Mutual respect and a defensive slugfest define Saturday’s matchup of veteran head coaches

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Michigan is off to a 3-0 start to the season, with three games that took vastly different forms: a last-second scare against a MAC team, a defensive slugfest with a highly-ranked Oklahoma squad, and a rain-soaked blowout against an inferior opponent.

Less than a month into the season, one might say the Wolverines have seen it all, but this weekend’s matchup against Iowa will pit two head coaches against each other who literally have seen it all.

Kirk Ferentz, currently the longest-tenured coach in FBS, is in his 28th season at Iowa, while Kyle Whittingham had been one of the longest-tenured coaches until this season, banking 21 seasons at Utah before stepping down in December. Between the two of them, they’ve combined for 401 wins since Ferentz’s first year at Iowa in 1999. And even if they’ve never been competing for national titles or considered blue bloods in the sport, you don’t win that much or stick around this long by accident.

What’s contributed to that success is a formula that’s been roughly similar for both the Iowa and Utah programs for years now: dominant defense, great special teams, discipline, fundamentals, and an old-school unsexy offense.

“(Iowa) knows how they want to win. They’ve got the blueprint. I think the consistency year after year and the continuity year after year is what allows you to have a lengthy career like (Ferentz’s) had,” Whittingham said of Kirk Ferentz on Monday. “He’s just done it the right way for a lot of years.”

Although it’s a new adversary on the sidelines for Ferentz, he’s familiar with the work that Whittingham has done from afar and can see the similarities already between his Utah and Michigan teams.

“I have a long-time respect for Coach Whittingham. Finally got to meet him last May, but I’ve admired their work going back probably 15-plus years. At Utah, a really good program. Some really impressive football over the years. You can see those fingerprints certainly being put on Michigan’s program right now.

Offensively, that’s really where most of their DNA goes to Utah, and then defensively, (former BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill) joined their staff, and BYU is another great program. They’ve played good defense, and certainly we’re seeing a lot of the carryover from what they did there,” Ferentz told reporters on Tuesday.

The “blueprint” Whittingham speaks of isn’t something that fans of either team will see change this week. The defenses for both sides have stood out, especially Iowa’s, which has already recorded shutouts in two games this season.

Many fans on both sides and even those participating in the game are already gearing up for Saturday’s matchup to be pretty low-scoring, something that should make field position, special teams, and capitalizing on turnovers a big deal.

“That’s how (Iowa) would like it. I think that’s their M.O. They need to shorten the game and beat you with defense and win it at the end,” Whittingham said. “That’s kind of how they’ve done it, in my estimation, for a lot of years.”

What happens on the offensive side of the ball is a bit more of a mystery, though. Obviously, the strength and levels of execution of the defenses will have a big say, but both offenses to this point are still something of a mystery.

Iowa has maybe found something with quarterback Hank Brown, wide receiver Tony Diaz, and a stable of running backs. Ferentz even admitted he believes his team has “a little more octane” than it has in previous years, but hasn’t shown the same production against Power Four opponents, scoring just 16 points in the Cy-Hawk game in Week 2. It’s been a similar story for Michigan, whose 52 points against UTEP have been an outlier thus far.

Michigan’s passing attack did take a step forward in its most recent game, with Andrew Marsh and JJ Buchanan both being focal points of the game plan, something that Michigan is hoping can continue to emerge as a strength going forward.

“The more you can stretch the defense, the more it loosens up the box. That helps your cause right there. But you’ve got to play to your strengths as well,” Whittingham said. “Right now I think that Jason (Beck) is tailoring the throw game to the strengths of Andrew and JJ. . .We’ll just continue to see how things evolve.”

Ever since Week 1’s debacle against Western Michigan, the Wolverines have been able to show some signs of progress on the offensive side of the ball. Against Oklahoma, it was the quarterback run game, while against UTEP it was getting the ball to the perimeter threats.

This weekend will offer yet another challenge, facing off against a defense that always plays leaps and bounds above its talent level. The fact that it’s now in Big Ten play gives Whittingham a proper welcome to the conference he’s only seen from afar and will give his team a new kind of challenge to conquer.

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