When No. 17 Iowa visits “The Big House” and No. 18 Michigan on Saturday afternoon, it will be their first meeting since the December 2023 Big Ten Championship game, a gap in the series that has become typical this century.
In addition, first-year Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham spent the previous 35 years either leading or assisting the staff at Utah, and the Utes never played Iowa in that span. Beyond crossing paths with Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz on a few occasions, Whittingham said they don’t really know each other.
Whittingham said he knows enough, based on a brief talk and Ferentz’s 28 seasons of results with the Hawkeyes, including 13 straight winning seasons.
“My initial impression is,” Whittingham said, “great person and absolute rock-solid football coach. And he has done it the right way for a lot of years.”
Iowa (3-0) leads the NCAA in scoring defense and total yards allowed per game, thanks in part to the Hawkeyes pitching a shutout against Northern Illinois in their opening week, and against Northern Iowa this past week. Iowa also edged Iowa State 16-13 in Week 2. The Hawkeyes are allowing just 4.3 points and 176.7 yards per game.
The Hawkeyes offense ranks 10th nationally in rushing, piling up 804 total yards despite missing first- and second-stringers Kamari Moulton and L.J. Phillips at times due to injuries. Ferentz said he’ll know closer to kickoff if the running backs, along with tight end DJ Vonnahme, will be ready to go against Michigan.
Even if his offense isn’t 100% healthy, Ferentz said he feels more confident in his personnel now than he did in the ’23 Big Ten title game, which Michigan won 26-0 on the way to a national championship. It also gave the Wolverines four straight wins against Iowa.
“The last time we got together we were a little bit depleted offensively,” Ferentz said. “I think we got a little more octane now in the tank than we did then.”
Michigan (3-0) needed a last-second (and extra-second) Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan in their season opener. The Wolverines also beat Oklahoma 17-10 in an inconsistent effort, albeit against a team ranked No. 11 at the time. And they led by only three at halftime against UTEP before turning up the energy.
Whittingham said Michigan’s desire to win hasn’t always been apparent this season.
“We definitely need to be more consistent with our enthusiasm, passion, energy — it seems to ebb and flow a little bit,” Whittingham said. “We’ve had three really poor halves in that regard — the entire Western game, and then the first half of this last game. We’ve got to find a way to get that passion and energy at a high level from start to finish.”
The Wolverines did improve their running game against UTEP — at least up the middle — and quarterback Bryce Underwood had his best overall performance this season, Whittingham said. The defense has been stout, coming in tied 21st in points allowed. Ferentz said Michigan’s front seven has a scary ability to rush the passer.
Some of Michigan’s inconsistency could be related to experience, said Whittingham, whose team is the youngest in the Big Ten. It’s now Week 4, and they’re starting the Big Ten season against a longtime rival. Even if it’s not an opponent like Ohio State, that has to help perk things up.
“We realize obviously the degree of difficulty gets much higher this week, but I think it was a step forward for our offense,” Whittingham said.
