Iowa’s offseason had no shortage of storylines — especially when it came to the offensive side of the football. Spearheading that were wonky amendments made to Brian Ferentz’s contract.

And so came Big Ten Football Media Days last week. Kirk Ferentz sitting at his assigned breakout podium, and 45 minutes of fielding questions from various members of the local and national media. On cue, a reporter asked if Brian’s contract would be an issue.

Ferentz responded — armed with what felt like a pre-mediated rebuttal to any argument or ask that came his way.

“It’s on record, and it’s nothing to worry about,” Ferentz said.

Even he admitted about his unit that finished second to last in total offense, as he did back in February, that “none of us are running from last year. We were not good offensively.”

And then came this response:

“If you go back from 2020 on, we’ve had some pretty good offensive football teams. I’ll give you some trivia since you want to go down that road,” Ferentz said. “In ’21 our numbers were almost identical to ’09 — and that year we won the Orange Bowl. There were no complaints after that season, I thi.k we were feeling pretty good.”

Ferentz’s average over the course of his career is 26.3 PPG.

A brief look at the numbers proves Ferentz’ point: Iowa’s points on a per-game basis were nearly identical. In fact the Hawkeyes averaged 23.4 points per game in 2021, and 23.2 points per game in 2009. Of course, Iowa finished seventh in the AP poll after beating Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

“It’s all perspective and how you look at things,” Ferentz said. “Part of my job is to look at those things and be knowledgeable. In ’89 we were 5-6 and we were in the Rose Bowl next year. The goal is always trying to improve on any staff I’ve been on whether with Coach [Hayden] Fry, Coach [Bill] Belichick or Coach [Ted] Marchibroda.”

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