Iowa football: How Kirk Ferentz became New Kirk in 2018

The Iowa football is off to a blistering 5-1 start to begin the college football season in large part because a new Kirk Ferentz is embracing risk.

Picture this, the Iowa football team is driving down the field with a 7-3 lead in a Big Ten conference game, but the offense suddenly stalls out in the opposing teams territory. It’s 4th and 2 from the 30 and you have senior kicker Miguel Recinos who has hit a respectable 78.2% of his field goals over the last two seasons with the Iowa football team. Old Kirk Ferentz takes the easy three points on the 47-yard field goal, but in 2018 we have New Kirk.

New Kirk takes the gamble and hands the ball to his sophomore running back from Iowa Western Community College Mekhi Sargent. This exact scenario played out Saturday when the Iowa football team took on the Indiana Hoosiers. The result was a 2-yard run for a first down. Three plays later quarterback Nate Stanley would hit preseason All-American tight end Noah Fant for a 28-yard touchdown pass. That risk resulted in an additional four points.

Now imagine the Iowa football is driving down the field in another Big Ten conference game and the offense stalls out late in the second quarter with 14-7 lead. It’s fourth down from the opposing team’s 4-yard line. Old Kirk takes the three points and relies on his historically stout defense to close out the half up 17-7.

New Kirk runs a trick play that results in a 4-yard touchdown run by tight end TJ Hockenson. This put the Hawkeyes up 21-7 against long-time rival Minnesota. Again, the risk resulted in an additional four points for the Iowa football program.

In the past five seasons, the Iowa football program has averaged 1.43 4th down attempts per game. This season that number is now 1.83 and the Hawks are converting 63.6% clip which is good for 31st in the nation.

Not only is Kirk Ferentz taking risk at a historically significant rate, but he has the Iowa football team putting points on the board like we’ve never seen before. No longer do the Hawks get a lead and begin running the ball over and over again to run down the clock. No, they do what most college football teams (outside of Iowa) have done this century.

They rev the engine and step down harder on the gas. Against Indiana, up 35 to 16, Kirk’s son Brian had Stanley throw the ball seven times and only had him hand the ball off three times. The end result was Stanley’s sixth touchdown pass of the game. Iowa is not just winning, they are blowing teams out now, and it’s got fans hyped. #NewKirk has quite the following on Twitter.

One of the things I love about the Iowa football program is the tradition, history, and culture that is embedded within this program. That being said, I sure do love when history changes for the better. New Kirk has Iowa fans excited everywhere.