Biggest Impact: Tate to Holloway or Stanzi to McNutt?

Which Play Has Biggest Program Impact?

  • Tate to Holloway

    Votes: 33 46.5%

  • Stanzi to McNutt

    Votes: 38 53.5%
  • Total voters
    71
JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
OK, you saw this and thought ‘What’s the debate? It’s Tate to Holloway in the 2005 Capital One bowl. Next topic.’

In case it’s only been three days since you have viewed that play in some fashion, here it is again for you:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sU2LAJ2UKA"]YouTube- Iowa Hawkeyes, Amazing this year? (1)[/ame]

Yes, it’s awesome and I just watched it again and it’s one of the favorite moments of my entire lifetime…it’s in the Top Ten with my daughters being born, getting married and a few other things that are for another day.

But was it bigger than Stanzi to McNutt, Michigan State, 2009? Here is that play:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7wJzfaBOIQ"]YouTube- Iowa vs. Michigan State: Stanzi to McNutt[/ame]

Ahh…more gooseflesh on a Wednesday…can’t beat it.

OK, let’s get down to brass tacks here…

Tate to Holloway:

-Enabled Iowa to post it’s third straight 10 or more win season
-Enabled Iowa to post its third straight #8 season ending ranking
-Widely considered one of the greatest endings to a bowl game in the history of the sport
-Will still be played to millions of people in highlight reels for years, perhaps decades to come
-Capped an unreal year, a Big Ten title when they should not have done that given all the injury adversity they faced
-A huge play for a bowl win, and a January bowl win at that

OK, that’s a pretty convincing list. Now why Stanzi to McNutt was a bigger, more important play

-Led to Iowa’s 8th straight win to start a season, the most in school history. The 10 win 2004 season and Top 8 ranking had been done in each of the preceding seasons. An 8-0 start had never been done, ever
-Kept Iowa in the hunt for National Title talk, which is a boon for recruiting
-Brought Sports Illustrated to Iowa City the following week, which led to an amazing comeback against Indiana, which led to just the second Hawkeye related cover in four or five decades; you can’t pay for that kind of exposure for your program
-Without that win, Iowa does not get to 9-0, and does not get to the Orange Bowl, does not get to win the Orange Bowl, which is enormous for recruiting

These are just some of the counterpoints. So which play was the most ‘impactful’ to the Iowa football program? You likely have your own thoughts on this, and I’d love to read them and have this debate.
 
I had goosebumps just thinking of both plays. This is a tough one. I went with Tate to Holloway because it was sooo unexpected.

Stanzi to McNutt was a "you do it or you don't," type of moment.

Both caused me to jump and scream like a lunatic. It's so great to be a Hawkeye.
 
Stanzi to Mcnutt had the bigger impact on the program.


The Tate/Holloway hookup was a much bigger "TV Moment" and it was probably more memorable and made a larger impact on people outside of the hawkeyenation but Stanzi Mcnutt is bigger on the grand scheme of things.

In addition to the reasons you list that was the play that really announced "we are back". That Cap1 bowl win was a been there done that kind of thing. The last 3-4 years Iowa had fallen somewhat out the national limelight. That play, and the things that followed, put Iowa back on the map so to speak. I know it's odd to say that considering it was only a 3-4 gap between the Cap1 win and last season but in todays world peoples memories are awful short. As a result of Iowa's season we are now in that 1A group with a chance to have a real special seaon next year.
 
Jon,

In one sense, Tate-to-Holloway was a "negative". Although the 2005 season wasn't "bad", and we were a better team, perhaps, than the final 7-5 record indicated, I think it started the "fat cat" mentality that was pervasive through the 2006 and 2007 seasons. It led a majority of a whole class of recruits to believing "they" would be the "difference" between Big Ten titles and National titles, that they had starting slots of their choice, and that older players and coaches should be bowing down to their mere presence.

On the other hand, it WAS on a national stage against the defending BCS champions, and we won as an "underdog".

Stanzi-to-McNutt came against a "hot" MSU team the "pundits" picked to win. It was AT East Lansing, and was certainly a hard-fought game. And, true to form, it was part of the run of "heroic" victories we were piling up.

But...in hindsight, it came against a team that finished the season 7-6, got beat soundly by "better" conference teams and, to top it off, lost to Central Michigan (although CMU put together a very nice season..."for a MAC team"). And of course, it wasn't a bowl game.

Overall, the Tate-to-Holloway play was more "spectacular". It was a longer play, it appeared the team wasn't aware time was running out, and capped off a game we "deserved" to win.

Frankly, the more dramatic Stanzi-to-McNutt play, IMO, came against Indiana. Deep in our own territory, behind by 10, and already having six turnovers in the game, not to mention the way the play developed (the MSU play was a simple slant on which MM got better postion on his defender).
 
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I voted for Stanzi/Mcnutt just because we beat a team that took something from us the year before. I just would prefer to call it a tie. Next year I hope we have a little somethin,somethin for the Wildcats that ends in a similar way.
 
Both will be burned into my memory forever. This would be a great question to ask 5 years from now.

I went with Stanzi-McNutt because of the here and now, Cap Bowl victory vs. Orange Bowl, no comparison.
 
I voted Stanzi to Mcnutt, but had way bigger goosebumps after watching Tate to Halloway. I'll watch them in reverse and see what happens, lol
 
Both were huge and both showed us the genius that is Ken O'Keefe. When I was watching the Cap One Bowl, my buddies were yelling at Ferentz to take a timeout when the clock was running out, but I was all like "Dudes, just chillax, O'Keefe has a 60 yard play in his playbook." Then, the play was executed just like it was drawn up.

The slant was another one where O'Keefe knew the backers were going to blitz and that McNutt would be open. He sent two guys on slants and my buddy was all like "Dude, if MSU didn't blitz, what would have happened" and I was all like "Dude, O'Keefe knows what the defense is going to do before they do it so just chillax."

In the end, I think I have to go with Tate to Holloway because I think that play helped us recruit that 2005 class and the dudes from that class helped turn the program back around. Shonn Greene, Tony Moeaki and Dace Richardson were big parts of the great run in 2008 and 2009 and without those guys, the MSU play would have never have happened (the 4 close losses in 2008 were the springboard to the magical 2009 run). Plus, we got Jake C. and having him and his dad as extra coaches in the 2008 season helped make the team fundamentally stronger in 2009.
 
I went with Stanzi to McNutt, but I think it is a little to early to compare these two great plays. It is like choosing between children, I love them both, but we have more hindsight from the Tate/Holloway play to see it as not having much impact. If you ask this question in late January 2005 than of course it had the biggest impact. However, now, we see what happened in the years after the play and hopefully the next three years will be better than or equal to 2009. So, with hope that we will again win 11 games and possibly more, Stanzi to McNutt WILL have more impact on the program.

Either way, I could watch both those videos everyday.

Go Hawks!
 
poncho72 said:
I went with Stanzi-McNutt because of the here and now, Cap Bowl victory vs. Orange Bowl, no comparison.
Click to expand...

That is the same reason I went with Stanzi-McNutt as well. At the same time I also recognize that I have a personal bias towards that game as well, since I was at that game and not the Capital One Bowl.
 
I will say Tate to Holloway, not very confident by saying it though. I would say that just because it was a bowl game as oppose to a regular season game. Every bowl season you will see that game not just on the Big Ten network, but ESPN classic as well. That game will always give Iowa national exposure, not really sure the Michigan St. game does that.

I believe that Cap one bowl game made Fox sports top 50 college football finishes of all time. The MSU game won't. I am trying not to let how the Tate era ended cloud my judgment. 10 years from now I will likely remember the cap one bowl more vividly than the MSU game.
 
Wasn't LSU the defending National Champ also?

I was at the Cap One Bowl. I'll never forget it. Awesome.


I voted for Stanzi to McNutt because "when his number was called, 7 got 6 !"
 
Here's 7-4-6 from the stands...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux2kHAi9HSg&feature=related"]YouTube- Iowa Versus Michigan State, 2009 - Last Play of Game[/ame]
 
One thing I noticed that I think is amazing in the Stanzi to McNutt video Jon posted is the crowd noise- the cheering Iowa fans are so loud it sounds like the home crowd!

Difficult decision between the two. One I'm not comfortable making.
 
Biggest play of the decade, like it or not, was Stanzi's injury against Northwestern.

We were 10-0 and would have been 11-0. If Stanzi is one point better than JVB then we are 12-0.

Given Texas's lousy finish, and the sudden respect we'd have been given by winning in the Shoe, we would have been playing for a NC against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

And that was a game we easily would have won.

Northwestern cost us a National Championship.
 
simohawk said:
Biggest play of the decade, like it or not, was Stanzi's injury against Northwestern.

We were 10-0 and would have been 11-0. If Stanzi is one point better than JVB then we are 12-0.

Given Texas's lousy finish, and the sudden respect we'd have been given by winning in the Shoe, we would have been playing for a NC against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

And that was a game we easily would have won.

Northwestern cost us a National Championship.
Click to expand...

IMO, there is no chance of an undefeated Iowa team jumping an undefeated Texas team, especially when Texas started the season ranked ahead of Iowa.
 
The question is which had a bigger impact on the program, not which was the bigger play. I think the holloway pass was obviously the bigger play. Which has a bigger impact is yet to be seen. I hope its MSU because the recruits we got following the Cap 1 bowl didn't turn out as well as I hope our current recruits will. I was at the MSU game as well as the Cap 1 bowl and both moments were amazing. I love hawk fans at away games. I voted MSU because I am hopeful this season will have a greater long term effect than 2004's.
 
Both are awesome! But I choose Stanzi-McNutt, because it kept our hopes alive, it ligitimized our undefeated record - the PSU win wasn't a fluke. That play impacted our season and helped determine where we would finish the season. This play told the team it could win and will find a way to make it happen... gave the team confidence and a swagger.

Tate-Holloway: Although a great play, the season was over. All it did was seal a win/record, but didn't help determine the mentality or state of the program for the year. Great fodder for TV and memories but didn't give back to the program in toughness or confidence. Actually probably revealed that luck does land on our side at times and might have given the team a false sense of confidence for the next year... Don't get me wrong... love the play, but it was more about luck then forcing our will on the other team.
 
I think both plays have their advantages. I like Tate-Holloway cause of the surprise factor, the almost hail-mary like breakdown of the play, not to mention doing it to win a bowl game, and by a 5th year senior that hadn't had a TD.

But the question isn't about which is your favorite, but which had the biggest impact. And Jon is absolutely right, Stanzi-McNutt led to 8-0, etc etc.

Right now I rank them 1) Tate-Holloway 2) Stanzi-McNutt.... but tomorrow I might switch em.
 
I gotta go with Stanzi/McNutt too- simply because we went downhill after the Tate/ Holloway play for a couple years and won a BCS game after the play at MSU.

In terms of instant emotional reaction tho, they are both the same for me- cuz i yelled and screamed and smacked the ceiling on both plays
 
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