There is no coach in college football that has been with their program longer than Kirk Ferentz has been with Iowa. Ferentz has been with Iowa longer than most of the players on his roster have been alive. Ferentz took the head coaching job at Iowa back in 1999 and now 25 years later is locked in with the Hawkeyes till 2029, 30 years after taking the job.
Ferentz has done a lot at Iowa and had a good amount of success, but it hasn't all been happy and cheery in Iowa City. This year, Iowa fans have gone wild on social media, calling for Ferentz to be fired for numerous reasons. They want Ferentz gone because of his choice of who to play, his inability to hand the offensive reigns fully over to offensive coordinator Tim Lester, and losing games that the team is capable of winning due to his coaching decisions.
Fans got their loudest after the Hawkeyes lost to Ohio State due to Ferentz being too stubborn to pull quarterback Cade McNamara after he had three turnovers that made a 7-0 game completely out of reach. Then Iowa went and manhandled Washington at home in Kinnick Stadium, and the "Fire Ferentz" cries began to die down. Now, after an embarrassing loss to Michigan State, fans are back on their regularly scheduled program.
This Northwestern game now suddenly feels a lot bigger than it should. The Iowa Hawkeyes have historically dominated Northwestern with a series record of 53-26-3, also winning their last three meetings.
Right now in the Big Ten, Northwestern is sitting near the bottom of the conference at 3-4 and 1-3 in conference play. The Wildcats have the worst offense in the Big Ten, averaging 286.6 yards per game and 19.0 points per game. Northwestern also has one of the lesser defenses in the conference, allowing an average of 350.1 yards per game to opponents and 19.6 points per game to opponents.
Iowa is a 14.5-point favorite in this game, so clearly, the oddsmakers believe they can win big. However, the Hawkeyes were a solid favorite against Michigan State, and they ended up losing big.
If the Hawkeyes lose this game, they will drop to 4-4 on the season and will only have four more chances to become bowl-eligible. A loss to Northwestern could force the university to truly consider letting Ferentz out of his contract early. Unfortunately, Ferentz has a hefty buyout of $42 million and it is no wonder why Iowa isn't rushing to let Ferentz go.