Favorite Ferentz Era Memories

[hawkeye12345]

I didn't realize that the goal was to be liked on the interwebz....I will do better in the future.

 

[Section136]

2002- KF getting carried off the field in the Dme.

2003- Game in Madison, rarely mentioned amongst the great games but it was a classic.

2004- The entire season after September.

 

[MNHawkeyeFreak]

I didn't realize that the goal was to be liked on the interwebz....I will do better in the future.

I doubt it but you could at least try a little harder.

 

[donho24]

Every game that has been mentioned so far is among my favorites - but, I will always feel that extra special happiness whenever I think of Iowa's 2008 trip up to the Metrodome. I was in Minneapolis for work but unable to go to the game. I had to settle for watching on TV.

Early the next morning at work, one of my coworkers (a Minnesotan) had missed the game and asked me in her best Fargo voice, "So, how did the Gophers do last night?" My simple declarative sentence, "Iowa won 55-0" stands as one of the most satisfying collection of words I've ever uttered. Toss in the look on her face, and - it was priceless!

 

[HawkPhreek]

The whooping of Michigan is one. The second was orange bowl win. Right after the game my buddy text me and said Georgia tech triple option need a fourth option

 

[mojohawk]

October 7 2000. The victory VS Michigan St that ended the 13 game losing streak. First time that I stepped foot on the field at Kinnick stadium. There may have been 60000 in the stands that day but the place was rocking after Hill's kickoff return. I know it's kind of an odd game to remember but it really sticks out in my mind. We were back!

 

[HawkeyeDenis]

My favorite was the Michigan game. I think it was 2002 or 2003. By the second half the Michigan receivers were afraid to touch the ball. The last thing they wanted was to get hit by Bob Sanders again. I have never seen a defense that put so much fear into an offense.

 

[Xerxes]

My favorite was the Michigan game. I think it was 2002 or 2003. By the second half the Michigan receivers were afraid to touch the ball. The last thing they wanted was to get hit by Bob Sanders again. I have never seen a defense that put so much fear into an offense.

This is why I put in a previous post that this is probably my favorite Iowa team. That defense was under the gun all year and they responded each and every time. Hard to think of 3 more physically intimidating players in the KF era than Sanders, Roth, & Hodge.

I remember hearing a story about how during halftime of the game in Madison that Gallery and Sanders 'threatened the personal safety of teammates' (Kirk's words) if Iowa didn't walk out of there with a win.

Its hard to think about what might have been if Lewis, Brown, & Hinkel would have been healthy for the entire season and Solomon hadn't let his grades go. The only real glimpse we saw of that whole team was when the blasted Florida off the field.

 

[hawkfan8691]

Haha that's awesome donho24. I forgot another story about that game. Late in the first half, we scored to go up I think 20-0 with a little over a minute left. My buddy looks at me and says, "you know why we left so much time on the clock, don't you? Enough time for a pick 6." Couple plays later, boom. Spievey pick 6. He's jinxed it since by trying it multiple times since, but that first time was pretty awesome

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

One of the best threads I've read in a long time. Those four years where we finished #8 had a lot of good games and good memories that I don't know we will see in a time frame like that again. Two for me are the penn state game at home where they were ranked 1 or 2 when we won with the last second field goal on national tv. It was freezing cold and dark in kinnick that might under the lights. my wife (stinking clown grad) and i almost stayed hime that day but i said lets go and see if they can pull out a win. We froze the entire game. our section would all stand periodically and move around to keep warm. I knew at home if we could just stay close we could win it. We kept it close and then got our shot and it was good. The crowd was on the field in seconds. I remember how dark the sky was that night over Kinnick. It was a cool thing. Then with the big catch, I can remember going outside my condo in des moines slipping on the ice as I tried to call my brother in northeast iowa. U couldn't get thru, I got some message like the lines were jammed. I think every dad and son and brother were calling each other. It was a good day. Nothing like being proud of your state. Hawk for life

 

[bitmap]

The whooping of Michigan is one....

Yes, and my memory of that was hearing that some people were going to wave to the team as their buses left the CR airport for the triumphant return to IC after their flight back.

My son, about 5 years old at the time, and I drove up and stopped on Wright Brothers Blvd. along w/ about 300 other fans who were lined up along the road like they were waiting for a parade. Everybody started getting crazy as the buses approached and then, amazingly enough, KF had them pull over and stop.

The team got off the buses for a spontaneous meet and greet right then and there! The ISP officers were freaking out as hundreds of people ran across the road to join the crowd. I met Brad Banks and my kid was absolutely thrilled when Bruce Nelson picked him up and brought him to a face to face meeting. He said "How are you doing little buddy?" and my son took off his hawkeye hat and and started waving it over their heads. All of the players had ear to ear grins.

That action says a lot about KF. There was no doubt in my mind he understood the significance of what they had accomplished that day and he was willing to share it with the fans alongside the road.

 

[SamBrownlee48]

So many great memories in this thread. My favorite memoiy might just be listening to 2009 Iowa/MSU on the radio driving home in the dark on I-380. When Stanzi hit McNutt I about wrecked while I was screaming and thrashing around in the car.

I watched the '05 Iowa/LSU game with a bunch of LSU fans who wouldn't shut up about how much better the SEC was. It was as sweet a victory as there ever was.

One that no one has mentioned yet:

2006 - Iowa's 8 play goal line stand in double overtime against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. This was supposed to be a big year, and while it went to crap after the loss to Ohio State that year, there was magic in the Carrier Dome early that season when an Iowa defense that, if it wasn't the best defense we've ever had, it was one of the toughest. Gritty hawks like Klink, King, and Kroul staffed a defense held the line that day as the tension built with each inch closer to the goal. 1st and goal from the 5, Humpal gets called for pass interference when he roughs up a wr on a slant pattern in the end zone. 1st and goal inside the 3, Mitch King, who was one of my all-time favorites, catches the RB around both ankles and holds on as the ball just barely stops short of the goal line. 2 and goal inside the 1, King comes crashing into the backfield again, but this time the runner breaks the tackle, only to get stood up by Kanelis in one of the few big moments of his career. 3rd and goal from just inside the 2, Syracuse uses play action and boots left, almost getting chased down before getting the pass off and Marcus Paschal getting called for pass interference. 1st and goal from the 1, a quick handoff to the fb looks like its going to score when the pile starts moving forward, but Klink dives into the blockers to stuff the pile while King and Kroul come crashing into stop the play. The Syracuse QB signals TD, but the refs place the ball within a football length of the goal line. 2nd and inches, Iwebema slices in from on another fb run catching the slowing him just enough for the rest of the team to swarm on him just inside the 1. 3rd and goal, Syracuse sprints left on an option play with a lead blocker. At first it looks like the qb is going to slip right in between Kanelis and Paschal into the end zone, then at the last second Klink comes flying all the way over from the far side of the play and lays a great hit on the QB sending him backwards. 4th and goal, Syracuse uses motion to fake an end around and then runs straight up the middle. Mattison gets pressure off the edge and catches the leg as King and Kroul stuff the line and the entire team swarms over the ball carrier then down the field in triumph in what is my opinion the greatest goal line stand in history.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

2002 vs. MSU. We had our loss to ISU, "escaped" PSU in OT (although several pundits pointed out that a TD was denied near end of first half that would have put game out of reach), and it was supposed to be a re-jumpstart for Charles Rodgers's Heisman campaign because we had a weak pass D.

MSU marched down on first drive, aided by a questionable PI call or two, and went up 7-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jermelle Lewis housed it, crowd went nuts, broadcast team went nuts, and KF...was damn near stoic on the sideline. It was as if he "expected" that result.

We went on to absolutely b*tch-slap Sparty on the way to our undefeated Big Ten campaign and Orange Bowl berth.