On the interior, the changes made over the past week is more than many fans would ever think to see in a 40-year time span. Between morale, expression and unity, Iowa football is in a very different place than it was on Thursday, June 4th.

At Friday’s press conference outside the Hansen Football Complex, the word “change” was used again and again and again, but it was used for all the right reasons. Flanked by sophomore safety Kaevon Merriweather, junior running back Ivory Kelly-Martin and senior kicker Keith Duncan, Kirk Ferentz delivered an update on the state of the program.

“We spent Monday in meetings, instead of a workout. The players did most of the talking: it was raw, it was powerful and productive,” Ferentz said. “Everything was on the table, it got somewhat heated and somewhat emotional at times, and I think that’s good.”

The meetings on Monday came after the suspension of strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle, amid allegations that Doyle made racist and belittling comments to black student-athletes. Ferentz did not give a comment on Doyle in fairness to the ongoing investigation.

Many have called on Ferentz to take blame for what happened in his program, and he did so at Friday’s press conference.

“I’m responsible for anything that happens here, that’s my accountability and that’s my responsibility as head coach,” Ferentz said. “So anything that happens to be a failure lands on my desk.”

Another big topic was the nature of the tweet sent out by Kaevon Merriweather on Monday.

When asked about the nature of the tweet, Merriweather went into further explanation.

“The tweet was about the Iowa community, we wanted to let them know that our team is together as one and we expect our fans to be their with us every step of the way,” Merriweather said.

The tweet did result in some backlash as it appeared Merriweather indicated that the team would be kneeling for the national anthem this fall in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

While Merriweather clarified that the team had not made a decision on that matter, Kirk Ferentz said that the idea was not “hypothetical” and that while the team had not officially decided on it, it looks very like that the team will kneel for the national anthem this fall.

As for senior kicker Keith Duncan, as optimistic as he was about the future, he stated that not all of the blame was on the coaches for what had happened in the Iowa program.

“I would take complete blame as players, because a majority of the people in the building are players,” Duncan said. “We need to speak up more, if we see something, I would never put all the blame on Coach Ferentz, he is not able to see all these things, we see everything.”

While Duncan did take some of the blame as a leader, he stated that the unity of the team never wavered.

“I think the unity was always there, I think it was the communication was something that we could improve on,” Duncan said. “We’re a very tight group: players, coaches, it’s a family, it really is. I’m very excited to be on the team, we’re all excited to push forward and see what we can do.”

One of the many allegations made against the atmosphere in the Iowa program was that black student athletes felt like they were “walking on eggshells” whenever they were in the facility, junior running back Ivory Kelly-Martin went further in detail.

“Yes, it felt like that, it was an atmosphere where you did have to look out and watch your back and just had to be on your toes at times,” Kelly-Martin said. “But throughout this week there have been so many conversations had about change and these last couple days in the weight room and on the field, we can see a clear difference between how it is now and how it was before.”

The college football world has kept a keen eye on what’s happened in Iowa City over the last seven days, ideas split among those across the country whether this is something Kirk Ferentz should lose his job over. But, in a conversation with a new player, Ferentz stated that thought is not what’s in his player’s heads.

“I was talking to one of our new players this week, told him it was certainly a tough time to join the program coming in,” Ferentz said. “I was encouraged by his response, he said ‘Coach, I’m excited to be here, and we have a chance to set the bar for college football.'”

The word “change” has never had a bigger meaning for Iowa football than it does right now.

The post Press Conference Recap: “Change” more prevalent than ever in Iowa football appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Keith Duncan’s 33-yard field goal as time expired lifted Iowa to a thrilling 14-13 upset victory over #3 Michigan (9-1, 6-1) as the Iowa faithful stormed the field to celebrate the team’s first home win over a ranked opponent since they beat Michigan 37-6 in 2010.

“It was an incredible feeling kicking that in front of 70,000 fans,” said the freshman kicker following his first career game-winner. “I can’t even speak right now.”

The kick sent Kinnick Stadium into an all out frenzy, and it sent Michigan back to the pink visitor’s locker room (that they decorated maize and navy before the game) with their first loss of the season.

“We didn’t make enough plays to extend drives and convert first downs,” said Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. “Give Iowa credit, they tackled, they blocked, they played a really good football game.”

The Iowa defense certainly brought their A-game as they went up against one of the most efficient offenses in the country. The Hawkeyes kept the Wolverines 35 points below their season average, 296 yards below their season average, and held them to 77 total yards in the second half.

“We put our minds to it before the game,” said cornerback Desmond King. “We knew we had an opportunity (to win) coming into this game and you have to be ready.”

Arguably the most important play of the game came with just over six minutes remaining in the second quarter when Jaleel Johnson recorded a safety after dropping Michigan running back De’Veon Smith for a two-yard loss in his own end zone. The play was set up by a booming 54-yard punt by Ron Coluzzi, which pinned Michigan at their own 1-yard line. The Wolverines only managed three points the remainder of the game following that play.

“That definitely gave our team momentum,” said Johnson after the game. “It kind of gave our offense some juice to go out there and perform at their best.”

That’s exactly what the offense did. Just a couple possessions later, the Hawkeyes capped off their most impressive drive of the game with an Akrum Wadley touchdown reception that made the score 10-8 after a failed two-point conversion.

Wadley proved to be the team’s most dynamic player yet again as he led the team with 115 net yards on the ground and 52 receiving yards.

“I guess I had the hot hand today,” said Wadley following his performance. “We needed this really bad for ourselves and for our fans.”

“He came up with a lot of big plays,” said Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz of Wadley. “I think he really rose to the occasion and did a great job for us.”

History repeated itself in a weird way as the game played out, and it all worked out in the Hawkeyes’ favor. In 1985, the #1 ranked Hawkeyes defeated #2 Michigan at Kinnick Stadium on a game-winning field goal as time expired. The Michigan quarterback for that game? Current head coach Jim Harbaugh. While that stat is intriguing for fans, the players thought nothing of it. They were only worried about the task at hand.

“The only time I saw (that stat) was today watching Penn State-Indiana,” said quarterback C.J. Beathard. “The Aflac Trivia question was ‘When was the last time Iowa beat a number one or two ranked team?’ and it was 1985.”

While Beathard and his teammates weren’t worried about the past, it’s possible that one of the guys on the team knew what was coming up in the future. Apparently in a conversation earlier in the week between Beathard and linebacker Josey Jewell, the senior defensive captain had a good idea of what it would take for Iowa to pull off the upset.

“Josey told me ‘We’re ready to go. Give us 14 points and we’ll win the game,’” said Beathard. “It just happened to be that exact thing.”

“I believed it,” said Jewell of his prediction after the 14-13 victory. “We trusted in ourselves and trusted in everybody else around us, and if we did our jobs I thought we could play a good enough game.”

Even though the season hasn’t gone as planned for the Hawkeyes, a signature win on national television against a solid Michigan team might just be exactly what they needed as they try to finish out the regular season on a good note.

The Hawkeyes (6-4, 4-3) are back in action Saturday November 19^th as they travel to Champaign to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini (3-7, 2-5) at 11 a.m. on BTN and KRUI Sports 89.7 fm.

The post Hawkeyes Upset Wolverines Thanks to Last-Second Field Goal appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said about the moment, “To have 70,000 of our best friends with us, that was fantastic.”

It was a great night for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and a fantastic night for one Hawkeye in particular, Akrum Wadley. The junior has often been plagued with ball security issues which has led Ferentz to often not trust him in big game situations, that was different last night as he came up with a couple of big plays at the end of the game.

Wadley was visibly giddy during his post-game interview saying how much it meant to him that Ferentz trusted him with the game on the line. “(Ferentz) hugged me! It felt good.”

This game was much needed for Wadley who struggled in his past two games, combining for just 72 yards in those games. Last night Wadley rushed for 116 yards and made the opposing players look foolish while doing it. “Akrum is a slippery guy,” said Ferentz.

While Wadley gave credit to the offensive line for his improvement, he did a lot of the work himself, rushing for 54 yards after contact, and against this Michigan defense, that is no small feat.

Wadley also came up big in the passing game. He had 5 receptions for 52 yards and also had Iowa’s lone touchdown off a screen pass near the end of the half. This is even more impressive when you look at the rest of the passing game, that combined for just 14 yards on 3 receptions. This is nothing new for him as he has tied or lead the team in receptions in each of the last three games (17 catches, 156 yards, two touchdowns).

Wadley was the Iowa offense last night accounting for 168 of Iowa’s 230 offensive yards. Iowa hopes that Wadley can continue to play like this for the rest of this year and next year, too.

“This is a great feeling,” Wadley said about the game. “This will probably top (the Big Ten Championship game).”

Akrum Wadley and the Hawkeyes will try to ride the momentum into Champaign as they take on Illinois next week at 11am.

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