What Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said about the Vols’ play in the Citrus BowlNo. 21 Tennessee Football will face No. 17 Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
The 78th edition of the Citrus Bowl begins at 1 p.m. ET on ABC.
The Vols (8-4, 4-4 SEC) will make their sixth Citrus Bowl appearance and first since Jan. 1, 2002, when they capped an 11-2 season with a 45-17 victory over Michigan.
The latest polls placed him fourth. The six appearances are Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Penn State, Auburn and LSU for the most all-time.
Iowa (10-3) won the Big Ten East before losing to No. 1 Michigan 26-0 in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis on Saturday night.
This is the fourth time the two programs have met. The Vols are 2-1 against the Hawkeyes, including a 45-28 victory in the 2015 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz met with the media Sunday evening to discuss the Citrus Bowl selection and matchup with the Vols. Here’s everything he had to say. Opening speech:“First of all, we just can’t wait to play another game. Really proud of our team. You have worked hard all year.
Disappointing loss last night, but they definitely earned the right to play an exceptional bowl like the Citrus Bowl. Above all, we can’t wait to play. Second, I’m very excited to return to Orlando. Many people on our team had this experience two years ago.
For many people this will be a new experience. And whether they were here two years ago or new this year, one thing is simple: this is a seriously awesome game of bowls. First class experience on and off the field.
The committee over there is doing a fantastic job. It’s a great city to host a game. Certainly the concept of integration into the Orlando community I think is very unique when it comes to Bowl games, and it’s something that our players have really appreciated.
Furthermore, it will be a great challenge on the field. We realize it. Two years ago it was like this; it will also be against Tennessee. We just got executed to play and even better that we play at 1st St. In the Citrus Bowl.
This viral play by defensive end Koen Entranger on special teams in the Big Ten Championship Game: FERENTZ: I haven’t watched it yet, but I was talking to Phil about it two hours ago, so maybe you benefited from our conversation. But I had more or less the same thought.
You know, I saw him there on the field. Koen is one of our gunners. Contrast missing. I know she feels guilty about this. But for him to get off the ground and chase the returner out there, whatever it was, inside the 10.5-yard line, I had the same thought.
It’s really a flashback to the Bowl, where he played in the Citrus Bowl, where Cooper did a great job. I think that says a lot about a player. I can name one player that Bob Sanders created against Michigan in 2003.
Kind of similar. He just tells you that the guy plays from start to finish, and Koen has been like that since he got here. He was a great young guy, a really great prospect, and he played well for us on special teams this year. Excited about his future and once again great attitude.
His approach to the transfer portal: FERENTZ: Well, first of all, I think obviously all of this has progressed, and last year it made more sense to be active than the year before. How will it go this year? It’s difficult to predict.
A year ago, at this time, we had already met our players. We met with them the week after Thanksgiving and just talked to each one about their future, what they were thinking about.
So we had an idea of what our roster was going to look like and we just encouraged the guys to go last week and this week to make a decision. As you might imagine last week, it wasn’t really appropriate to talk to the players about what they were thinking.
Our focus was exclusively on the championship match. So we will meet as a staff tomorrow morning and just talk about the team together, then we will repeat the process, contacting all our players over the next couple of days.
A player has already been called and indicated that he will enter the portal. So all in all, I think you want every player to be happy with their situation.
You know, if a guy isn’t sure he wants to be here, or he’s sure he doesn’t want to be here, then my encouragement would be to maybe watch something else. We work best with guys who are really fully engaged. We’ll do it pretty much the same way as last year.
On the outside, not only were we able to use this past week to get some information, but I suspect that by the end of the week we’ll have a little better idea of what our roster will look like and will from there on out. also get a better idea of how we can move forward by looking at the portal and seeing what might interest us.
On Florida State’s exclusion from the playoffs:
FERENTZ: You know, I think it’s one of those discussions. We will always have arguments in these types of situations.
There is no perfect way. It’s kind of like a conference, unless you’re playing a true Round Robin schedule, there’s always going to be someone complaining about this team playing that other team in conference play.
It’s as old as when I got here in ’81, it was a problem then. Long story short, I still said – I told my wife today, I’m still not sure it wouldn’t have been better to just go – one rule: If you go undefeated, your chances really increase.
That wasn’t true today. That wasn’t true the year Auburn was shut out. But overall, it’s unlikely that more than two teams will remain undefeated.
So I’m still of the opinion: go with two or go, whatever, 12, 14, 16. And four was fine, but again, there’s no perfect system and, you know, whatever we do to make it an expansion year . , which I think will start next year, will also bring with it some challenges.
You know, it gives everyone something to talk about, discuss, things like that, and it’s a shame that a team can go undefeated. Listening to the chatter, it sounds like you can make a case for all six teams in the discussion, maybe even more. Is heavy.
It’s just one of those things and we’ll see what happens in the future.Q. “Last week against Nebraska you made the big decision in the second half to cut Drew Stevens and go with Marshall Meeder, who hadn’t seen the field in front of you yet and obviously it worked.
Since it’s a different position than quarterback, and I know you’ve been asked similar questions, but Deacon has, I think, 11 interceptions and nine games played – excuse me, 11 turnovers in nine games played and he recovered a few more fumbles. by the offense.
At what point do you feel the same way about that quarterback position as you do about kicker or DB when you give another man, a young man, a chance to perform or prove himself in a game then that another man has difficulty performing? or protect football? FERENTZ: Two separate discussions. Last week it was clear that Drew (Stevens) was not himself.
Two kickoffs went out of bounds, which is really uncharacteristic of him. Atypical for the good kicker we think Drew is. He’s a proven player, a proven performer. At that moment I felt it was a temporary decision. It wasn’t a pre-season decision.
If Drew had started last night, he would have been there for the field goals, the PATs. So you know, it’s a strange circumstance. Balancing between older guys playing a bowl game but also getting reps from younger guys:
FERENTZ: Yes, that’s a great question. It’s really valuable, really important, and one thing I’ve always said is the most important thing about a Bowl game is the experience for the players, and we happen to have been very lucky.
Honestly, in the 34 years I’ve been here, we’ve always had good opportunities to go to great bowls at really nice places. From your experience in Orlando I can say this will be our third trip overall and it is a fantastic place to host a Bowl.
They do a great job, the committee, and a big part of the Bowl experience is what the committee does to make things right for the players. It’s big. And you want the players to actually have fun, because they’ve earned the right to be there.
This is still the concept of a Bowl game. The second thing on the list I think is just an opportunity for us to get together for another month and work as a team. It’s a very different schedule to the last fourteen weeks.
Right now, in a way, it’s more like a bye week program. It’s just an opportunity for us to continue to function as a team and that’s the best thing about sports. And to explain it a little more precisely: we are a bit on two tracks at the moment.
At the start of the month we were working very loosely with the older guys. You don’t need to wear shoulder pads or have any contact for a few weeks. You need to recharge yourself a bit and come back into a refreshed mode, if you want.
But we will have the chance to train the younger players who didn’t play on Saturday and who haven’t worked much yet. In a program like ours, when we lose a guy and quarterback is a good position, we don’t have guys who are five-star recruits or who have three years of playing experience.
So he’s very important for us to work on the football as much as possible whenever we get the chance, and that’s a good thing in a bowl game.
It gives you a real opportunity to coach these young guys, maybe guys that were on the look teams that we didn’t get to coach, and try something like that on the field during a season.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for everyone, and the main idea for everyone in the program is to try to improve every day.
A guy like Jay Higgins will make very different plans against Ben Kueter in the coming weeks, but hopefully they will be mutually beneficial. If news from the Citrus Bowl helps them move forward from their Big Ten Championship Game loss:
FERENTZ: Yes, that’s a great point, because every loss hurts. If you are a competitor, this is how it works. There is no substitute for winning. No substitute for losing. Two different extremes and one is much better than the other. But when you lose a match, you don’t usually have good news on Sunday.
And in this case, to get to the point: yes, we have wonderful news today. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I think I can speak for everyone.
Everyone should be really excited. Again, go to Orlando, great Bowl committee doing great work, great community. And you get to play against a very high-level opponent. It’s a great challenge in that hand, a great experience for our players.
We gave the kids a few days off. We will meet here in a few mornings and it will be the first time we will be together, but I am sure everyone will be very happy about it. We look to the future.
We move on to the next, next challenge and try to approach the month wisely. But yes, that’s a good point.On Tennessee’s offense under Josh Heupel:
FERENTZ: We definitely haven’t seen them this year, but I know the work that Josh obviously did before this at Tennessee and Central is just outstanding. You know, we saw it in Tennessee against Kentucky the last two years. We played Kentucky two years in a row.
We’re somewhat familiar with it, but we certainly haven’t considered it from a game planning perspective. The great thing about playing on January 1st is that we have plenty of time to watch them. I go back to my first experience playing in Tennessee.
It was 1982 in the Peach Bowl, and one guy I remember, they had Reggie White, Mike Cofer, I think that’s his name, outside linebacker, two pretty good defensive players, and Cole Kent was their punter. Oh, my golf course, the sprinter was the receiver – God.
Willie Gault, I’m sorry. It’s embarrassing that I couldn’t get that name. But some very good players. We played a great game with them. You follow them over the years. Just a great program. So it will be a big challenge for us. We know it.
The team’s schedule for next week: FERENTZ: We will probably go very light on Friday and Saturday. I just don’t want guys to go a few weeks without getting on the field and doing a few things.
The older guys will be on and off the field; Similar to the bye week, then we’ll train the younger guys a little bit more. Then we’ll have our banquet here next Sunday, and then we’ll move on to finals week. So we will be very limited during finals week and won’t really start until the final rounds are over.
On Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker, a Broyles Award finalist: FERENTZ: Yes, I think anyone who follows football as a football player will recognize that there are two very good defensive teams.
Considering, at least in my opinion, how good Michigan has been offensively over the past three years, this is truly impressive. I thought our guys were really competitive, obviously fought really hard and did a good job up front.
The guys in the background did a really good job and it’s just a good team effort. It’s definitely starting – Phil and the staff did a great job putting the plan together and, more importantly, the players really stepped up and competed.
Everything fits together. I can’t say enough about the job Phil has had in this program for 25 years, serving as coordinator since 2012, and watching the growth and improvement we’ve seen in this regard is simply – it’s really amazing. I’m really excited that he’s going to the Broyles Awards banquet and I think it’s tomorrow, in the next few days.
All the contestants there, I think there are five finalists. They are all excellent trainers. But the fact that Phil is part of this group is remarkable. It would be great if he won.
I know that when it comes to this building, everyone really appreciates the work that Phil does, a true professional, an outstanding coach, and it’s really nice to see that recognized on a national level.
Vols emergency personnel arrive on campus, plan to participate in bocce ball practice Go Vols247 takes a look at players in Tennessee’s 2024 class who plan to participate in some Vols bowl practices
Tennessee received 19 commitments for the 2024 class, led by two five-star prospects, wide receiver Mike Matthews of Lilburn, Georgia, and edge rusher Jordan Ross of Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
Matthews and many other players in the Vols class have already arrived in Knoxville to get an early start on their college careers.The majority of Tennessee’s current commits plan to join the Vols in January as early enrollees.
Most of them are expected to be on campus this weekend or plan to join the team in Orlando, Fla., later this month to participate in some Vols practices in January. 1 Citrus Bowl vs. Iowa.
Additionally, they will finalize their college decisions before Wednesday – the first day of the early signing period – and will not have to sign National Letters of Intent to affiliate with Tennessee.
Most, if not all, of the players participating in bowl practices on campus also plan to travel with the team to Florida for Tennessee’s local workouts later this month, the Vols’ game against the Hawkeyes, also if the newcomers will not be. capable of playing in the Tennessee bowl game.
Tennessee’s 2024 recruiting class is currently ranked 14th nationally and eighth in the SEC — with newcomers Texas and Oklahoma both ahead of the Vols — in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite team rankings.
Matthews and Ross remain the stars of the Vols class, but they also have 11 other commitments who are currently four-stars in the 247Sports Composite, including seven other Top247 prospects. Here’s a look at the Tennessee commits who plan to practice with the Vols this month.
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The latest news on 2024 hiring in Northern California and the Northwest The latest news on 2024 hiring in Northern California and the Northwest
The Class of 2024 from Northwest and Northern California is strong once again and the region is loaded with elite talent. And even though the majority of countries in the region have made their commitments, a large handful have not yet made commitments.
Two of Idaho’s top four prospects have opened their recruitment after coaching changes and are on the market, one of Washington’s top ten candidates has opened their recruitment, Northern California’s two top defensive prospects have not unsigned and two other recruits are at Oregon.
Pac-12 offers came in and they weighed their options. With the early signing deadline still a week away, 247Sports takes a closer look at prospects from the Northwest and Northern California who are still considering all options.
To read this full article and more, subscribe now –DEAL: 50% Off Annual VIPGet access to this article and all of 247Sports Network’s in-depth coverage with this special offer.
