Kirk Ferentz addresses challenge of Tennessee's up-tempo pace

Iowa is going to see a whole other kind of offense than they’ve been used to in the Big Ten when they match up with Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. It’s not a scheme that they’re familiar with but one that they’ll need to prepare themselves for according to Kirk Ferentz.

Ferentz shared some thoughts on the Volunteer offense during an opening press conference for the Citrus Bowl. He noted that they haven’t crossed paths before. Still, he’s well aware of what their team is doing offensively under the direction of Josh Heupel.

“We certainly haven’t seen them this year,” said Ferentz. “I know the work that Josh has done, both, obviously, at Tennessee and then Central (Florida) before that. Just outstanding.”

However, the Hawkeyes have actually been able to see a little of Tennessee on film the last two years. They watched them in preparation for Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl and the Music City Bowl. He also is glad to have almost four weeks to go over that footage, along with the clips from this season, in order to scout them out.

“We saw Tennessee the last two years against Kentucky,” Ferentz explained. “We played Kentucky (in bowls) for two straight years. So we do have some familiarity but certainly weren’t looking at them from a game plan standpoint.”

“The nice thing about playing on January 1st as well is there’s plenty of time to look at them.”

Offenses under Heupel move as fast as any unit in the nation. Over his six seasons as a head coach, Heupel’s teams in Orlando and Knoxville have averaged 78.8 plays per game. That has led to them to accumulating an average of 514.6 yards a contest.

This season’s group is technically the slowest and least explosive of those six offenses. Still, at nearly 69 yards per play for over 450 yards of offense, they’re a unit that could and should still cause quite the change of pace for Iowa.

Tennessee has been putting up numbers on almost every opponent over the last three seasons with trio of offenses that have scored over an average of 30 points per game. Now, they’re the next and final test for this top-five Hawkeye defense when they meet them in Orlando at the start of the new year.

“Just a really good program,” said Ferentz. “It’s going to be a challenge for us. We know that.”