No hard feelings for Jake Christensen over Iowa's success

IOWA CITY - There's no hard feelings for Jake Christensen over Iowa's football success this year. He just enjoys it differently from his apartment in Charleston, Ill.

Christensen, Iowa's former starting quarterback, plans to attend Saturday's football game at Kinnick Stadium and cheer for the Hawkeyes against Northwestern. If that sounds surprising, consider Christensen wants to attend the Rose Bowl - or even the national title game - in person should Iowa qualify.

“I've been cheering for Iowa all year,” Christensen said in a phone interview. “It hurts when people think that I cheer against Iowa, and I hate Iowa. If I gave that impression, I guess that's my fault. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Christensen, 23, started 15 games and won eight from 2006 through 2008 before he was permanently benched in favor of Ricky Stanzi midway through the 2008 season. After the season, Christensen took 42 credit hours from January through July to earn his Bachelor's degree before transferring to Eastern Illinois. He starts at quarterback for the 6-2 Panthers and has thrown 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions, similar numbers to the 17 touchdowns and six picks he threw for Iowa in 2007.

As his former team enters unprecedented territory at 9-0 and ranked No. 4 in the BCS standings, Christensen says he has no regrets. His current squad likely will play in the FCS playoffs, and he's throwing the ball better than ever, he said. But Christensen laments that when he chose to leave Iowa, many people described it as a divorce.

Likewise, when he made unflattering comments about Iowa to a national Web site, he was described as bitter, especially about losing the starting quarterback position.

Christensen said his comments were based on his competitive spirit, not anger.

“It's hard to say this without coming off wrong. I think anytime you have transfer out of a situation where you feel like you're the better player, you don't feel like you got a good shot, a fair shot,” he said. “That's not saying anything negative about anybody else. It's my own opinion. It didn't work out that way. I'm not mad about it. But I think if you don't think you're the better player and you just concede over to somebody, then you're done from the beginning. Maybe I did get a fair shot, maybe I didn't do well enough to hold on to my position. That's one way to look at it.

“I would look like a complete maniac to say they made the wrong decision when they're No. 4 in the country and undefeated.”

Iowa flip-flopped Christensen and Stanzi through the first four weeks in 2008. Iowa notched a 3-1 record but the offensive results were erratic. As the school entered the Big Ten season, Iowa chose to start Stanzi, and Coach Kirk Ferentz told Christensen face-to-face the decision was permanent.

“Once we made the decision, I let Jake know that we were going to give Rick some time, and we weren't going to play back and forth,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We were going to give Rick ample opportunity to demonstrate what he could do.

“Really the gist of my conversation with Jake was what we need from you right now is to be a good, supportive backup, like Rick's been to you. And if you can do that, and it's not going to be easy - I knew that - but if you can do that, that's what we need. If you can't, you need to let me know that, too. because it's not going to work the other way.”

Ferentz and current Iowa players acknowledge Christensen prepared with the same vigor each week and helped others, too.

Sophomore wide receiver Marvin McNutt, who began his Iowa career at quarterback, called Christensen his “lefty mentor” and said the two remain friends.

“When I didn't know what the read was, he'd come over and try to explain it to me the best way he could,” McNutt said. “Jake was more of a lead-by-example guy.”

When Christensen decided to transfer, it surprised neither Ferentz nor his teammates. But his comments rattled some players, such as wide receiver Trey Stross, who was his roommate at Hillcrest Hall in 2005. Stross said the two haven't spoken since Christensen left, and he has “de-friended” Christensen from his Facebook account.

“I don't like people talking bad about my school, and I'm not really going to talk to you,” Stross said. “Nobody really likes the negative guy in the group. I don't want to be hearing bad stuff about the school I go to because I love this place, I love the coaches. I think they're doing a good job. All the players on team care. Even when Jake was here, you guys saw him on the sidelines. He was coaching still, helping out. He had a good attitude ... I'm sure he regrets what he was saying.”

If there are hard feelings between Christensen and Ferentz, it's hard to tell. Christensen doesn't hide behind his previous comments. He had spats with Iowa's coaching staff, particularly offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe, but prefers not to discuss those issues. Christensen said he stays in contact with some of Iowa's current players and remains friends with many other Iowa students.

Ferentz doesn't dwell on what Christensen says about the program, calling it the quarterback's “prerogative.”

“I think the way you handle a tough situation and again are living it every day, the way you handle it, which you demonstrate, says a lot about who you are and he did a great job,” Ferentz said. “I really commend him on the job he did when he was here.”

Christensen remains complimentary toward Ferentz, Stanzi, the Iowa program and its coaching staff. He watches Iowa highlights in the apartment he shares with former Iowa teammate and current Eastern Illinois kicker Austin Signor. He said he's at peace with his decision.

“It'd be hard to be at peace if I was watching Iowa and they were 2-7 and Ricky was not playing well,” Christensen said. “But that's not the case.

“Ricky is playing well, they're undefeated, they're in the national title hunt,” Christensen said. “Everything is going the way they had hoped, and everything is going for me the way I had hoped here at Eastern.”