This Week's Poll: The Most Painful KF Era Losses

[99topdawg]

You lose a game in OT where the winner wins the Big Ten and goes to the Rose Bowl, that's painful man

Absolutely, which is why it is at the top of the list for me. How often do we get that close to the Rose Bowl? That one still hurts.

 

[goods10]

You have to look at the loss to ISU in '02 as a huge loss. If Iowa wins that game and finish the season with only 1 loss that could have meant a trip to the Rose Bowl! Yes I know Iowa still went to the Orange but they also played the best team in the country in that game(USC). I think Iowa would have won the Rose!

 

[FalseMirage]

'05 NU
'10 Wisc
'11 Minn

If I could vote again I would trade '05 NU for '10 tOSU.

 

[Hawkfromnorwalk]

You have to look at the loss to ISU in '02 as a huge loss. If Iowa wins that game and finish the season with only 1 loss that could have meant a trip to the Rose Bowl! Yes I know Iowa still went to the Orange but they also played the best team in the country in that game(USC). I think Iowa would have won the Rose!

Against Washington State? Damn right Iowa would have won. I'm pretty sure Oklahoma **** pounded them if I recall correctly.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

I picked:
-- NwU - Ricky's ankle.
-- ISU '02 - agreed, in hindsight.
-- The "debacle in the desert". The ASU fans were the most abusive I've ever seen. Walking toward the bar area, trying to find a place to "wash away" the stench and the taunting + beer showers raining from the balconies was non-stop.

Other notables:
--Wisky's fake punt (I would have picked this but only saw it after I'd voted.)

--A few weeks later, the 20-17 loss to OStU.
With a 4 point lead and 7 minutes left in the game, Iowa comes out passing = sack for 6, complete for 11, incomplete, punt.
OStU gets go-ahead TD (that included a 4th & 16 run for 1st down by Pryor).
4:18 and Iowa comes out passing again = incomplete, incomplete, sack for loss of 11, complete for 19 (short by 2 on 4th down).
I was so pizzed I left cuz I knew they had just lost the game.

-- For that matter, the 3 losses (OStU, NwU, Minny) to close out 2010 were sickening. All blown leads. Such a promising season sputtered away in November.

-- Honorable mention, the loss to MSU when FB went right and Greene went left to get stuffed on 4th & 1 at MSU 24. One of the few times KF went for the win when a fg ties the game.

Yeah! Thanks for this poll! You gonna offer up some salt to pour in these wounds?!

 

[hawkfan340]

Western Michigan was the most embarrassing loss I've ever seen as a Hawkeye fan. Maybe not the most painful since the season was in the toilet anyway, but definitely the most embarrassing.

Senior Day at home, bowl trip on the line, against a 3-7 MAC team. And we got beaten soundly. Home crowd booed our boys (it happened, people). Coming on the heels of the sexual assault charges. The season was miserable anyway, and this was the coup de grace. Gawd that was ugly.

 

[OldAlum]

Taking a knee at OSU when with the Rose Bowl on the line was difficult to stomach. It forever changed my expectations. Since that game I've accepted that the program, under current leadership, won't be a championship program. It will be a decent, hard working, developmental program that is capable of nice seasons and putting guys in the NFL - but it won't be a program the consistently delivers a kill shot in big spots.

The Wisconsin fake punt was a dagger - half the crowd in 126 was yelling "watch the fake" then, sure enough...

Losing to ISU is always unpleasant because of the water cooler talk the following Monday (and the following year). Most of the ISU guys I work with are awesome people and good friends but go Dr. Jekyl when it comes to Iowa. They all hate Iowa. Thats the thing - I think Iowa fans are dismissive of ISU but there is not the hate (just a lack of respect). ISU has the hate going for them - a great motivator I think.

 

[Chickenlounge]

I picked 2010 Wisconsin as one...it was the loudest I have ever heard Kinnick and I watched it from the Iowa sidelines as I was working for the BTN that day....and I had to swallow the pain because I interviewed Bielema 1 minute after the game was over on the 50 yard line and had to pretend I was happy for him

You deserve this.

No way I could have acted that well.

 

[CAARHawk]

It seems like people are responding to different questions. 1) Most embarrassing loss. 2) Most demoralizing loss 3) Most impactful loss 4) Most unexpected loss...

No way WMU was that painful. Seriously, there weren't even that many people who decided to show up.

2009 NW was a heartbreaker, because it also looked like the season was dead. 2002 Orange Bowl? The Heartbreaker there was the bowl selection.

2005 Michigan was a true heartbreaker, because it killed the mystique and showed us that the high times were over.

2006 NW was not heartbreaking, but disgusting. Fat cat players and coaches who deserved what they got.

2009 OSU was an expected loss.

 

[ssckelley]

I can see why that game is on there. We were playing for the Championship and we lost in OT because we played it safe.

You lose a game in OT where the winner wins the Big Ten and goes to the Rose Bowl, that's painful man

But remember back to how you felt before that game, we all thought Iowa was going to get crushed. The thinking was if Vandy could not move the offense against Northwestern, no way was he going to move it against Ohio State. But he did and gave Iowa a chance to win, the game took me by surprise. While losing that game was gutwrenching you look back on it and say, at least Iowa had a chance. I do not look back on it and say it was the turning point of the season, to me the Northwestern loss was. KoK should have been fired for calling that roll out pass out of his own endzone, getting Stanzi crushed. That loss ended the perfect season, right after being on the SI cover.

But I still have nightmares over the Wisconsin loss, I still look back at it and throw up every time mental images of that fake punt come to mind. IMO, that moment and that loss was the turning point of the season.

 

[WildTurkey]

How about the 10' Zona game? That really started the downfall to the season. If we pull that out, who knows what the mentality of the team would have been.

I was at this game in Tucson. Never seen so many drunken Mexicans talking **** to disappointed Iowans. It was brutal after the game. Couldn't wait to get out of town

 

[pmchawk]

I will NEVER forget the silence as we walked out of the stadium in 2005 after the OT loss to Michigan.

We had this tremendous win streak that was snapped, and everyone seemed shocked and speechless.

As I recall, there were some horrendously bad calls by the referees throughout the game that had the crowd 6 degrees of ****** off!...

That was the year of the horrible officiating. 3 games were lost that had several terrible calls against us.

 

[Calculator]

2007 we are at 6 wins not sure of a bowl yet. All we need to do is BEAT WESTERN MICHIGAN AT HOME ON SENIOR DAY to get to 7 wins and a bowl game. That my friends is a terrible loss.

 

[Hawkfromnorwalk]

I was at this game in Tucson. Never seen so many drunken Mexicans talking **** to disappointed Iowans. It was brutal after the game. Couldn't wait to get out of town

I was there too. Their fans were giant di*ks. I'm glad we had a cab lined up and were able to get out of there fairly quick.

 

[ssckelley]

One question I have though Jon, why did you leave the Florida loss in the Outback Bowl off this list? That is another game I still have nightmares about from our guy damn near getting his head ripped off and then getting called for facemask to the imaginary offsides call on the onsides kick.

 

[TecmoSuperHawk]

Without a doubt 2005 NW was the most painful loss for me. Not because of the significance of the loss, but how we lost. Blowing a 13 point lead in the last 3 minutes of a game we had been dominating. I could not shake that loss for days. I know there are so many losses to NW this one gets lost in the shuffle.

 

[GhostofBTT]

Never seen so many drunken Mexicans talking **** to disappointed Iowans. It was brutal after the game. Couldn't wait to get out of town

I see you've never lost a taco-eating contest at Ganzo's Cinco de Mayo party.

 

[David79]

I picked:
-- NwU - Ricky's ankle.
-- ISU '02 - agreed, in hindsight.
-- The "debacle in the desert". The ASU fans were the most abusive I've ever seen. Walking toward the bar area, trying to find a place to "wash away" the stench and the taunting + beer showers raining from the balconies was non-stop.

Other notables:
--Wisky's fake punt (I would have picked this but only saw it after I'd voted.)

--A few weeks later, the 20-17 loss to OStU.
With a 4 point lead and 7 minutes left in the game, Iowa comes out passing = sack for 6, complete for 11, incomplete, punt.
OStU gets go-ahead TD (that included a 4th & 16 run for 1st down by Pryor).
4:18 and Iowa comes out passing again = incomplete, incomplete, sack for loss of 11, complete for 19 (short by 2 on 4th down).
I was so pizzed I left cuz I knew they had just lost the game.

Yeah! Thanks for this poll! You gonna offer up some salt to pour in these wounds?!

The other thing about the OSU game I remember is taking Coker out when he was absolutetly shredding their defense to put in Robinson who clearly wasn't 100%. And Coker didn't see the ball again until the 4th quarter. They also passed too much in the second quarter. Im convinced if they would have stuck with Coker and the running game the game wouldn't have been close enough for them to come back in the last few minutes.

 

[BergHawk7]

I will NEVER forget the silence as we walked out of the stadium in 2005 after the OT loss to Michigan.We had this tremendous win streak that was snapped, and everyone seemed shocked and speechless.As I recall, there were some horrendously bad calls by the referees throughout the game that had the crowd 6 degrees of ****** off!That same silence was there again in 2009 against NW when Stanzi went down.

That 2005 mich game was a joke of.officiating. It was that old dude (cant remember his name), hes a mich native, nd every time he refs our games, I always know hes gonna be a stickler. I hate that guy.

 

[BergHawk7]

The Northwestern loss in 2009 was the worst for me. Lose an undefeated season and your starting quarterback. I put 2002 ISU on the list as well but that loss is only painful in hindsight. Nobody thought they'd run the table the rest of the way at the time. The other one for me was Wisconsin in 2010. I'll never forget that game.

These were my picks as well. The 2002 loss to Iowa State was very painful at the time as they gave that game away, it got even more painful as the season progressed and Iowa got into NC discussions.Wisconsin, omg everyone in the stadium knew that fake punt was coming except for our players and coaches. The Northwestern loss was more about losing Stanzi than anything, they jumped out to a 10 point lead and after he got hurt nothing.

I was at the wisky game also, you nailed, EVERYONE in the stands knew it was coming. We all said "watch the fake" cuz it was a perfect time to do it. Thats probably the angriest iv been at an iowa game. Uhg we shouldv won.