have been consistently in the playoff hunt and the last three seasons they have been considered a threat to win the FCS championship, although last season the Iowa game may have been the highlight of their year. Much of their roster consists of Iowa kids who may feel overlooked and played with extra motivation as they may think they deserved a chance to play at Iowa. They also get a good amount of talented transfers from FBS schools who wash out for one reason or another that can play right away. They’ve had transfers from Iowa, ISU, and even USC. They are well coached and their staff is very familiar with the Iowa program making it sort of a mini version of the Iowa-ISU game.

Last season’s UNI team was very veteran on Offense. Pat Grace fit the perfect profile of a QB to give an Iowa defense difficulty- smart, patient, mobile, and accurate. He took what the defense gave him and didn’t try to force the ball downfield. He was able to make plays with his feet. He was willing to throw the ball away and play the field position game. His TD pass to the TE Mahaffey was a thing of beauty. UNI also returned basically four starting O-lineman last season. They had a very experienced receiving corps and were efficient enough to move the ball when they needed to at the end of the game.

Iowa’s offensive line was also a mash unit heading into that game. Bulaga played, although he was injured throughout much of camp, Vandervelde did not play, Calloway also battled injuries during camp and was suspended. Iowa’s starting guards of Gettis and Doering were pretty inconsistent in this game. A long TD strike that might have changed the momentum of the game and get the offense rolling was called back due to a holding call on Gettis. The line couldn’t generate a consistent push against a stout UNI D-line featuring two returning starters and facing eight man fronts. And when they did create a seam the tailbacks didn’t always find it.

This season’s unit has been pretty settled since the spring. Although the center position has been up for grabs between James Ferentz and Josh Koeppel, it seems like they have been splitting reps and the line has been relatively healthy for most of camp. Koeppel’s motorcycle accident from Monday may make things clearer there, and I am aware of rumors that Adam Gettis is possibly battling a high ankle sprain. Since I am writing this before Tuesday’s press conference and I can’t get verified info that he is out I will assume he will play some. Even if Gettis is hurt he has had one career start and will be replaced by a player with one fewer career start, although many less snaps. The most important thing for this unit will be to play cohesively.

Iowa’s D-line was a brand new unit in game one last year. Clayborn and Ballard were returning starters but Ballard was playing his first game at Tackle, and Klug and Binns were making their first career starts. Only Clayborn was lining up in his accustomed spot. The defense as a whole suffered from poor tackling in the first half. Although we didn’t know what we were missing in Prater at the time, Castillo also started opposite of Spievey and struggled towards the end of the game in coverage. That was a tough spot for a red-shirt freshman to be put in and I am sure he would do much better this season.

Although Iowa will be replacing a significant amount of starts in Angerer, Edds, and Spievey, the replacements are all battle tested and have some time on the field already and have basically been groomed for their time. If Tarpinian is held out of this game, Davis is very capable of holding down the Mike. Hunter is ready to step into a leadership position and Tyler Neilsen has been personally groomed at Leo by Edd’s for his first three season’s on campus. Micah Hyde, Willie Lowe, Jordan Bernstine and Greg Castillo have all played plenty of snaps and are capable of playing in this game while Prater gets healthy. It doesn’t hurt to have a four year starter in Greenwood and three year starter and potential consensus All- American in Tyler Sash erasing mistakes.

Also the receiving corps for Iowa was a bit of an unknown heading into that game. DJK was reportedly in the doghouse and battling early season injuries, Sandeman was battling injuries, nobody knew if McNutt was for real and Stanzi seemed to only trust Moeaki. Tony had 10 catches and I think 14 targets out of 34 pass attempts. Half of the passes completed went to Moeaki.

Iowa should come into this game at full strength with a very deep and veteran depth chart. DJK, McNutt, Sandeman, Keenan Davis, Paul Chaney, and Don Nordmann have all shown themselves to be capable. It will be interesting to see if Jordan Cotton or true frosh Kevonte Martin-Manley makes a dent in the regular rotation. Allen Reisner is very steady at Tight End and Brad Herman looks to hold off talented freshman C.J. Fiedorowicz.

EIU is a pretty good FCS school but not quite to the level of UNI and they do not have nearly the level of returning experience that last season’s UNI team possessed. They reportedly will be without their best player in former Gator tailback Mon Williams, and will be starting a sophmore Juco transfer Brandon Large at QB. They have two returning starters on the offensive line but one is transitioning to center. They don’t have a lot of upperclassmen on their roster. Their defense possesses several starters returning, including a couple of good corners and their entire linebacking corps, however their front seven is pretty undersized and Iowa should be able to run the ball pretty easily on this team.