Iowa 30, LSU 25
Capital One Bowl
January 1, 2005
Orlando, FL
This is the only bowl game on the list, and there’s a reason for that. With the exception of the big one, bowl games are little more than exhibition games designed to extend the college football season and give us all something to watch when the NFL isn’t on. This year, there were 35 bowl games, the majority of which will be all but forgotten by all but the most rabid fans of the teams who participated. Every now and then, however, two good teams hook up in a neutral site in late December / early January, and treat us to a game that folks will remember. The 2005 Capital One Bowl was one of those games.
New Years Day is when all the trash talking between the Big 10 and the SEC takes a day off so the teams can settle things on the field. I was not a big Nick Saban fan (still am not), so there was a houseful of heartbroken Hawkeye fans (including my aunt and uncle) when LSU scored late in the 4th quarter to take a 25-24 lead. As the seconds melted off the clock in the game’s final minute, I was furious at the Hawks’ clock mis-management, and as the Hawks lined up for what I figured to be the game’s final play, I was terrified at the prospect of the game ending with 2 Iowa timeouts left on the board.
Eleven…ten…nine….
Quarterback Drew Tate took the snap and 5 Hawkeye receivers streaked downfield. Darting between LSU pass rushers, Tate set his feet and spotted Warren Holloway, a senior with 29 career catches and no TDs who somehow managed to get behind the LSU prevent defense, and let it fly, and even then, I was asking myself “Why didn’t Ferentz use a timeout earlier in the drive?”.
Six….five…four….
Almost as if he had done this 20-30 times in the previous 4 years, Holloway snatched the ball out of the air at the 15, and outran 2 LSU defenders to the end zone. Touchdown Iowa, clock reads :00, HAWKS WIN, and a guy named Warren whom moments ago I had never heard of was the hero of the game!
What was LSU defense thinking letting a receiver get between them and the end zone? Here it is years later, and fans of both teams still ask that question, but as the Hawks lined up to kneel down for the point after touchdown they did not need, we didn’t care. The Hawks had beaten LSU, the Big 10 had beaten the SEC, and our little house in Minnesota was literally shaking as we jumped up and down and screamed the Iowa Fight Song.
Iowa 81, Georgetown 80March 16, 1980
NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament, East Regional Final
The Spectrum, Philadelphia PA
The “Fabulous Few” earned an improbable Final Four trip to Indianapolis, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit, making 17 of their final 21 shots and going 15-15 from the free-throw line. The winner was Steve Waite's 3-point play in the closing seconds.
The Hawkeyes’ spectacular play throughout the 1979-80 season in spite of injuries to key players (including star point guard Ronnie Lester, who missed 15 regular season games that year) helped them earn the nickname “The Fabulous Few”. Without Lester and freshman Mark Gannon, who was lost for the season in a game at Michigan, Coach Lute Olsen usually went with 6 guys: sharpshooting swingman Vince Brookins (#32), “twin towers” Waite (52) and Steve Krafcisin (54), defender extraordinaire Kevin Boyle (40), freshman Bobby Hansen (24), and backup point guard Kenny Arnold (30).
The Hawks started the season with 10 straight wins and a top 10 national ranking, but struggled with injuries to finish 5th in the Big 10 with a 10-8 record. Seeded #5 in the East Regional, they disposed of Virginia Commonwealth, North Carolina State and top seed Syracuse to get to the Regional Final.
As a young Hawkeye fan, the 1980 Tournament was my first real taste of March Madness, perhaps before they even started calling it March Madness, and for a couple of weekends in March some 30 years ago, the Hawks were indeed fabulous, and I fell in love with Iowa Basketball watching them with my dad in our downstairs den (with that ridiculous orange shag carpet).
Iowa 9, Michigan 7October 17, 1981
Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor MI
This one looked like a laugher on paper: the Hawks traveling to Ann Arbor, where they had won only once since 1924. In fact, none of the networks even bothered to televise what promised to be a convincing win for the Maize & Blue, but just 5 weeks after the jaw-dropping 10-7 upset of Nebraska at Kinnick, the Hawks took their act on the road and shocked another national football power in front of 100,000 hostile fans without scoring a touchdown.
Bob Brooks brought the game into our living room as Dad and I listened in awe. Tommy Nichol’s third field goal of the game provided the winning margin, and Iowa’s suffocating defense, led by Andre Tippett and Larry Station, held mighty Michigan to one touchdown. The win improved their record to 5-1, their best start since 1960. The Hawks would go on to earn a share of the Big 10 Championship and their first trip to Pasadena since the 1958 season.
After 19 straight years without a winning season, a new era began on a warm September afternoon in Iowa City when the Hawks shocked Nebraska, and 5 weeks later, for the first time in a generation, the entire college football world was paying attention to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Iowa 12, Michigan 10October 19, 1985
Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City
In a battle of teams ranked #1 (Iowa) and #2 (Michigan) in the nation, 4 Rob Houghtlin field goals, including a 29-yarder as time ran out, were enough to beat Bo Schembechler and the mighty Wolverines under temporary lights installed at Kinnick for this nationally televised game, which started at 2:30 p.m..
This is the only televised game on the list where I did not actually see the ending live. Brent Musberger and Ara Parsegian had the call on CBS, but I had to work the 5 to close shift at Burger King that night and was forced to settle for Bob Brooks’ call on the radio. The whole place went crazy when Houghlin’s kick from the right hash mark split the uprights, and my feet barely toughed the floor that night as I prepared Whopper after Whopper for happy Hawkeye fans who saw history made in person. The Hawks would win 4 of the next 5 for a share of the Big 10 title and their second Rose Bowl in 5 years.
Iowa 15, Michigan State 13October 24, 2009
Spartan Stadium, East Lansing MI
It was a hard-hitting game of nothing but field goals, 3 by Iowa’s Daniel Murray and 2 by Michigan State’s Brett Swenson, until Michigan State’s Blair White hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to give Sparty Spartan a 13-9 lead late in the 4th quarter, and the Hawkeyes’ perfect season was in jeopardy.
My neighbor Justo, a transplanted Columbian who has developed a deep appreciation for American football, helped keep me calm on the couch as I tried to come to grips with the fact that a guy named Blair was about to end our dream season. Seriously, who names their boy BLAIR? Justo handed me a New Glarus Spotted Cow longneck, claiming that it was good luck beer, and I was desperate enough to actually think a beer brewed in Wisconsin could help a football team from Iowa.
As we sipped on our Spotted Cows, Justo and I watched Ricky Stanzi lead the Hawkeye offense onto the field. They were 70 yards from the end zone and a field goal would not help them. 1:32 left on the clock.
Three Stanzi completions (16 yards to Marvin McNutt, 21 yards to Trey Stross, 16 yards to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos) moved the ball to the Spartan 15, and a controversial holding call have the Hawks a 1st and goal on the 7. Three incomplete passes later, it was 4th and goal when Stanzi found McNutt on a slant pattern. Touchdown Iowa, no time left on the clock, HAWKS WIN.
The win improved Iowa to 8-0. Their bid for perfection would end 2 weeks later in Iowa City, but they finished 10-2 and earned a bid in the Orange Bowl. The McNutt catch in East Lansing was an incredible finish to one of the best college football games I have ever seen.
Iowa 55, Minnesota 0November 22, 2008
HHH Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN
Most of the games on this list were in doubt until the last few seconds, but not this one. The last Gopher game in Metrodome history was over not long after the coin toss. Tailback Shonn Greene, who would finish 6th in 2008 Heisman Trophy balloting, shredded the Gopher defense en route to his 12 consecutive game with 100+ yards. It was 27-0 at halftime, and by the time it was 41-0, the Hump was half empty and only about 20,000 delirious Hawkeye fans remained.
It’s the only game on this list I saw in person. In fact, Collin and I were in the front row, right behind the Iowa bench, and were right in the middle of it all when the Hawks paraded around the perimeter of the Metrodome with Floyd of Rosedale. We high-fived all the guys and Collin even got to touch Floyd! Never had I had more fun at a sporting event. 5 weeks later, the Hawks would notch only their 3rd January win since 1959 with a 31-10 victory over South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.
Capital One Bowl
January 1, 2005
Orlando, FL
This is the only bowl game on the list, and there’s a reason for that. With the exception of the big one, bowl games are little more than exhibition games designed to extend the college football season and give us all something to watch when the NFL isn’t on. This year, there were 35 bowl games, the majority of which will be all but forgotten by all but the most rabid fans of the teams who participated. Every now and then, however, two good teams hook up in a neutral site in late December / early January, and treat us to a game that folks will remember. The 2005 Capital One Bowl was one of those games.
New Years Day is when all the trash talking between the Big 10 and the SEC takes a day off so the teams can settle things on the field. I was not a big Nick Saban fan (still am not), so there was a houseful of heartbroken Hawkeye fans (including my aunt and uncle) when LSU scored late in the 4th quarter to take a 25-24 lead. As the seconds melted off the clock in the game’s final minute, I was furious at the Hawks’ clock mis-management, and as the Hawks lined up for what I figured to be the game’s final play, I was terrified at the prospect of the game ending with 2 Iowa timeouts left on the board.
Eleven…ten…nine….
Quarterback Drew Tate took the snap and 5 Hawkeye receivers streaked downfield. Darting between LSU pass rushers, Tate set his feet and spotted Warren Holloway, a senior with 29 career catches and no TDs who somehow managed to get behind the LSU prevent defense, and let it fly, and even then, I was asking myself “Why didn’t Ferentz use a timeout earlier in the drive?”.
Six….five…four….
Almost as if he had done this 20-30 times in the previous 4 years, Holloway snatched the ball out of the air at the 15, and outran 2 LSU defenders to the end zone. Touchdown Iowa, clock reads :00, HAWKS WIN, and a guy named Warren whom moments ago I had never heard of was the hero of the game!
What was LSU defense thinking letting a receiver get between them and the end zone? Here it is years later, and fans of both teams still ask that question, but as the Hawks lined up to kneel down for the point after touchdown they did not need, we didn’t care. The Hawks had beaten LSU, the Big 10 had beaten the SEC, and our little house in Minnesota was literally shaking as we jumped up and down and screamed the Iowa Fight Song.
Iowa 81, Georgetown 80March 16, 1980
NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament, East Regional Final
The Spectrum, Philadelphia PA
The “Fabulous Few” earned an improbable Final Four trip to Indianapolis, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit, making 17 of their final 21 shots and going 15-15 from the free-throw line. The winner was Steve Waite's 3-point play in the closing seconds.
The Hawkeyes’ spectacular play throughout the 1979-80 season in spite of injuries to key players (including star point guard Ronnie Lester, who missed 15 regular season games that year) helped them earn the nickname “The Fabulous Few”. Without Lester and freshman Mark Gannon, who was lost for the season in a game at Michigan, Coach Lute Olsen usually went with 6 guys: sharpshooting swingman Vince Brookins (#32), “twin towers” Waite (52) and Steve Krafcisin (54), defender extraordinaire Kevin Boyle (40), freshman Bobby Hansen (24), and backup point guard Kenny Arnold (30).
The Hawks started the season with 10 straight wins and a top 10 national ranking, but struggled with injuries to finish 5th in the Big 10 with a 10-8 record. Seeded #5 in the East Regional, they disposed of Virginia Commonwealth, North Carolina State and top seed Syracuse to get to the Regional Final.
As a young Hawkeye fan, the 1980 Tournament was my first real taste of March Madness, perhaps before they even started calling it March Madness, and for a couple of weekends in March some 30 years ago, the Hawks were indeed fabulous, and I fell in love with Iowa Basketball watching them with my dad in our downstairs den (with that ridiculous orange shag carpet).
Iowa 9, Michigan 7October 17, 1981
Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor MI
This one looked like a laugher on paper: the Hawks traveling to Ann Arbor, where they had won only once since 1924. In fact, none of the networks even bothered to televise what promised to be a convincing win for the Maize & Blue, but just 5 weeks after the jaw-dropping 10-7 upset of Nebraska at Kinnick, the Hawks took their act on the road and shocked another national football power in front of 100,000 hostile fans without scoring a touchdown.
Bob Brooks brought the game into our living room as Dad and I listened in awe. Tommy Nichol’s third field goal of the game provided the winning margin, and Iowa’s suffocating defense, led by Andre Tippett and Larry Station, held mighty Michigan to one touchdown. The win improved their record to 5-1, their best start since 1960. The Hawks would go on to earn a share of the Big 10 Championship and their first trip to Pasadena since the 1958 season.
After 19 straight years without a winning season, a new era began on a warm September afternoon in Iowa City when the Hawks shocked Nebraska, and 5 weeks later, for the first time in a generation, the entire college football world was paying attention to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Iowa 12, Michigan 10October 19, 1985
Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City
In a battle of teams ranked #1 (Iowa) and #2 (Michigan) in the nation, 4 Rob Houghtlin field goals, including a 29-yarder as time ran out, were enough to beat Bo Schembechler and the mighty Wolverines under temporary lights installed at Kinnick for this nationally televised game, which started at 2:30 p.m..
This is the only televised game on the list where I did not actually see the ending live. Brent Musberger and Ara Parsegian had the call on CBS, but I had to work the 5 to close shift at Burger King that night and was forced to settle for Bob Brooks’ call on the radio. The whole place went crazy when Houghlin’s kick from the right hash mark split the uprights, and my feet barely toughed the floor that night as I prepared Whopper after Whopper for happy Hawkeye fans who saw history made in person. The Hawks would win 4 of the next 5 for a share of the Big 10 title and their second Rose Bowl in 5 years.
Iowa 15, Michigan State 13October 24, 2009
Spartan Stadium, East Lansing MI
It was a hard-hitting game of nothing but field goals, 3 by Iowa’s Daniel Murray and 2 by Michigan State’s Brett Swenson, until Michigan State’s Blair White hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to give Sparty Spartan a 13-9 lead late in the 4th quarter, and the Hawkeyes’ perfect season was in jeopardy.
My neighbor Justo, a transplanted Columbian who has developed a deep appreciation for American football, helped keep me calm on the couch as I tried to come to grips with the fact that a guy named Blair was about to end our dream season. Seriously, who names their boy BLAIR? Justo handed me a New Glarus Spotted Cow longneck, claiming that it was good luck beer, and I was desperate enough to actually think a beer brewed in Wisconsin could help a football team from Iowa.
As we sipped on our Spotted Cows, Justo and I watched Ricky Stanzi lead the Hawkeye offense onto the field. They were 70 yards from the end zone and a field goal would not help them. 1:32 left on the clock.
Three Stanzi completions (16 yards to Marvin McNutt, 21 yards to Trey Stross, 16 yards to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos) moved the ball to the Spartan 15, and a controversial holding call have the Hawks a 1st and goal on the 7. Three incomplete passes later, it was 4th and goal when Stanzi found McNutt on a slant pattern. Touchdown Iowa, no time left on the clock, HAWKS WIN.
The win improved Iowa to 8-0. Their bid for perfection would end 2 weeks later in Iowa City, but they finished 10-2 and earned a bid in the Orange Bowl. The McNutt catch in East Lansing was an incredible finish to one of the best college football games I have ever seen.
Iowa 55, Minnesota 0November 22, 2008
HHH Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN
Most of the games on this list were in doubt until the last few seconds, but not this one. The last Gopher game in Metrodome history was over not long after the coin toss. Tailback Shonn Greene, who would finish 6th in 2008 Heisman Trophy balloting, shredded the Gopher defense en route to his 12 consecutive game with 100+ yards. It was 27-0 at halftime, and by the time it was 41-0, the Hump was half empty and only about 20,000 delirious Hawkeye fans remained.
It’s the only game on this list I saw in person. In fact, Collin and I were in the front row, right behind the Iowa bench, and were right in the middle of it all when the Hawks paraded around the perimeter of the Metrodome with Floyd of Rosedale. We high-fived all the guys and Collin even got to touch Floyd! Never had I had more fun at a sporting event. 5 weeks later, the Hawks would notch only their 3rd January win since 1959 with a 31-10 victory over South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.
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