Ferentz remains hopeful on Ott, Daniels

In an interview with the Big Ten Network on Monday morning, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said he remains hopeful that defensive end Drew Ott and running back LeShun Daniels will be able to play against Pitt this weekend.

'We got decent news yesterday and we've got five days to get ready, plus a couple of extra hours with it being a night game,” Ferentz said on the program 'Big Ten & Beyond. 'We'll keep our fingers crossed.”

Ott suffered what looked to be a dislocated elbow in a scrum for a fumble in the first quarter. The senior knew right away and stood up with his arm hanging and went to the sideline. He came out of the lockerroom to watch the game in the third quarter, with his left arm in a sling. After the game, he posed for pictures with the Cy-Hawk Trophy with fellow defensive linemen.

Daniels suffered a right ankle injury late in the first half. He gained 13 yards and then was stopped for a 1-yard loss before he jogged off the field. He attempted a return and did some light jogging on the sidelines, but didn't return to the game.

Daniels had six carries for 58 yards before the injury.

'We're not ruling either one of them out,” Ferentz said. 'We're hopeful they get back.”

On the depth chart Iowa football released Monday, Ott and Daniels are listed as starters. The only other change on the depth chart was the insertion of redshirt freshman cornerback Joshua Jackson as a backup with senior Sean Draper, who didn't play against Iowa State last weekend.

Mike Hall, the BTN host of the show, asked Ferentz if he had any Donald Trump stories. Of course, Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, visited Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday.

'One of our grad assistants actually bumped into him and I guess he almost got wrestled to the ground by bodyguards,” Ferentz said. 'Mr. Trump was actually very polite and very kind and actually said ‘Excuse me' to him.”

Hall also asked, and this was very funny, 'Let's start with this, Kirk, are we just going to try a fake field goal every week?”

So far, yes. Against Illinois State in the opener, senior kicker Marshall Koehn rushed the ball on a fourth-and-10 and off a fake and came up 2 yards short. Against the Cyclones, it was fourth-and-2 from the Iowa State 22-yard line. It was a 40-yard field goal. Koehn hit a 49-yarder earlier, so it was well within his range.

Instead, Koehn took a direct snap and sprinted around the left end. He was tackled at the 4 with no time on the clock. Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads ran out on the field and celebrated. Ferentz took off his headphones, face devoid of emotion, and simply gave the play a quick look on the Jack Trice Stadium video board.

Iowa ran 39 seconds off the clock before calling timeout with one second left to set up the field goal. It was an all-or-nothing gamble. Iowa, however, did live to tell about it in the end.

'We're 0-for-2 on those, but we're 2-0,” Ferentz said. 'Maybe there's a correlation, I'm not sure. We'll see what the future brings.”

TV Time - When North Texas and former Iowa State head coach, Iowa assistant and Iowa City native Dan McCarney, who's in his fifth season as head coach at North Texas, visit Kinnick Stadium on Sept. 26, the game will kickoff at 2:30 and be televised on ESPNU.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com