October 23, 2004. 108,000 fans packing Beaver Stadium on a 55-degree day. Iowa at Penn State — a game that finished with a final score that resembled an August baseball game: 6-4.
It was the lowest score of any football game since 1957, and was eventually topped four years later by a 3-2 Auburn win over Mississippi State.
Wind, rain and great defense. Iowa rushed 40 times for 42 yards, Penn State 29 for 52. 315 yards of total offense, seven combined turnovers. Ten total points on two field goals and two safeties.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz touched on the subject of winning ugly after a question related to Brian Ferentz’s contract.
“I could probably get fired for this, but one of my favorite all-time wins here was 6-4 at Penn State,” Ferentz said on Tuesday.
“That was the best way to win that day and taking the safety. I had a feeling like they weren’t going to move the ball on us, and they threw it right back to us after the punt there coming off the 20.”
“You try to figure out what’s going on that day, and you play to that end.”
“Then I think probably the most important step, if you want to rank coordinators, would be wins per coordinator, like how many wins does this guy average when he’s the coordinator.”
“I’m trying to think, I’ve been around five coordinators here, if you include assistant, and three defensive coordinators during my 34 years. Those guys all had pretty good numbers in terms of the amount of wins they were involved in as coordinators.”
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