206.
Two-hundred and six.
CCVI.
2.06 x 102.
However you write it, 206 is a big number and it’s a tremendous accomplishment that Kirk Ferentz now stands alone atop the Big Ten Conference in wins as a head coach. I’ve got some thoughts.
I don’t know if there’s anything I’ve played 206 times, let alone won that number. It certainly wasn’t football, two years in junior high was enough of an athletic career for me and it’s safe to assume I didn’t get close to 206 wins.
I’ve led teams like Iowa, SMU, and Colorado State to multiple national championships in the NCAA Football franchise. But even a virtual career that puts Nick Saban’s to shame, I didn’t even sniff the number of wins Kirk Ferentz has accumulated in Iowa City.
Nick pointed out that the Iowa program has 676 wins in its history, and Kirk is responsible for nearly a third of them. That is incredible for any program, let alone one like this one where national championships might only ever come on a PlayStation or Xbox and success is measured more in long term stability rather than the intensity of the successes. It’s your 401k portfolio over a 45 year career instead of whatever crypto coin is being pushed this week by Tik Tok investment “experts”.
In today’s game it’s difficult to imagine anyone breaking Kirk’s 206 mark, and he’ll hopefully add a good deal more as this season goes on. He was hired in another century and built up enough equity early on to carry him through any low points. These days new coaches have their lives and histories examined with the intrusiveness of a colonoscopy. By the time Twitter was founded, Kirk was in his seventh year and had already earned a reputation for endearing plainness. His status allowed him to avoid the worst consequences of the rhabdomyolysis and racial bias scandals in the previous decade, controversies that would have sunk many other coaches. In 27 years of history and counting, there will be black marks on the record to go along with the wins.
That’s what you sign up for when you keep anyone close to you for that long, the highs and lows. After 27 years Kirk has grown into a ubiquitous presence in the state of Iowa. But at the end of the day he’s human. Going simply by the number of wins and of games he’s coached risks reducing him to a living statistic. Yet the emotion he showed after the game last Saturday night, try as he might to hide it, shows he’s just a guy doing what he loves for a living; something we all want out of life. It’s not just the wins we’re celebrating, it’s the life’s work of a talented, determined, stubborn, flawed, fantastic man.
Congrats, Kirk. Let’s get #207.
Schedule graphics courtesy of Projection Sports.
Thursday, September 18 and Friday, September 19
Kirk and Co. have a chance to get that win in Piscataway, NJ this Friday against Rutgers. I’m not a fan of Friday night Iowa games early in the season when it conflicts with high school football, but if there’s any game that just screams “Friday night college football” it’s Iowa at Rutgers. Athan Kaliakmanis has led a score-happy Scarlet Knights squad with seven touchdowns and no picks but I think the Hawks mar that perfect record.
Saturday, September 20 – Broadcast
Saturday, September 20 – Streaming
Saturday starts with a great Big XII showdown as #17 Texas Tech travels to #16 Utah. The Red Raiders lead the nation in scoring with 14 touchdowns through three games but Utah’s offense is no slouch either, outscoring opponents 137-19. Plenty of fireworks to be had in Rice-Eccles Stadium.
We’ve got our fair share of rivalry games this weekend as well, with SMU @ TCU battling for the Iron Skillet, the Civil War renewed with Oregon State @ #6 Oregon at 2:00, and the Apple Cup with Washington @ Washington State at 6:30. It’s still incredibly strange seeing each of those team pairings and knowing none of them are conference games anymore. It’s been quite some time since the Mustangs and Horned Frogs were both in the Southwest Conference, but they belong together.
#22 Auburn at #11 Oklahoma is our first ranked game of the weekend at 2:30 but I’ll most likely be focused on #21 Michigan at Nebraska. The Huskers offense has been electric this year while Wolverine quarterback Bryce Underwood hasn’t exactly lit up the scoreboard. If Nebraska can knock of the Wolverines I’d expect them to hop into the top 25.
Here’s a sentence you wouldn’t believe ten years ago: top 10 Illinois will travel to top 20 Indiana for a major Big Ten showdown. That game will be the NBC prime time game at 6:30 and doesn’t have major competition in that time slot. Florida at #4 Miami and South Carolina at #23 Missouri are the other big games at that time but I think only the latter should be a contest. Miami has really impressed me thus far while Florida…has not.
Week 4 ends with the first Big Ten meeting between Michigan State and #25 USC and if they’re not playing for a bronze Trojan Horse then I have no idea what their marketing departments are doing.
Have a great week 4 folks!
