It’s a looser Kirk Ferentz in the 2020s … verbally

IOWA CITY — It was a year ago this week. At the time, we asked ourselves “Did that just really happen?”

First, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz sent a disdainful message to Minnesota football coaching counterpart P.J. Fleck during a game. It wasn’t the slightest bit subtle. Then, he displayed the opposite of remorse in his postgame remarks.

Perhaps the most un-Ferentzian moment of Ferentz’s tenure at Iowa came last Nov. 13 durig a frigid Friday night in Minneapolis. Iowa was up 35-0, rushing the ball with force all game, and stopping the Gophers’ offense each time the opportunity presented itself.

Minnesota finally got deep in Hawkeyes territory late in the game. Fleck wanted his team to leave with a grain of something positive. He called a timeout when the Gophers had second-and-goal at the Iowa 4 with 19 seconds left. He wanted the shutout gone.

The Gophers, with starters still in the game, returned to the line of scrimmage. Ferentz then called a timeout.

When it was time to resume play, he called another.

And then, one more.

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You call one timeout in that spot, you’re making a point. You call three, you’re rubbing a block of salt in the other guy’s wound.

The fact Minnesota scored on the next play immediately was forgotten. The showing-up of Fleck was not.

“We figured we’d take Floyd (of Rosedale) with us and leave the timeouts here,” Ferentz said after the game, jabbing the needle harder.

While the last thing you’d call Ferentz is a wild and crazy guy, his lips have been looser in the last year than ever before.

During Iowa’s 26-20 win over Nebraska at Kinnick Stadium late last November, game officials told Ferentz the Huskers’ center snaps — five of which went awry — were being thrown off by Iowa’s players on the sideline who were clapping. Nebraska Coach Scott Frost alerted the officials to the issue.

“What the hell are we talking about?” Ferentz said after the game. “It's stupid, right? I have no idea.

“If a player was on the field doing it, I get that. But what are we talking about? The next thing you know we're going to be treating this like golf. ... At golf, nobody is able to say anything, right?

Last month, Penn State had players who caused stoppages in the game because of injuries. Iowa’s fans thought the Nittany Lions were faking to disrupt the Hawkeyes’ offense, and booed them during the Hawkeyes’ 23-20 win.

One was defensive tackle PJ Mustipher, who suffered a season-ending knee injury.

“Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt,” Ferentz said three days later. “But I think probably (the booing) is a reaction to, there were a couple of guys that were down for the count and then were back a play or two later. Our fans aren’t stupid. They’re watching, they know what’s going on.

“We don't coach it, haven't really been exposed to it, and our fans, I thought they smelled a rat, I guess, I don't know. So they responded the way they responded.”

The phrase “smelled a rat” quickly blew from eastern Iowa to central Pennsylvania and hung in the air there. Penn State Coach James Franklin was upset about the booing and the accusation of faking injuries, and said so publicly the next day.

Now it’s the one-year anniversary of the Timeout Tiff. The Gophers are Saturday’s guests in Kinnick.

This summer, Ferentz said “(Fleck’s timeout) was a curious time to call one, so I figured I would do something maybe more curious. Sometimes I act immaturely. I don’t know if I’m proud of it. I don’t know. One of those spur-of-the-moment things. You get into your 60s, you get a little impulsive every now and then.”

Impulsive? If Ferentz throws a pitch under someone’s chin, it’s never one that simply gets away from him.

Fleck’s responses have been smart. He said the timeouts didn’t bother him, says it’s all part of a rivalry, and proclaims he has full respect for Ferentz and his program.

Fleck knows you can’t win battles of words against someone you haven’t beaten on the field. When you do win, you can talk about leaving the gun and taking the cannoli, er, taking Floyd home and leaving the timeouts.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com