No, Kirk Ferentz didn't talk smack about Nebraska football

Don't get me wrong, I love me a good Nebraska football-Iowa Hawkeyes rivalry. I deeply, deeply dislike the team across the river. I thoroughly enjoy watching them get beat every chance I can get. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the Huskers' season-ending loss.

However, what some Nebraska football fans are doing in the wake of the Early National Signing day is just a little weird. A video has begun floating around the internet is which Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz talks about his 2024 class and how it has been almost entirely locked in since earlier this summer.

in particular, Ferentz is asked about whether he thought the 2024 cycle was going to be as drama free as it has been. His response is what some Husker fans are taking quite personally.

"This morning I had the college station on (he talked earlier about always listening to an NFL or college football station at work) and heard about all the drama and you know, stuff going on and guys waffling," He started his response. "I guess we don't really live in that world, haven't had much of that for quite some time, typically ... it doesn't make it right or wrong ... the way we recruit, we uncover guys that we feel good about... typically if they commit, we ask them 'don't commit if you really don't mean it.'"

It was his next comments that have Nebraska football fans believing he was taking a shot at either Dylan Raiola, the Huskers or both.

"It would be a concern for me, not a deal breaker but a concern if any of our coaches come in and start talking about a guy that has been to three high schools in three years," he continued. "Those kinds of things are things you really need to get answers for, I think."

Nebraska football fans need to realize Dylan Raiola isn't the only one who fits that bill

While it's not hard to see where NU fans took that to mean that Ferentz was talking about Raiola, it's worth pointing out that changing high schools is far more the norm than people seem to realize. The Nebraska football team's 5-star flip is far from the only guy that has done what he did. The way you can tell is that when he did it, there weren't all that many headlines, or outcries about it.

What's more annoying than the people who came about conclusion that Ferentz was taking a shot at the Cornhuskers QB is that it appears most of the outrage was formented by one account who retweeted the clip and used an extremely misleading caption to lure people in:

Nebraska football wasn't bashed by Kirk Ferentz

There has since been pushback. John Bishop of 1620 The Zone was among those who found the anger at the Iowa coach more than a little overblown.

"So, I saw this clip being shared around as if something scandalous was being said," he started his tweet. "No mention of any players or schools by name, talking only about his recruiting philosophy, not casting aspersions on any school or player. There is literally NOTHING to read into any of it."

247Sports' Mike Schaefer took the angle that the comments that Ferentz made were not only not about Nebraska football but were really just common sense.

"Does the family move because of jobs? Has the player been kicked out of those schools? How do the people feel about the player after he’s left? If you’re not asking those kinds of questions you’re not vetting and that leads to problems," he wrote on X. "It’s nuanced."

The bottom line is that there are a lot of reasons to dislike Kirk Ferentz if you're a Nebraska football fan. I certainly do. He's a grumpy, awkward old man who held a football program hostage by hiring and then refusing to fire his incompetent kid. (Granted the Huskers should have taken advantage of that more)

Nebraska football has better things to worry about. Like actually beating Iowa next year.