IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -The buzz has been building for this season at Iowa since the day the Hawkeyes waltzed out of south Florida with their first BCS win.
For coach Kirk Ferentz, this is the year he’s been building toward since he arrived in Iowa City over a decade ago.
The Hawkeyes have been on a roll since the end of 2008, winning 15 of their last 17 games after a two-and-a-half year lull to vault back onto the national radar.
Now, it appears anything is possible for resurgent Iowa.
The ninth-ranked Hawkeyes return 15 starters from the team that beat Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl in January, and they’ll take their highest preseason ranking since 1988 into Saturday’s opener against FCS opponent Eastern Illinois.
From a mental standpoint, Ferentz believes his players are ready for all that lies ahead.
“The signs of people thinking right have been there. Going back to January, overall, the focus seems to be there,” said Ferentz, who Thursday reached a deal on an extension through 2020 that will also make him the Big Ten’s highest-paid coach.
But before Iowa can worry about the likes of Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State, it’ll have to take care of business against the Panthers.
Sounds like a dress rehearsal, right?
Well, not for Iowa.
One needs only to roll back the tape to the 2009 opener to remember that hardly anything comes easy for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa stumbled out of the gates, and a Northern Iowa playing in midseason form and not the least bit intimated by their FBS neighbors lined up for a 40-yard field goal that would have ruined the Hawkeyes season before it ever began. Iowa blocked the kick – and the next one, an NCAA first – and escaped with a 17-16 win that felt like a loss.
But that result was an anomaly in recent years for the Hawkeyes, who have won nine straight openers by an average of 31.5 points.
Eastern Illinois isn’t a pushover, though, at least not by FCS standards. The Panthers have reached the playoffs seven times in the last 10 years and have posted four wins over FBS teams, all from the Mid-American Conference.
But the Hawkeyes are the highest ranked opponent Eastern Illinois has ever faced, and the Panthers don’t have a quarterback who’s taken a Division I snap. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Large won the job, and he’ll be playing behind a line with three new starters.
That’s a recipe for disaster against Iowa’s defensive line, which many consider the nation’s best. What might be worse for Eastern Illinois is that they’ll be facing a team who’s grown rather tired of hearing about its near-disaster against Northern Iowa.
“We weren’t prepared, and they were a pretty good team. We may have underestimated them,” Iowa wide receiver Marvin McNutt said. “We want to come out and make sure our main focus is to get win number one instead of thinking of week two.”
Iowa has issues of it’s own, but none appear to be troubling just yet. Running back Jewel Hampton and defensive end Broderick Binns are suspended for the opener, and promising sophomore running back Brandon Wegher left the program for personal reasons last month and isn’t expected back anytime soon.
Starting cornerback Shaun Prater is nursing a hamstring injury and might not play, either.
History suggests that none of that should be a problem on Saturday.
The opener is instead expected to be a celebration of all things Iowa, including the annual “FryFest” event named for former coach Hayden Fry and a reunion of the 1985 Rose Bowl team – the last group of Hawkeyes ranked higher than this one in the preseason.
Many believe this year’s Iowa team has the ingredients in place for a backslapping reunion of their own 25 years from now. But Ferentz, who’s had some highly ranked teams stumble and some overlooked ones surprise, knows better than to start comparing the 2010 Hawkeyes to anyone just yet.
“There are so many steps along the way and so many things that have to happen. That team got it done and mastered it, and that’s a challenge that’s ahead for us,” Ferentz said.
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