STORY: Hawkeyes Headed Back to Outback Bowl, Facing Mississippi St.

This will be a nice win for this program. It will be a game similar to the 2009 outback bowl. Iowa will take the momentum forward into a great 2019 season.
 
Better than Penn State? I doubt that.

Auburn is not a great win. They were a big disappointment this year.

Miss St is like us in that they came up empty-handed against the best competition they faced. 0-4 vs Florida, Bama, LSU, and Kentucky, and only the Florida game was a tight one. SEC West wasn't all that behind Bama this year.

Both teams are similar and Miss State is #8 and Iowa is #11 in the Sagarin ratings.
So, records aside, these are 2 solid teams.
However, Miss State got boat-raced at Kentucky and Iowa was competitive in our 4 losses.
 
Both teams are similar and Miss State is #8 and Iowa is #11 in the Sagarin ratings.
So, records aside, these are 2 solid teams.
However, Miss State got boat-raced at Kentucky and Iowa was competitive in our 4 losses.
Iowa beat one team with a winning record. Iowa is not a solid team this year
 
I doubt we score much if any against them. #1 scoring defense, #3 overall defense in the nation. Cover hockenson, put a little pressure on Stanley. Game over.
 
Regardless of the outcome, I like this matchup. Naturally, I would like a win over an SEC team. We can gain more in terms of national branding and recruiting in a recruit rich region. Derrick Foster is from the south, Brandon Smith and Mehki Sargent are a couple of our guys from down that way. We don’t recruit California and dont see it as an advantage playing there especially considering our lack of success there. The occasional Rose Bowl is now just a consolation prize these days unless it’s their turn to host the playoffs. I’d much rather make it to the College Football Playoff over any bowl.
 
I doubt we score much if any against them. #1 scoring defense, #3 overall defense in the nation. Cover hockenson, put a little pressure on Stanley. Game over.

When we played Florida 2 years ago in the Outback Bowl, Florida was missing half of their defensive starters.
We had an NFL-caliber QB and Iowa still looked awful.
Yes, that was Greg Davis calling the plays, but Beathard had the green light to check out of a play.

I barely trust Little Lick more with the offense than Greg Davis, but if we could barely move it against Northwestern, with a defense ranked 48th, how is Iowa going to move it against the #3 defense?

Plus, the Bulldog QB can run, as well, and Balki Bartokomous's defense never seems to have an answer for mobile quarterbacks.
 
Sorry, two. NIU was 9-4, including a win over BYU, who beat Wisconsin.

Nice try, though.

That total could increase to three if Minnesota wins it's bowl game.
So we have two "signature wins" this season and that could turn to four depending on the bowls! Who would have guessed that!
 
Auburn is not a great win. They were a big disappointment this year.

Auburn was decent. It's just that wins are really hard to come by in the SEC West. Auburn's losses are to LSU, Georgia, Bama, Mississippi State and Tennessee. That Tennessee loss stung, but that Auburn team would have probably gone 7-0 or 6-1 at worst if it played the whole B1G West. Having Georgia as your protected rival and then playing in the SEC West can be hazardous to your record.
 
So we have two "signature wins" this season and that could turn to four depending on the bowls! Who would have guessed that!
A lot is riding on this game, as it usually does in bowls.
After everything that happened, 9-4 sounds a lot better than 8-5.
 

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