Kirk Ferentz details what makes Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry special

The Iowa Hawkeyes and Wisconsin Badgers are getting ready to renew their rivalry this week. It’s a game that Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz knows well and knows is a special one for both sides.

Ahead of the game, Ferentz broke down what he thinks makes the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry special, including the similarities in the two programs and how they’ve been able to keep one another from reaching their goals in the past.

“It’s interesting,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I go way back. When I got here, I remember we knocked them out of the Rose Bowl, actually, in ’81. I remember that. It was a tough game. I can’t tell you who the quarterback was. The only thing I remember from that game, they had run a bounce pass, quarterback throws it off the turf to a receiver, catches it behind the line, and chucks it down there. We must have practiced it 30 times and they hit it for a touchdown against us, so practice doesn’t always make perfect. I’ll never forget that. It’s a hard play to defend. Everybody wants to come forward for obvious reasons.”

Kirk Ferentz first came to Iowa in 1981 as the team’s offensive line coach under Hayden Fry. He later left to become the head coach at Maine but in 1999 returned to Iowa to be the Hawkeyes head coach. Since then, as the head coach of Iowa, Ferentz has a record of 10-13 against the Badgers, including two wins in a row.

“Then it was interesting when that thing tailed off there at the late ’80s before I left here, their program had really gone to a place I don’t think anybody would have envisioned,” Ferentz said. “And then Barry [Alvarez] was hired in… would’ve been ’90. And up they went. Since I got back here in ’99, they’ve been nothing but strong. Impressive in all regards.”

One of the main reasons that Kirk Ferentz thinks the rivalry between Iowa and Wisconsin is such a good rivalry is the similarities between the two programs. That includes their philosophical approach to building a team during Ferentz’s time there.

“We’re a lot alike. They have more population, I guess, a lot of in-state players on both teams. I think Barry and I had some similarities philosophically about what it should look like, that type of deal. He certainly did it to a high level, Rose Bowls, Rose Bowl victories, and when we got here in ’99 they were the ones we were looking at,” Ferentz said.

“The only good thing about us going up there in ’99 and getting beaten for them to clinch the Rose Bowl, it gave us an exposure to all of the people in our organization, myself included, hey, this is what it looks like; this is where you’ve got to try to get. So, it kind of set the bar for us.”

While the Big Ten no longer has divisions, either Iowa or Wisconsin in seven of the ten seasons that the conference had a West division. Wisconsin also won the Leaders division during the three-year stint that the divisions were divided by ‘Leaders’ and ‘Legends’ twice.

“But they’ve been a good football team as long as I can remember,” Ferentz said. “And it’s always a tough contest. It’s typically going to be a physical contest, good defenses, and, hopefully, both teams are trying to run the ball a little bit and that type of thing. They’re doing a nice job.”

Kickoff between Iowa and Wisconsin is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 2nd.