IOWA CITY — Iowa soccer gamers gained’t have time to feast on crab truffles, catch an Orioles sport or tour the close by White Home. However Friday’s matchup at Maryland will in any other case have a bowl-trip really feel for the fifth-ranked Hawkeyes.
Like a bowl sport, that is anticipated to be a decent one on the scoreboard (Iowa is a 3½-point favourite) that includes groups with related data (each are 4-0).
Like a bowl matchup, the Hawkeyes and Terrapins lack familiarity. They’ve met simply as soon as since 2015, and that was a forgettable 2018 sport wherein Maryland had 47 passing yards in a windy 23-0 loss in Iowa Metropolis. Now, the Terps are among the most prolific passing teams in the country.
Like a bowl, this sport has a nationwide TV highlight. It is the one Friday matchup involving Energy 5 groups. School soccer diehards will tune into Fox Sports activities 1 (at 7 p.m. CT) to see if the No. 5 within the nation will go down.
And for as a lot stability because the Hawkeye program enjoys, this sport can be a novelty for the teaching workers. Six of Iowa’s 10 on-field assistants have not coached a sport in School Park, Maryland.
Moreover, Capital One Area at Maryland Stadium (I needed to search for the identify) is one in every of two within the Large Ten — Ohio State is the opposite — that Twenty third-year head coach Kirk Ferentz hasn’t skilled victory. Granted, Ferentz has had just one crack at “The Shell,” and that was a 38-31 loss to a Randy Edsall-coached squad in 2014. That was Maryland’s first yr within the Large Ten Convention, and it had a receiver named Stefon Diggs make 9 catches for 130 yards that Saturday.
“They don’t seem to be new to the Large Ten per se, however they’re new to us as a result of we have solely been there as soon as,” Ferentz mentioned Tuesday. “It’s completely different. It truly is completely different, identical to touring to Rutgers (in 2016) was completely different.”
So … what to anticipate?
“I do not know,” mentioned center linebacker Jack Campbell, one in every of absolutely dozens of Hawkeyes which have by no means been to the Washington, D.C. space. “It’s going to be all new to me. However I’m wanting ahead to experiencing the lodge and bus experience to the stadium.”
That unintentionally hilarious finish to Campbell’s quote is considerably telling.
As a result of the lodge and bus are the one pregame sights these Hawkeye gamers will get pleasure from on what quantities to a short enterprise journey. Ferentz joked that the journey out East is hardly taxing — a direct one-hour, 45-minute flight with a crew shuttle to their lodge — versus his early-Nineties time as Maine’s head coach when he recalled an eight-hour bus experience to Rutgers and flight “with 4 stops” on the way in which to a highway sport at Hawaii.
For Iowa gamers to turn out to be comfy in what might be an uncomfortable or unknown setting, they’ll depend on a number of issues they do know.
Since switching to morning practices in 2015, Iowa is 7-0 in regular-season Friday video games.
That, after all, features a six-game profitable streak towards Nebraska within the annual Black Friday custom. Plus, Iowa went on the highway in Week 4 final season and dominated Minnesota, 35-7, below the Friday-night lights.
Ferentz decided that one of many many advantages of switching the crew’s off day from Monday (earlier than 2015) to Thursday (ever since) was a rise in urgency to sport preparations. That has paid off on the Nebraska weeks.
On these brief weeks, Iowa’s off day will get moved from Thursday to Saturday. Plus, there are accelerated psychological preparations and a mindfulness that gamers’ our bodies have had much less time than standard to get better from the newest sport.
“A variety of what we do, which is good, is towards finish of the week we hold it extra psychological than bodily,” quarterback Spencer Petras mentioned. “Which is massive, as a result of it is advisable to be recent for the sport.”
The Hawkeyes efficiently conquered their first highway take a look at, at Iowa State.
It could be hard-pressed to high that setting in Ames, when 60,000-plus at Jack Trice Stadium have been vehemently cheering towards the Hawkeyes. Iowa struggled within the first quarter then pulled out a road win against a (then) top-10 opponent. Replicating that perseverance is the plan Friday.
“I think about the setting we have been in a pair weeks in the past is as powerful as it should get,” Ferentz mentioned. “We anticipate this to be the identical manner.”
Maryland’s stadium caps out at 51,802 (an identical capability to Minnesota’s), however there’s renewed pleasure for the Terrapins, who’re attempting to start out a season 5-0 for the primary time since 2001. It’s a “blackout” sport for Maryland followers. (As a counter, a passionate legion of Iowa followers attending the sport are urging their supporters to put on gold.)
“We’re not going to be in uncomfortable waters on the market,” free security Jack Koerner mentioned confidently. “We all know what we’re going out to do. Simply block out the noise and play a soccer sport.”
They’re prepared for Maryland’s (and everybody’s) greatest shot.
That lesson was felt in a hard-fought 24-14 win towards Colorado State. The Hawkeyes actually have been awakened by halftime of that game that they can not play below-average soccer and anticipate to win simply because there is a No. 5 subsequent to their identify.
Iowa’s 17-0 stranglehold of the Rams within the second half was a constructive response.
“We’re going to enter each week anticipating one of the best from every crew. That’s the worth of being such a extremely ranked crew,” operating again Tyler Goodson mentioned. “We’re going to arrange for each sport like they’re higher than us. That’s our mentality.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has coated sports activities for 26 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and Iowa Metropolis Press-Citizen. Comply with @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports activities/school/columnists/chad-leistikow/2021/09/29/why-iowa-football-hawkeyes-matchup-maryland-terrapins-bowl-game-vibe-coach-kirk-ferentz/5865854001/ | Why Iowa soccer’s matchup at Maryland has a bowl-game vibe