Alternative jerseys for Minnesota game are happening

IOWA CITY — A video the Hawkeyes released Monday morning confirmed the hint head coach Kirk Ferentz dropped during Big Ten media days last month.

The Hawkeyes will wear an alternative uniform for their Nov. 14 game against Minnesota. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. and has been designated by the school as a 'blackout,' meaning it's asking fans to wear black.

That might be a hint to what the uniforms will look like.

'Creative minds in this organization came up with an alternative uniform,' Ferentz says during a team meeting in the video. 'What we're going to do is give you guys a little sneak peek at that today.'

The video was shown, but very little was revealed. Ferentz told reporters Monday that the public will get the same glimpse later this week.

'It's a new era, a new mileniumm and all that stuff,' Ferentz said. 'We had some sharp young guys think of some stuff and come up with some ideas. We did a little unveiling with our players yesterday. It was well received, although they don't know a lot and the public will know as much as they know probably by the end of the week.'

To say that Ferentz, 60, seems reserved on this uniform stuff is putting it mildly. From April 2014, here's Brian Ferentz, Kirk's son and Iowa's O-line coach on the possibility of Nike Pro Combat uniforms.

'Alternate uniforms, that's not really in his (Kirk Ferentz's) personality, either,' Brian Ferentz said. 'I've seen his closet. And I can say that because I'm his son. I think what we learn is those things have no bearing on winning and losing — what you wear, what you don't wear.'

Minds change. Maybe glacially, but eventually.

'It's amazing to me what interests people,' Kirk Ferentz said with a smirk Monday. 'It's a great life. If everyone's happy, I'm happy.'

Ferentz was immediately asked about running back in the next question.

'That would make me happy,' he said. 'If we run the ball better, that would make me really happy, more so than a uniform.'

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