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OCTOBER 17TH, 1981: #12 IOWA 9, (at #5) Michigan 7. In just under 18 months, Hawk fans will celebrate the 40th anniversary of this nearly historic team. I do hope that it is a celebration of celebrations. And maybe – just maybe – when they celebrate this particular victory, maybe by then the...

And as I already said, this is especially sweet since HE had two of the key fumbles that day that led to the Iowa victory. It continued a string of Iowa wins that were aimed right at Iowa athletes who went to another school thinking the grass was greener on the other side - like the Iowa...

SEPTEMBER 12TH, 1981 – IOWA 10, #6 Nebraska 7. After showing so much promise in Hayden’s first season in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes regressed badly in the 1980 season, making Iowa fans wonder if what they really got in Hayden Fry was just more of the same. But that all disappeared in the...

BINGO! And I find it interesting that, whenever an Iowa alum IS part of the broadcast booth at a game ... somewhere (football, basketball), you never get the feeling that the Iowa guy is a "homer". He is a broadcast professional doing his job. And trust me - I would not want our alums to...

DECEMBER 29TH, 1995 – THE SUN BOWL: IOWA 38, #20 Washington 18. With Iowa’s victory in the Holiday Bowl four months ago, the Hawkeyes did two things. First, they squared their bowl record in the Fry–Ferentz era at 15–15–1, which doesn’t sound that great, but actually makes Iowa one of only...

That's double-secret probation for you, pal. And expect to get your charter revoked. And yes, we are going to take the bar - the whole ... never mind.

I was going to college up in the Twin Cities at the time, and had the Ohio State-Michigan game on TV. You just kept waiting for Michigan to finish off one of those drives, put the game out of reach, and hence put the Rose Bowl out of reach. Even when Schlichter did score, my mind would not...

If you saw pictures of Iowa O-line coach John O'Hara, who was the coach behind the magnificent lines of the Hayden teams of 1990 and 1991, you would think the same thing. Then he dies of a heart attack on a cruise - a loss the Hayden-led Hawks never fully recovered from.

NOVEMBER 21ST, 1981 – (#19) IOWA 36, Michigan State 7. It’s too bad that, by now, virtually everyone who knows exactly where they were and what they were doing that day is at least 50 year old. And considering Iowa had not only played in, but actually won two Rose Bowls 25 years before that...

NOVEMBER 3RD, 1990 – #13 IOWA 54, (at) #5 Illinois 28. It is only fitting that this game occupies one of the top slots. Lest we forget, while most of the attention on Hayden’s top games goes to the Rose Bowl seasons of 1981 and their top-rated team from 1985, Hayden’s teams represented the Big...

NOVEMBER 14TH, 1981 - IOWA 17, (at) Wisconsin 7. The path that led Iowa to break the iron grip of the "Big 2, Little 8" had to go through Madison, Wisconsin that year. But on this day, the second-last week of the 1981 season, it was the Badger fans who had already started to count the miles...

SEPTEMBER 24TH, 1983 - #7 IOWA 20, #3 Ohio State 14. By the time Hayden and his team reached their home opener for this season, they had beaten every Big 10 school - and had just beaten future B1G member Penn State in State College the week before - every school EXCEPT Ohio State. And it sure...

DECEMBER 30TH, 1986 - THE HOLIDAY BOWL: #19 IOWA 39, San Diego State 38. The most exciting and tense bowl game in the Hayden Fry era. Iowa, essentially having to play a true road game for a bowl game, spent most of the night play catch-up, as Aztec Jr. QB Todd Santos, who had finished the...

DECEMBER 26TH, 1984, THE FREEDOM BOWL: IOWA 55, #19 Texas 17. I have to give some space here to one of the game's identified as Hayden's all-time favorites. Having come from Texas, he knew the pedigree and reputation of Texas - and knew what such a school thought of the schools Hayden had...

Since these have been coming over the course of the last month, let me review what I placed from "honorable mention" all the way to #11. I will post the first of the top 10 shortly. HONORABLE MENTIONS - *October 5th, 1985: #1 IOWA 35, Michigan State 31; *September 26th, 1981: IOWA 20, #6 UCLA...

Right. And it's curious - our leading rusher in 1986 was Rick Bayless, who had a helluva season and was no small part of us getting to 8-3. In that game in '87, he was just getting back from injury. He had like only two rushes the entire game - both effective, but neither of which got him...

NOVEMBER 14TH, 1987 - IOWA 29 (at) Ohio State 27. I went back–and–forth a hundred times trying to figure out where to put this game. I settled here knowing how big this win was but also facing certain realities about both teams. Let’s not underestimate the team we beat in Columbus that...

DECEMBER 29TH, 1996 - THE ALAMO BOWL: IOWA 27, Texas Tech 0. Probably the best overall bowl we played, and part of a two-year stretch where Hayden's teams finally showed consistent dominance in bowl games. Unfortunately, this was another black helmet game as the Hawkeye family suffered a...

This has to be either a troll or my twin brother - I'm pretty sure it's the latter. Yes, there's two of us.

OCTOBER 19TH, 1996 - IOWA 21, (at #10) Penn State 20: The Nittany Lions joined the Big 10 in 1993, and had blitzkrieged the Hawkeyes by a combined 133–48 the first three years. The difference in talent initially seemed FAR greater than what we faced against even a Michigan or Ohio State. But...