Everything Kirk Ferentz said about Michigan football after the Big Ten Championship Game
INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan football played against a tough Iowa team in the Big Ten Championship and ran into all sorts of problems. Namely, it couldn’t run the ball.
Still, the Wolverines emerged victorious thanks to a stellar defensive performance which saw the maize and blue net three turnovers. The offense struggled after the first few possessions, yet Michigan managed to beat the Hawkeyes, 26-0.
After the game, head coach Kirk Ferentz spoke at length about the game, why the Wolverines are so good and what Iowa has to do to be able to contend with a team like the maize and blue. Here is everything he had to say after the game.
Opening statement
Somebody pointed out to me, it was 25 years ago when I started in this position, and I feel very fortunate about that. During that time we’ve had a lot of really good teams, and I’ve had the privilege to work with a lot of outstanding players. A lot of those guys were here tonight actually, so appreciate that.
But this group that we’ve worked with this year is about as good as we’ve had. Certainly amongst the most outstanding group that we’ve had. A lot of tremendous players, like Jay and a bunch of other guys in that locker room. Gotten great leadership, made great improvements, stuck together.
Tonight certainly wasn’t our night. We knew we came in here needing to play pretty much a flawless game. Obviously didn’t do that. Didn’t do a great job protecting the football, and a couple of other situations.
But disappointing tonight. To me that doesn’t overshadow the job that this group has done for the last 10, 11 months now.
Proud to be part of it. Proud to be their coach, and proud of the effort tonight. We’ll go back to Iowa City, take a couple of days off and regroup and start figuring out a way to win our next football game.
The defense against the Michigan football offense
Guys have been playing great defense all season long, and tonight was no exception.
Tremendous amount of respect for our opponent’s offensive football team, their entire football team. I said that during the week. That was sincere.
Both teams played got defensively tonight. I don’t think it’s a huge surprise, and credit to our guys. They gave us a chance and kept us in the game really until that turnover in the third quarter.
On Michigan forcing turnovers
So probably the two biggest plays, in my opinion, were the punt return and the turnover in the third quarter. Then we turned one over too, which cost us a field goal probably.
I would attribute Michigan’s defensive performance or our offensive performance to their defense. They have a really good defense, and it’s statistically proven. I think they give up ten points a game.
That’s not our strength right now. We didn’t match up well. That’s the way it goes. We’ll go back to the drawing board.
On the incomplete pass being overruled as a fumble
I’ve made it the last two months without getting fined. I’ll try again.
I’m really struggling with our replay system. Really struggling with it, as I was after the Minnesota game. However many weeks after that is I’m still struggling on that one. Can’t accept it.
Tonight what I was told, the arm was going forward, but the hand wasn’t, which I’m not sure if that’s possible mechanically. I was an English major, but again, I just think we’re really taking a game that’s relatively simple — I’m old enough, okay, I was in the league when they started the replay. The whole concept, as I recall, was taking, obviously — I don’t want to say a blown call, but a wrong call. An official got screened, somehow an obvious mistake took place, and you correct it.
We’ve taken it to a whole different level, and we’ve been on the short end of two of them. Coaches get fired. Coaches get fired. If you want to talk about the extreme of it, coaches get fired. So I just think we have a system that needs to be readdressed, rediscussed. There’s got to be a better way to do it. I feel bad for the officials on the field because they’re the ones that have to explain to us a decision that gets made gets made somewhere else.
It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense to me. So to me the official on the — who reviews it on the field should have full ability to make the decision or a centralized location because I just can’t understand that it wouldn’t be better to have one consistent voice.
You know, that’s what it is, but that’s an out-of-season discussion. But that was a big play in the game, obviously, once that happened.
Then the other component to that, on the field the whistle blew, and we got penalized a year ago for a guy trying to recover a fumble after a whistle blew. It’s really tough to coach your guys when a whistle blows, their guy recovered it. Our guys didn’t. I’m not saying that cost us the game. I’m not sitting up here saying that, but it’s a pivotal play. So it’s just a little bit challenging.
On Michigan's defense
If you wanted to compare it to last year, this year’s, those interior guys, they’ve got a big physical group of interior guys, and they’re good at every position.
That’s been Michigan for a long time. I started in ’81. That was my first game being involved against them in person. So they’ve always had good players. They’re very well-coached. They’ve got a lot of girth inside. It was tough to get anything going in the running game, and they rotate guys through. They have fewer, five, six guys that are pretty good in there.
Not that the other guys aren’t, don’t get me wrong. They’re very veteran, very veteran on defense.
How Iowa stacks up against elite Big Ten teams
You know, on paper we’ve been close twice. I think I’m correct in saying that. In’ 02 there was no playoff, at least Ohio State went. We didn’t. I guess it was two teams back then.
I think we would have competed well with them on the field. ’15, if we had won that game, which we didn’t, then we would have been there. Michigan State wouldn’t have been.
I don’t think people realize how tough it is to be one of those four teams. TCU was there last year. Didn’t go so well this year.
To get there, sustain it, I mean, the facts are there’s probably six, eight schools that are in that discussion on a routine basis. That’s kind of the nature of college football.
One of my fears about the rules as they are now is that we may go back to more separation, whereas I would suggest in 2002 there maybe wasn’t quite as much. Things are shifting a little bit right now, and that’s a discussion for a different day too. That was my concern when the NIL began really in earnest a year ago.
What Iowa needs to do to compete against teams like Michigan football
I still think we would have been better off this year if we had the quarterback we thought was going to be our starter playing. He’s played in this game before as a winning quarterback.
Our two tight ends are our best offensive players. I think Jay would cosign that. That’s a start right there.
We’ve been dealing with the reality of our situation. Couldn’t be prouder of our gee. They’ve improved, they’ve scrapped, they’ve fought. We found a way to win the last four games, and I don’t think many people saw that coming.
I look at it from the other lens. I just look at this team, what they’ve gone through and what they’ve done, how they persevered when most teams would have buckled, quite frankly, and we’ve had a lot of other stuff going on too.
You know, I get to work with these guys every day. I see them internally. I see them at their best, at their worst. That’s why I respect them so much because I’ve seen them at the low point.
Tonight is a low point. These guys laid it out there. This guy, plus a bunch of other guys, laid it out there. Everybody laid it out there. Didn’t go our way, but they’ll get back on their feet because that’s the kind of people they are.
That’s not a given. I’ve done this long enough. I’ve been around both ways too. We were 4-2 in 2012. Lost six straight. Hey, win them in November, all that stuff. Pep talk. That stuff doesn’t always work. It happens because of people, and the people I get to work with every day are first class, top shelf. That’s why I said what I said.
Worry about next year next year. We’re worried about the next game. We have four weeks to get ready for it, give or take, whatever. We’ll find that out tomorrow. That’s our focus. I’m not thinking that globally right now.
