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 four teams in the B1G with a bowl record of at least .500 in the 40 – year span of seasons from 1980–2019 (tied with Ohio State at .500, behind only Wisconsin at 16–12 and Penn State, who is 13–8 since joining the Big 10 and 20–12 overall). Only Ohio State and Michigan (and Penn State and Nebraska, if you count their games before joining the conference) have played in more bowls than Iowa – barely. And 13 of Iowa’s 31 bowls were awarded to Hayden Fry teams – something beyond unthinkable until he arrived.
But the other thing Iowa did in San Diego was to finally eliminate the kryptonite that was known as the Pac–12 in bowl games. Because prior to the 2019 Holiday Bowl, Iowa wasn’t just bad against the Pac–12, they were beyond awful. Fry’s Iowa teams lost to Pac–12 teams five times in bowl games, and only one of those games was even kinda, sorta close. The cumulative score was 173–72 in those losses – and KFz’s first two bowl games against the Pac–12 widened that to 256–105 (which works out to an average loss of 36–15, every single game).
And there didn’t seem to be any reason to expect this game in windy El Paso, Texas to go any differently. Even though Don James had retired as Washington’s coach a few years before, the Huskies were back on top of the Pac–12 as co–champs – and the only reason they weren’t in the Rose Bowl was they gave up a 21–0 4th–qtr. lead to USC with the game ending in a tie, and the Trojans won the tiebreaker. Still, Washington’s attack was ferocious on both sides of the ball – to the point where one had to wonder what they were doing in this rather pedestrian bowl.
Hayden, meanwhile, played the “underdog” role in every way he could in the days leading up to the bowl. And well he should. After suffering through three really sub–par years in ’92–’94, the ’95 Hawks were a bit better, but still had to endure a miserable four–game losing streak in the middle of the conference season. It took a good-sized set of circumstances falling just right at the end of the season for Iowa to escape a finish as low as 8th–place in the conference (they finished 5th), and to net a bowl “this good”.
Iowa received the opening kick-off, driving into the wind. Their first three plays were gobbled up by the Washington defense, and the prospect of punting into the stiff wind seemed to almost guarantee the Huskies would begin their first drive somewhere in Iowa territory. But the fluttering punt kept moving away from the Washington punt receiver, who mistakenly still tried to field the ball. It bounced off his hands, and Iowa recovered, even though they ended up advancing less than 20 yards with the play.
But on the game’s very next play, Sedrick Shaw scampered untouched 58 yards for Iowa’s first TD. Iowa’s offense was back on the field almost immediately as Washington fumbled again on their first play of the next drive. This time, Iowa’s drive stalled at the Huskie 32, and Hayden curiously called for a FG, utilizing his “strong leg”, Brion Hurley, to attempt a 49–yarder into the strong wind. But on this day, everything would go right for Iowa, and he made it to put Iowa up 10–0 after one quarter.
Meanwhile, Washington just didn’t seem to have their heads or hearts into this game. Early in the 2nd qtr., the long snapper hiked the football way over the punter’s head for a safety. While Iowa didn’t score another first–half TD, they did get three more field goals – another from Hurley and two from Zach Bromert, to lead 21–0 at the half.
The 2nd half was more of the same. Hurley made a 3rd FG, going 3–3, with all of them being at least 47 yards, unheard of at that time, garnering him special teams MVP. Sedrick Shaw also kept gashing Washington, gaining 135 yards on 21 carries to become the offensive game MVP. But he had a ton of help. Tavian Banks, just returning from a broken wrist, had a 74–yard run and ended up with 122 yards rushing on only 13 carries. Fullback Michael Berger muscled in two TD’s as Iowa ended up with 286 yards rushing.
On the other side, all–conference QB Damon Huard had a truly forgettable day, eventually getting benched in the 2nd half after Iowa increased its lead to 38–6. More than a little bit of the punishment came at the hands of a freshman defensive tackle named Jared DeVries, who forced one fumble, recovered another, had one of Iowa’s four sacks and was awarded defensive game MVP.
Overall, it was a true rump–kicking of a good team. With the win (one of only two by B1G teams in bowls that post-season), Iowa ended the season at 8–4, and snuck into the final Top 25 at season’s end.
Here are the game highlights (lots of them): ;
And for those who want to see the whole game, it is broken into the two halves. The links are here: ; and here: .
..
But the other thing Iowa did in San Diego was to finally eliminate the kryptonite that was known as the Pac–12 in bowl games. Because prior to the 2019 Holiday Bowl, Iowa wasn’t just bad against the Pac–12, they were beyond awful. Fry’s Iowa teams lost to Pac–12 teams five times in bowl games, and only one of those games was even kinda, sorta close. The cumulative score was 173–72 in those losses – and KFz’s first two bowl games against the Pac–12 widened that to 256–105 (which works out to an average loss of 36–15, every single game).
And there didn’t seem to be any reason to expect this game in windy El Paso, Texas to go any differently. Even though Don James had retired as Washington’s coach a few years before, the Huskies were back on top of the Pac–12 as co–champs – and the only reason they weren’t in the Rose Bowl was they gave up a 21–0 4th–qtr. lead to USC with the game ending in a tie, and the Trojans won the tiebreaker. Still, Washington’s attack was ferocious on both sides of the ball – to the point where one had to wonder what they were doing in this rather pedestrian bowl.
Hayden, meanwhile, played the “underdog” role in every way he could in the days leading up to the bowl. And well he should. After suffering through three really sub–par years in ’92–’94, the ’95 Hawks were a bit better, but still had to endure a miserable four–game losing streak in the middle of the conference season. It took a good-sized set of circumstances falling just right at the end of the season for Iowa to escape a finish as low as 8th–place in the conference (they finished 5th), and to net a bowl “this good”.
Iowa received the opening kick-off, driving into the wind. Their first three plays were gobbled up by the Washington defense, and the prospect of punting into the stiff wind seemed to almost guarantee the Huskies would begin their first drive somewhere in Iowa territory. But the fluttering punt kept moving away from the Washington punt receiver, who mistakenly still tried to field the ball. It bounced off his hands, and Iowa recovered, even though they ended up advancing less than 20 yards with the play.
But on the game’s very next play, Sedrick Shaw scampered untouched 58 yards for Iowa’s first TD. Iowa’s offense was back on the field almost immediately as Washington fumbled again on their first play of the next drive. This time, Iowa’s drive stalled at the Huskie 32, and Hayden curiously called for a FG, utilizing his “strong leg”, Brion Hurley, to attempt a 49–yarder into the strong wind. But on this day, everything would go right for Iowa, and he made it to put Iowa up 10–0 after one quarter.
Meanwhile, Washington just didn’t seem to have their heads or hearts into this game. Early in the 2nd qtr., the long snapper hiked the football way over the punter’s head for a safety. While Iowa didn’t score another first–half TD, they did get three more field goals – another from Hurley and two from Zach Bromert, to lead 21–0 at the half.
The 2nd half was more of the same. Hurley made a 3rd FG, going 3–3, with all of them being at least 47 yards, unheard of at that time, garnering him special teams MVP. Sedrick Shaw also kept gashing Washington, gaining 135 yards on 21 carries to become the offensive game MVP. But he had a ton of help. Tavian Banks, just returning from a broken wrist, had a 74–yard run and ended up with 122 yards rushing on only 13 carries. Fullback Michael Berger muscled in two TD’s as Iowa ended up with 286 yards rushing.
On the other side, all–conference QB Damon Huard had a truly forgettable day, eventually getting benched in the 2nd half after Iowa increased its lead to 38–6. More than a little bit of the punishment came at the hands of a freshman defensive tackle named Jared DeVries, who forced one fumble, recovered another, had one of Iowa’s four sacks and was awarded defensive game MVP.
Overall, it was a true rump–kicking of a good team. With the win (one of only two by B1G teams in bowls that post-season), Iowa ended the season at 8–4, and snuck into the final Top 25 at season’s end.
Here are the game highlights (lots of them): ;
And for those who want to see the whole game, it is broken into the two halves. The links are here: ; and here: .
..
