Kirk Ferentz: Big Ten Championship loss doesn't overshadow what Iowa has done

It didn’t go well for Kirk Ferentz and Iowa in the Big Ten Championship, but the Hawkeyes leader isn’t letting it ruin their 2023 season.

Ferentz’s squad fell to the Michigan Wolverines in grand fashion, as their opponent now enters the College Football Playoff. Following the loss, the Iowa leader explained why he’s not allowing their latest loss to overshadow their impressive season in 2023.

“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,” Ferentz said. “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.”

Alas, Iowa will have the chance to put the right stamp on their season in their bowl game, as they’ll face Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. We’ll see if Kirk Ferentz and company come ready to play for that showdown later in bowl season.

Tennessee vs Iowa odds: Citrus Bowl point spread released

With a slew of bowl matchups being announced on Sunday, one of the most exciting will be in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, as No. 21 ranked Tennessee faces No. 17 Iowa in a marquee SEC/Big Ten showdown.

According to FanDuel, the Volunteers enter the game as 7-point favorites over the Hawkeyes, with the point total over-under sitting at a low 36.5 points for the matchup. But here’s everything else you need to know about one of the most exciting bowl matchups that will kick off on January 1.

Iowa enters the Citrus Bowl fresh off of suffering a 26-0 loss to the now No. 1 ranked team in the nation Michigan, but did finish the regular season strong with four straight wins in their 25th season under head coach Kirk Ferentz.

Per usual, Iowa’s elite play on the defensive a significant impact on their 10-3 finish to the season, holding opponents to an average of just 13.2 points per game this year which ranked No. 4 in the entire nation across all of college football. 

But unfortunately, their offense has been quite literally the total opposite this season in comparison to their defense, scoring just 16.6 points per game to represent the fourth worst scoring offense in the FBS this year only trailing Akron, Michigan State, and Kent State. 

The Hawkeyes have leaned heavily on their defense this season, but will likely need some more help from their offense if they want to compete with Volunteers on New Year’s Day.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this article.