Throwback Thursday: UCLA vs Iowa 1981

[hawkdrummer1]

I have never seen video of this game. Was it not televised? I was 2.

It looks like the Zapruder film...grainy black and white.

BTW, I was there too. Never forget seeing the defense just swarm the UCLA QB (Ramsey?) in the North end zone right in front of me, causing him to fumble He crumpled to the ground... and Mark Bortz recovered for the TD, putting IOWA up 17-7 in the 4th Qtr.

There have been many great games in Kinnick since then, but that was one magical season. The rebirth of IOWA football. Every game felt like Christmas morning.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

It looks like the Zapruder film...grainy black and white.

BTW, I was there too. Never forget seeing the defense just swarm the UCLA QB (Ramsey?) in the North end zone right in front of me, causing him to fumble He crumpled to the ground... and Mark Bortz recovered for the TD, putting IOWA up 17-7 in the 4th Qtr.

There have been many great games in Kinnick since then, but that was one magical season. The rebirth of IOWA football. Every game felt like Christmas morning.

There were many bumper stickers in eastern Iowa that read: "THIS YEAR IS NEXT YEAR!

 

[imported_ankle23]

McCarney reminisces: The Hawkeyes' 1981 defense

http://archive.hawkcentral.com/2011/11/21/mccarney-reminisces-the-hawkeyes-1981-defense/

i read thru all of those articles last evening - the 81 nebraska iowa articles, pictures, etc. from hawkcentral!

 

[JLCHawk]

You are correct. The pride of Decorah, Iowa did break his leg that day. But that didn't stop us. We held the Bruins to around 100 yards of total offense and 7 first downs.

Andre Tippett, Mark Bortz and the entire defense just absolutely destroyed Irv Eatman and a highly ranked UCLA team that day.

As good as it gets.

I was at this game & the score didn't do justice to the fact that The Hawks literally mauled UCLA. I enjoyed every minute of it.

 

[imported_ankle23]

http://archive.hawkcentral.com/tag/iowa-nebraska/page/4/

 

[HawkinGoferLand]

IIRC both UCLA and Nebraska were ranked #6 at the time we beat them, anyone remember?

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I was there too. Wasn't that the game where Lon Olejniczak broke his leg? On a kickoff I think.

Correct. And it gave us Tom Nichol, since Lon kicked PATs and shorter FGs

BTW, Lon DID make it back for the 1983 season. Caught a TD at Ann Arbor off a fake FG, I think, or maybe caught a 2-pt conversion to tie the game up (or something similar).

 

[ClintonIAfan]

In 1981 Iowa beat 3 top 10 teams. When Iowa played them Michigan was #5, UCLA #6, Nebraska #7. All 3 of those teams were held to 7 points against Iowa.

 

[5Hawkeyes]

I was at that game and all the games that year. They played on the horrible turf. If you ever had the chance to walk or play on it, it was literally like concrete (in reality it was). Amazed more people didn't get hurt on that stuff. Biggest regret was not going out to the Rose Bowl that year. All my buddies loaded up and drove out and I stayed home like an idiot.

Andre Tippett was so good, the young kids on here have no idea!!!

 

[SteveGarvey]

Shouldn't you guys be dead?

I was there as well as a teenager. My memory has faded and I remembered it as the players were wearing leather helmets until I saw the picture posted.

 

[Flamingo1]

Re: *Whew!

Yes that always works out so well when Iowa goes out to play Arizona or Ariz St. when was the last time Iowa won a regular season game in the mountain or pacific time zones?

I would rather lose to UCLA, Arizona State or Arizona than watch Iowa play Illinois State or North Texas. I give Nebraska a lot of credit for scheduling BYU and Miami in their out-of-conference schedule. They may have lost those games, but they are at least putting games on their schedule worth watching. If I still lived in Iowa and had season tickets, I would be ****** at the out-of-conference games they are scheduling. What has been even worse is to then watch the Hawkeyes struggle in some of those games.

I went to the Iowa/Arizona and Iowa/ASU games when they came out west. We didn't fare well, that's true. But we beat both those teams like a drum when the game was in Iowa City.

During one of the Nebraska games, I heard a player interviewed and he said that was one of the reasons he came to Nebraska - to get an opportunity to play teams like Miami. Playing some high-profile teams might make the program more "sexy".

 

[NCHawker]

In 1981 Iowa beat 3 top 10 teams. When Iowa played them Michigan was #5, UCLA #6, Nebraska #7. All 3 of those teams were held to 7 points against Iowa.

Imagine if that happened now, beating several top 10 teams. No wonder we were so high on the hawks!

 

[99topdawg]

Imagine if that happened now, beating several top 10 teams. No wonder we were so high on the hawks!

But we have beaten 2 P5 teams, so there's that. I've heard that's a huge accomplishment.

 

[99topdawg]

Capacity of Kinnick was 60,160.

If they'd bowl in the south end zone, it would certainly help get more people there and improve the quality of the team. Coaches and athletes won't matter anymore.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

In 1981 Iowa beat 3 top 10 teams. When Iowa played them Michigan was #5, UCLA #6, Nebraska #7. All 3 of those teams were held to 7 points against Iowa.

Yeah, but the Hawks also lost to last-place Minnesota in Iowa City.

 

[ClintonIAfan]

Minnesota finished 6th in the Big 10. Northwestern was in last place. Iowa completely dominated the mildcats.

 

[83Hawk]

Re: *Whew!

I would rather lose to UCLA, Arizona State or Arizona than watch Iowa play Illinois State or North Texas. I give Nebraska a lot of credit for scheduling BYU and Miami in their out-of-conference schedule. They may have lost those games, but they are at least putting games on their schedule worth watching. If I still lived in Iowa and had season tickets, I would be ****** at the out-of-conference games they are scheduling. What has been even worse is to then watch the Hawkeyes struggle in some of those games.

I went to the Iowa/Arizona and Iowa/ASU games when they came out west. We didn't fare well, that's true. But we beat both those teams like a drum when the game was in Iowa City.

During one of the Nebraska games, I heard a player interviewed and he said that was one of the reasons he came to Nebraska - to get an opportunity to play teams like Miami. Playing some high-profile teams might make the program more "sexy".

Nebraska is the exception. Most Power 5 teams have a relatively soft non-con schedule....even the mighty SEC. Iowa's schedule actually compares favorably to most other Power 5 teams.

 

[TychoBrahe]

As an Iowa fan who was a kid during the Commings' years, you simply cannot imagine how CRAZY it was that Iowa--and we were truly considered to be perennially the worst D1 program in that nation--came out in 1981 and starting knocking off the likes of UCLA, Nebraska, and Michigan as if was nuthin'. You had to just keep telling yourself 'Yes, this is REALLY happening!'

They laid a couple of turds along the way--losses to ISU and, I recall, Illinois in addition to Minny--but the whole season just seemed miraculous at the time. People were giddy with excitement. No college football fan could believe it. Even when NW and KSU got suddenly really good, it wasn't nearly as big a national story--because IOWA did it first.

 

[NCHawker]

WEll, music always brings back memories. So do any of these strike a chord?


[video=youtube;nAOdJSDo-1E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAOdJSDo-1E[/video]

[h=2]US Top 40 Singles Week Ending September 26, 1981[/h]TW LW TITLE Artist (Label)-Weeks on Chart (Peak Position)
1 1 ENDLESS LOVE –•– Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (Motown)-12 (7 weeks at #1) (1)
2 2 QUEEN OF HEARTS –•– Juice Newton (Capitol)-18 (6)
3 3 STOP DRAGGIN’ MY HEART AROUND –•– Stevie Nicks (with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) (Modern)-10 (3)
4 4 URGENT –•– Foreigner (Atlantic)-13 (4)
5 5 (There’s) NO GETTIN’ OVER ME –•– Ronnie Milsap (RCA)-14 (5)
6 6 WHO’S CRYING NOW –•– Journey (Columbia)-11 (6)
7 7 ARTHUR’S THEME (Best That You Can Do) –•– Christopher Cross (Warner Brothers)-7 (7)
8 9 STEP BY STEP –•– Eddie Rabbitt (Elektra)-10 (8)
9 8 LADY (You Bring Me Up) –•– The Commodores (Motown)-15 (8)
10 11 START ME UP –•– The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones)-6 (10)
11 12 HOLD ON TIGHT –•– ELO (Jet)-10 (11)
12 10 SLOW HAND –•– The Pointer Sisters (Planet)-18 (4)
13 14 THE BEACH BOYS MEDLEY –•– The Beach Boys (Capitol)-10 (13)
14 19 FOR YOUR EYES ONLY –•– Sheena Easton (EMI-America)-10 (14)
15 13 JESSIE’S GIRL –•– Rick Springfield (RCA)-27 (1)
16 18 THE VOICE –•– The Moody Blues (Threshold)-8 (16)
17 20 THE NIGHT OWLS –•– The Little River Band (Capitol)-6 (17)
18 27 PRIVATE EYES –•– Daryl Hall and John Oates (RCA)-5 (18)
19 25 SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH ME –•– Kenny Rogers (Liberty)-4 (19)
20 21 IN YOUR LETTER –•– REO Speedwagon (Epic)-8 (20)
21 22 I COULD NEVER MISS YOU (More Than I Do) –•– Lulu (Alfa)-9 (21)
22 23 BREAKING AWAY –•– Balance (Portrait)-12 (22)
23 26 SUPER FREAK (Part 1) –•– Rick James (Gordy)-8 (23)
24 29 HARD TO SAY –•– Dan Fogelberg (Full Moon)-5 (24)
25 15 THEME FROM “GREATEST AMERICAN HERO” (Believe It Or Not) –•– Joey Scarbury (Elektra)-21 (2)
26 31 I’VE DONE EVERYTHING FOR YOU –•– Rick Springfield (RCA)-6 (26)
27 33 WE’RE IN THIS LOVE TOGETHER –•– Al Jarreau (Warner Brothers)-9 (27)
28 28 DRAW OF THE CARDS –•– Kim Carnes (EMI-America)-8 (28)
29 16 COOL LOVE –•– Pablo Cruise (A&M)-13 (13)
30 37 WHEN SHE WAS MY GIRL –•– The Four Tops (Casablanca)-7 (30)

 

[NEIChawk]

Wow, NC, there are some great make out tunes you got there, "Endless Love"? Who remembers having sex to that song? Sophomore year in college, IZOD shirts and sweaters, penny loafers, watching "Valley Girl" (Nicholas Cage, wowza, well that was actually 1983, but who cares right?)....1981 was also year I started to date who is now my wife.....Ok, gotta get some sleep now, medication wearing off, will try this again in the morning.....