'That's hard to do': Iowa's Kirk Ferentz praises running back room amid milestone

Kirk Ferentz has been coaching the Iowa Hawkeyes for a long time.

In fact, he's the longest-tenured head coach in college football by a country mile. He's been at the helm of the Hawkeyes since 1999. When he signed his first contract in Iowa City, the No. 1 song in the country was "Smooth" by Santana and Rob Thomas. The highest-grossing movie worldwide was "Armageddon". Bill Clinton was the President of the United States.

The point is, Ferentz has been doing this thing at Iowa for a while, to say the least, but he thinks he may have seen a first for the Hawkeyes here in 2026.

No. 19 Iowa beat the Northwestern Wildcats, 24-10, in Week 10 and senior running back L.J. Phillips Jr. rushed for 128 yards.

That's an impressive day, but it's far from the only impressive day a Hawkeye running back has had this season. In fact, with Phillips eclipsing 100 yards, five running backs have now rushed for 100-plus yards in a game this season for Iowa.

He joins Kamari Moulton (183 vs. NIU and 208 vs. Washington), Xavier Williams (151 vs. UNI), Braeden Jackson (125 vs. UNI) and Nathan McNeil (111 vs. UNI) in the 100-plus club this season.

"I don't think I've ever been involved in a season where you have five backs that have had 100-yard gains," Ferentz told the media on Tuesday. "That's hard to do."

Iowa has a history of producing great running backs in the Kirk Ferentz era 

That's such a hard feat to accomplish that there are no other recorded seasons like this in the history of college football.

It's fitting this happened at Iowa, too. Alabama, Wisconsin, Georgia and LSU often get mentioned in the "RBU" conversation, for good reason. 

Iowa deserves to be in that category as well, though.

The Hawkeyes in the Ferentz era have become well-known for their ability to develop tight ends and offensive linemen, but some great running backs have come through Iowa City since 1999.

That's a list that includes Shonn Greene, Ladell Betts, Fred Russell and more recently, Kaleb Johnson.

Moulton, a senior, leads all Iowa running backs this season with 86 carries for 541 yards and four touchdowns.