JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Kirk Ferentz is fond of a line he heard from former Iowa Defensive Coordinator Bill Brashier: There is no such thing as a bad bowl game...hence, there is no such thing as a bad bowl win.
Iowa's win against 14th ranked Missouri on Tuesday night in the Insight Bowl might not have been a thing of beauty, but boy did it feel good when the clock went 00:00.
Iowa's defense allowed 512 yards of offense, 86 plays and a quarterback that threw for 434 yards and won. They wouldn't have won the game without a defensive touchdown with 5:32 to play in the contest. That's when Micah Hyde stepped in front of a Blaine Gabbert pass, one of the few mistakes Gabbert made all evening, reversed field and 72 yards later he was celebrating with his teammates in the endzone.
Nevermind that Jordan Bernstine could have been called for a holding penalty had the officials seen him hook a defender; the Hawks deserved a break to go there way.
Still, that wasn't enough to guarantee the win. Iowa led 27-24 at that point, but five minutes is an eternity for Missouri's offense.
Missouri was driving on their next possession and seemingly converted a fourth down pass that would have continued the drive near midfield. However, the officials reviewed the play and overturned the call on the field calling it an incomplete pass, Iowa's ball.
Iowa would have a third and short play with under a minute remaining and Missouri running out of timeouts. Most everyone in the house thought Marcus Coker would get the ball; Ken O'Keefe drew up a play action play to Allen Reisner, who was wide open. Reisner rumbled 39 yards to the Missouri one yard line where Iowa took a knee, ending the cap and capping a season that was not what fans expected.
8-5 is not what the majority of the fan base expected before the season began. All five losses came by a combined 18 points, with the last four seeing Iowa give up fourth quarter leads and an offense that couldn't rally.
It appeared this game was heading for a familiar ******. In the waning minutes, four media members walked by me and the Big Ten Network camera crew I was working with and said 'We've seen this movie before, haven't we?'
We had. Many of you likely felt the same way.
Just when you thought you had this team figured out, they go and win a game like this against a 10-win opponent.
The truth is this team was better than 8-5, but as Ferentz likes to say, they got what they deserved given the lack of execution this year.
The main thing I take away from this game is how the team fought and how the represented themselves. No, the defense was not impregnable and no, the offense was not flawless. This game was a microcosim of the season. The offense put up some points early, 17 in the first half, and sputtered late. The defense allowed long scoring drives and couldn't get off the field in 3rd and long situations; Missouri converted three third downs of 10 yards or longer in the first half alone, including one 3rd and 19.
However, the defense stepped up late in this game after many Iowa fans left them for dead, because they were dead tired after three quarters.
Missouri ran 47 plays in the first half and used a blinding tempo, just like Northwestern did in the second half against Iowa when the Cats ran 51 plays. I felt Missouri could really start ripping off running plays in the second half, but they were content to put the game on Gabbert's arm.
Not a bad decision as he played one of the best games by an Iowa opposing quarterback this year, and we've seen several great performances. The kid is a pro and has a monster arm. He thinks he can make every throw and he nearly did just that, with one huge mistake that cost his team seven points.
Even then, Iowa needed a ricochet off the upright for the PAT to count...ironic, considering that bounce went their way on Tuesday night when it didn't against Arizona earlier this year or the PAT block against Wisconsin.
25 Iowa seniors delivered and received a happy parting gift with this win, but the biggest story on the field was the emergence of freshman running back Marcus Coker; 33 carries for 221 yards, both marks are bowl records for an Iowa back. Bob Jeter's 197 yard performance in a 1950's era Rose Bowl had been the standard and Shonn Greene's 29 carries in the 2009 Outback Bowl was the previous high in that mark.
Coker showed power and speed; mowing over a safety in the hole and sprinting 62 yards for a score in the first quarter. It reminded me of Nick Bell, a big back from 1990.
He has a bright future, especially behind an offensive line that should be very good for the next two seasons; they were very good on Tuesday night against one of the most athletic defenses Iowa has seen all season; Missouri entered the game with 38 sacks; they had none on Tuesday, and it wasn't because they weren't blitzing.
But let me get back to the way Iowa played as a team. They never quit, they never gave up. We couldn't say the same the last time we saw Iowa play, against Minnesota where Adrian Clayborn said afterwards that the team lost its will to win.
After a month of off season issues and distractions, things that can derail a program or at the least derail a bowl effort, this team chose not to quit. They chose to give it their all, one more time. That tells me Kirk Ferentz is still very much in control of this program. It has not gotten away from him, contrary to the thoughts of some.
The proof was in the pudding on Tuesday night. A win is always encouraging, but a win under the circumstances of a disappointing season and a dismal month of December off the field is revealing.
The Hawkeyes have won 28 games over the last three years, the second best three year total in school history. They have won three straight bowl games for the first time in school history. Kirk Ferentz has six bowl wins, the 5th highest total of any coach in Big Ten history.
The wheels have not fallen off the train.
To win a game without the services of your all time leading receiver who was also the Big Ten's leading kickoff return specialist as well as making the trip without your leading rusher and his backup going for over 220 yards?
The sky is not falling after all.
Iowa's win against 14th ranked Missouri on Tuesday night in the Insight Bowl might not have been a thing of beauty, but boy did it feel good when the clock went 00:00.
Iowa's defense allowed 512 yards of offense, 86 plays and a quarterback that threw for 434 yards and won. They wouldn't have won the game without a defensive touchdown with 5:32 to play in the contest. That's when Micah Hyde stepped in front of a Blaine Gabbert pass, one of the few mistakes Gabbert made all evening, reversed field and 72 yards later he was celebrating with his teammates in the endzone.
Nevermind that Jordan Bernstine could have been called for a holding penalty had the officials seen him hook a defender; the Hawks deserved a break to go there way.
Still, that wasn't enough to guarantee the win. Iowa led 27-24 at that point, but five minutes is an eternity for Missouri's offense.
Missouri was driving on their next possession and seemingly converted a fourth down pass that would have continued the drive near midfield. However, the officials reviewed the play and overturned the call on the field calling it an incomplete pass, Iowa's ball.
Iowa would have a third and short play with under a minute remaining and Missouri running out of timeouts. Most everyone in the house thought Marcus Coker would get the ball; Ken O'Keefe drew up a play action play to Allen Reisner, who was wide open. Reisner rumbled 39 yards to the Missouri one yard line where Iowa took a knee, ending the cap and capping a season that was not what fans expected.
8-5 is not what the majority of the fan base expected before the season began. All five losses came by a combined 18 points, with the last four seeing Iowa give up fourth quarter leads and an offense that couldn't rally.
It appeared this game was heading for a familiar ******. In the waning minutes, four media members walked by me and the Big Ten Network camera crew I was working with and said 'We've seen this movie before, haven't we?'
We had. Many of you likely felt the same way.
Just when you thought you had this team figured out, they go and win a game like this against a 10-win opponent.
The truth is this team was better than 8-5, but as Ferentz likes to say, they got what they deserved given the lack of execution this year.
The main thing I take away from this game is how the team fought and how the represented themselves. No, the defense was not impregnable and no, the offense was not flawless. This game was a microcosim of the season. The offense put up some points early, 17 in the first half, and sputtered late. The defense allowed long scoring drives and couldn't get off the field in 3rd and long situations; Missouri converted three third downs of 10 yards or longer in the first half alone, including one 3rd and 19.
However, the defense stepped up late in this game after many Iowa fans left them for dead, because they were dead tired after three quarters.
Missouri ran 47 plays in the first half and used a blinding tempo, just like Northwestern did in the second half against Iowa when the Cats ran 51 plays. I felt Missouri could really start ripping off running plays in the second half, but they were content to put the game on Gabbert's arm.
Not a bad decision as he played one of the best games by an Iowa opposing quarterback this year, and we've seen several great performances. The kid is a pro and has a monster arm. He thinks he can make every throw and he nearly did just that, with one huge mistake that cost his team seven points.
Even then, Iowa needed a ricochet off the upright for the PAT to count...ironic, considering that bounce went their way on Tuesday night when it didn't against Arizona earlier this year or the PAT block against Wisconsin.
25 Iowa seniors delivered and received a happy parting gift with this win, but the biggest story on the field was the emergence of freshman running back Marcus Coker; 33 carries for 221 yards, both marks are bowl records for an Iowa back. Bob Jeter's 197 yard performance in a 1950's era Rose Bowl had been the standard and Shonn Greene's 29 carries in the 2009 Outback Bowl was the previous high in that mark.
Coker showed power and speed; mowing over a safety in the hole and sprinting 62 yards for a score in the first quarter. It reminded me of Nick Bell, a big back from 1990.
He has a bright future, especially behind an offensive line that should be very good for the next two seasons; they were very good on Tuesday night against one of the most athletic defenses Iowa has seen all season; Missouri entered the game with 38 sacks; they had none on Tuesday, and it wasn't because they weren't blitzing.
But let me get back to the way Iowa played as a team. They never quit, they never gave up. We couldn't say the same the last time we saw Iowa play, against Minnesota where Adrian Clayborn said afterwards that the team lost its will to win.
After a month of off season issues and distractions, things that can derail a program or at the least derail a bowl effort, this team chose not to quit. They chose to give it their all, one more time. That tells me Kirk Ferentz is still very much in control of this program. It has not gotten away from him, contrary to the thoughts of some.
The proof was in the pudding on Tuesday night. A win is always encouraging, but a win under the circumstances of a disappointing season and a dismal month of December off the field is revealing.
The Hawkeyes have won 28 games over the last three years, the second best three year total in school history. They have won three straight bowl games for the first time in school history. Kirk Ferentz has six bowl wins, the 5th highest total of any coach in Big Ten history.
The wheels have not fallen off the train.
To win a game without the services of your all time leading receiver who was also the Big Ten's leading kickoff return specialist as well as making the trip without your leading rusher and his backup going for over 220 yards?
The sky is not falling after all.