The Quickest Slants: Week 2 and the Muncie Scene

What's up tonight in Muncie, Ind.? Chad Nordhoff's song hours, that's what's up. OK, I don't know if that's actually Muncie, Ind., the home of the Ball State Cardinals, or Muncie, Mont. You wanted a taste of Muncie, so there you go.

Oh no wait, you didn't say 'Muncie,” you said 'Derrick Willies

.” That I can try to help you with, but Muncie after dark, you're on your own.

Willies had the one catch for 46 yards. It was a big catch, in import and style. He might be the only Iowa WR on the roster who could've caught Jake Rudock's

fourth-quarter pass that looked, at least early, like an over throw. But no, Willies showed wheels in getting to the ball. He showed excellent hands in snatching it. Then, the best part, IMO, he had enough body control left while stumbling down at the Panthers' 8 to cradle and hang onto the ball. Willies checked a lot of boxes off on that one play.

So, where was he earlier?

I don't have Willies' exact number of snaps, but I do have fullback Macon Plewa's. He was out there for 16 plays. I'm going to guess Willies had fewer snaps on that.

Why? Kirk Ferentz

was asked that very question after the game.

'He's had his ups and downs, kind of like he did in the spring,” Ferentz said. 'He's had the same thing in camp. Again, he's a second-year player, so that's just part of the deal, but for him to make a big play, that should give him confidence. He's practiced well, so it's just a matter now of just keep bringing him along.”

Sort of a nebulous statement. Some of my observations: Willies is young, and remember the talk that WR coach Bobby Kennedy gave all spring, everything is earned. Again, nebulous. Here's a more concrete thought: How about that kid Tevaun Smith? He had the 35-yard reverse, the one-handed TD catch and drew a big pass interference penalty that got Iowa's final TD drive, during which Willies made his catch, off of its 12-yard line. Smith and Willies play the same position. Why not move Willies? That one I can't answer. There are three distinct wide receiver positions for the Hawkeyes, Smith and Willies play the split end (outside guy), Kevonte Martin-Manley and Matt VandeBerg are the slot receivers (inside) and Jacob Hillyer and Damond Powell

are the No. 2 WR usually lined up outside of the slot guy. How much flexibility is there? They seemed locked into those spots last week.

One last thought: We all saw Willies and the spring. It was massive. We all threw a parade and with bunting and candy and clowns. It was a piece of Americana. Then on the open scrimmage Aug. 4, Willies sat out after Ferentz said he pulled up the day before with a muscle strain.

So, still a young player (redshirt freshman), plays behind a junior who was Iowa's most exciting player last week and missed at least a little camp.

Certainly, no doors are closed. I imagine it's up to Willies to open them. I think he'll get that chance.

Today's schedule . . .

Ferentz will be on the Big Ten teleconference at 11:40. You can read what he says here.

Then, Ferentz has his news conference at 12:45. If I can get tweets out of the concrete bunker that is the players auditorium in the complex, I will hashtag them #oniowa and you will be able to find them on our new Hawkeye site, which also will have #OnIowa in the title. I'm sensing a theme here.

After that, Ferentz transcript and video and player videos will be posted here probably around 3 p.m.

We kick things off with Big Ten notes and stats from the league office.

' For the fourth consecutive season, Big Ten squads combined for at least 10 victories during the opening weekend of play, winning 12 contests on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

' Maryland and Rutgers each marked their first games as members of the Big Ten with victories . . .

' Head coach James Franklin

opened his tenure at Penn State last Saturday, guiding the Nittany Lions to a 26-24 victory over Central Florida in Dublin, Ireland.

' Big Ten offenses averaged 37.5 points and 468.1 yard per game with seven schools exceeding 40 points in season openers . . .

' Nebraska's 784 yards of offense against Florida Atlantic established a modern day conference record, breaking the previous mark of 763 yards by Purdue in 2004. It marked the most yards of offense by a conference school since Minnesota set the record with 832 yards back in 1905.

' Two of college football's winningest programs will meet Saturday night when Michigan visits Notre Dame. The Wolverines lead all programs with 911 all-time victories while the Fighting Irish follow in third place with 875 wins.

' When Michigan State visits Oregon on Saturday, two of the nation's top defensive and offensive units will face off. The Spartans ranked third nationally in scoring defense and second in total defense in 2013 while the Ducks were fourth in the nation in scoring offense and second in total offense.

' With the opening weekend of the 2014 college football season surrounding the Labor Day holiday, the next installment of the national polls will be revealed on Tuesday.

Ferentz on the B1G teleconference . . . UW coach Gary Andersen was the star of the show, BTW. QB Joel Stave is out for the season with a shoulder injury. And, no, there wasn't any 'benching” of RB Melvin Gordon. He had a hop flexor injury, but he still wanted to play, so there was some bickering, no benching because Gordon wanted Stave instead of Tanner McEvoy

, who had a pass efficiency of 34.16 last week against LSU. It was his first start since juco two years ago. That will improve.

MSU coach Mark Dantonio

says this week's MSU game at Oregon is the Spartans against the Ducks, not the Big Ten against the world. (It's the Big Ten against the world, at lest a little bit). 'We're going to line up and play and not put too much pressure on our players to represent a conference.” 'It'll be a fun game for us to play and something they should remember.”

Here's Ferentz:

Opener

- Good to get the win, it didn't come easy. Tough, competitive game. Got young players in the game, some with significant roles. Hopefully, we can improve as the weeks go on.

Question on scheduling and dynamics, basically why no marquee games

- I don't have much reaction to that. We played our schedule history and that's what you do in September. The good teams we've had have been better in November than September. The way we recruit, that's representative of our program. If you're at a school where you get four- and five-star recruits, then you can play just about anybody, anytime.

Facilities question

- (Iowa unveils the new ops building today.) There was an awful lot of change. This is my fifth office since I've been here (25 years). We went out and tried to raise some serious money. I think it's been $35 million. Glad we did it that way. It was the best thing to do for the program, not about the next five years, but more for the future. That was the responisible thing to do for the football program for the next decade.

Connor McCaffery question

(KF has coached three of his sons, with Stephen being a walk-on center right now) - I think it's a lot harder on the son than the parent. They have to prove themselves, basically, to the world. The thing I'm laughing about, at least in my case, there was some insulation. I wasn't in the room with those guys every day, critiquing their performance on practice tape and game tape. There was a buffer there and that made it a little bit easier. The one thing I would tell him is it's the greatest thing in the world. There's just no substitute for having that opportunity and that experience. I'm happy for him in that regard.

Ball State's balance

- Great to get a question about our opponent. Ball State is in a good place right now. Coach Lembo has done a wonderful job, they've won 17 of their last 19. They're well balanced and it's a good scheme. They make you defend on all fronts.

OK, be back with transcripts and videos about 3 or 3:30.

BREAKING . . . Former Iowa LB Christian Kirksey

has been shrunk. It might've been Dr. Evil.

I'm sure some of you guys saw this story last night. This is the Madden 15 game and it's a pretty bad glitch that shrinks down Kirksey to about 1-feet-2-inches tall and, for some reason, puts him on the Tennessee Titans. He plays for the Browns.

Kirksey was on the Hawkeyes' sidelines last weekend and was one of the first to congratulate Bo Bower

on his interception. Bower took over the outside linebacker spot that Kirksey occupied for most of three seasons in Iowa City.

The bullet points . . . Linebacker Josey Jewell will remain sidelined this week. He suffered a broken hand in practice before the opener. KF said they hope he's back for Iowa State.

- KF said UNI's big plays were the biggest disappointment coming out of the UNI game. Communication, it's got to be better. Players elaborated on that. It sounds a lot more complex than you might think.

- I asked about the checkdowns. A lot of that was reaction to what UNI did. QB Jake Rudock

isn't told to specifically throw the checkdown or the 3-yard out. He's expected to throw to the open receiver. Rudock acknowledged that he missed a few, but also said the checkdowns kept the chains moving until the referee's arms signaled TD and that's the whole point.

KF said UNI has historically made teams drive and haven't allowed the big play.

- I asked about flexibility in the three different receiver positions - slot, X and B. WR Kevonte Martin-Manley

said players learn two positions and the flexibility grows with experience.

- KF noted that, yes, a lot of O-linemen come from the state of Iowa, but more D-lineman, linebackers and defensive backs have come out of the state since he returned as head coach in 1999.

- Matt VandeBerg flat out won the punt return job. Same for Jonathan Parker

on kick return.

- KF talked about getting involved with former walk-on and now scholarship LB Bo Bower

. Iowa doesn't look for one stellar athletic trait or specific size with walk-ons, it looks for players it believes can run the race. Bower is one of those most definitely.

- For now, it looks as though the number of true freshmen in the lineup will freeze at LB Ben Niemann and S Miles Taylor

. Obviously, the door is open.

- Ferentz said punter/kicker was 'OK.” Also, the players who've won the jobs - K Marshall Koehn and P Dillon Kidd

- will have the chance to prove themselves. It's not going to be a quick hook.

- KF also said the running game was 'OK.” UNI did some things that had the Hawkeyes scratching their heads, some new things they didn't see on film, stuff with the safety/LB keys.

- KF talked about the new ops center. The media tours that today. Check Scott Dochterman's blog for video and pictures. Ferentz also talks about the fact that without Hayden Fry

, he wouldn't be sitting where he was today.

- Funny quote on getting QB C.J. Beathard

into games: When it happens, it'll happen and it will happen. Or something like that.

- How Iowa found Tevaun Smith

at a small Connecticut prep school.

- Working on depth at fullback.

- He's had fun watching son James carve his way into the NFL, on the Houston Texans practice squad. That's a pretty big deal, considering that James had no NFL ride last season.

Ferentz interview video part 1

-- LB Josey Jewell remains out this week.

-- Ball State

-- 2:09 on Iowa RBs

-- 2:48 on Iowa allowing a lot of big plays

-- 4:17 on CB Greg Mabin

-- 5:02 on going downfield in the passing game.

-- 6:00 UNI took away the vertical game and made Iowa go underneath and, hey, that worked.

-- 6:28 on offensive identity

-- 7:08 on finding Tevaun Smith

-- 7:37 on flexibility in the receiver corps

-- 7:55 on finding FBS talent in Iowa and is it mostly O-linemen

-- 10:19 on kick and punt return, how that was decided

-- 11:48 on Jordan Lomax at FS

-- 12:54 I can't read my notes

Part 2

-- On OLB Bo Bower

-- 1:37 on BSU offense

-- 3:14 on BSU's success (Pete Lembo has it going)

-- 4:49 on true frosh playing (probably no more, at least right now)

-- 5:05 punting and kicking was just OK

-- 6:06 on running game and the difficulty it had vs. UNI (it had something to do with UNI)

-- 6:30 KF discusses the new ops building (Check Scott Dochterman's blog for pics and vids and details)

-- 8:11 on getting QB CJ Beathard in the game (this one is funny, KF catches himself)

-- 8:47 on finding Canadian players (Iowa right now has Tevaun Smith and Faith Ekakitie)

-- 10:37 on UNI avoiding Desmond King

-- 11:03 Depth at fullback

-- 11:43 on son James Ferentz making the Texans practice squad

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@sourcemedia.net