Each week during the season the Hawkeye Headquarters staff will predict the outcome of the Iowa football game.
HawkeyeHQ.com
Blake Hornstein (8-5): Who says bowl games don’t matter? Not Kirk, not the Hawks, and not me.
Kirk Ferentz has only won 11 games three times as Iowa’s head coach. That was in 2002, 2009 and 2015 — the three most appreciated football seasons in the Ferentz era.
Brian Ferentz unexpectedly met with the media ahead of the bowl, and had some insightful thoughts on how the “drive to 325” took attention away from the team.
“What I resent the most about this situation is that the focus has come off of our football players who have really accomplished some tremendous things this year,” Ferentz said.
Yes, Iowa lost to the No. 1 team in the country. Yes, the Hawkeyes still have the worst offense in the sport. Yes, this team’s won 10 games this year in ways only Iowa could — and they can still be in a class with two Orange Bowl teams, and a Rose Bowl runner-up.
On this subject, I stand with Brian. Let’s turn our attention back on this Iowa football team for one more game. Stop and smell the roses, you may not appreciate what you’re missing out on until it’s too late.
Prediction: 20-7 Iowa
Ryan Jaster (10-3): You can’t spell Citrus without UT. And Iowa once again gets the ol’ ball coach’s favorite punchline in the postseason.
Make no mistake: This is the Citrus Bowl. Slapping a Cheez-It in front of the name caused some confusion, but the former Cheez-It Bowl is now the Pop Tarts Bowl. And what a debut it had.
That Orlando bowl started in Miami as the Blockbuster Bowl in 1990 and has rotated through a variety of corporate names since. The first Cheez-It Bowl was played in Arizona in what was once the Copper Bowl.
Such is life in modern college football. More and more sponsors are getting their mayo’s worth, but the core bowl names should be retained no matter the sponsor.
The Holiday Bowl ditched the @holidaybowl handle for … @directv_hb (?!) in deference to their new sponsor. That seems like a fumble worse than any of the three USC had against Iowa in the 2019 game, but I’m leaving my tweet pinned anyway.
The Orange Bowl was presented by FedEx when the Hawkeyes went twice, but now Capital One is the title sponsor, which created this Citrus conundrum we have now. You see, the Citrus Bowl was known as the Capital One Bowl from 2003-2014, demoting the oranges, lemons, limes and, presumably, tangerines, since it was the Tangerine Bowl from 1947-1982. But who can forget that 2005 game? Same bowl.
But these Hawkeyes are playing in the Citrus Bowl, and it has a storied history beyond Steve Spurrier and sponsors, including the George L. Stuart trophy in its various forms. (Now filled with crackers!)
The original trophy has a matching statue outside the stadium, and “is symbolic of the bowl’s charitable goal to benefit children’s hospitals.” That seems to be a good fit for the Hawkeyes.
Tennessee, historically, has not been a good match, at least in “recent” history. In football, Iowa won the first game and lost the past two. In men’s basketball, the Hawks won the first two and lost the past three — the last two in the NCAA Tournament in overtime. In women’s basketball, the Hawkeyes lost the first two and won the last one — way back in 1993. So we found a positive before pivoting back to pigskin.
The 1982 Peach Bowl was the first time Iowa qualified to play in a postseason game that wasn’t the Rose Bowl. (1975 was the first year Big Ten teams could go to a different bowl.) And they won 28-22.
They played again in 1987 in East Rutherford, New Jersey and the Hawkeyes lost 23-22 in what was known as the Kickoff Classic. Do we call the 7-3 win with no touchdowns that now? I digress.
The third and latest pairing was no charm. It’s not an exaggeration to say the Hawks were slayed in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville. People of the time period called it that.
Now known as the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, it was the last Iowa game that was not prognosticated by the Totally Irrelevant Prediction. It debuted later that year. And while the poetry of ending it here abruptly — sandwiched between two Hawks-Vols games — was tempting, so was a nice, round number paired with one thin, vertical number – 10. The PS2’s got one more year in it, even if a column filled with an absurd amount of links and obscure references doesn’t.
The TIP’s final outlook on Year 9 is a messy 23-19 win. Seven field goals and 11 turnovers between the two teams. Hawkeyes wide receiver Ed Hinkel (he’s in the game) has a key interception on a Tennessee fake punt. Iowa fumbles away a game-clinching touchdown at the 1, but ultimately comes out on top thanks to a dominant defense that — stop me if you’ve heard this before — bends but doesn’t break (unless you count a single garbage-time touchdown).
The Hawkologist’s prognosis — after consulting with the words of local reporters leaning Iowa and the national media taking Tennessee — is a 3 on the 6-point pain index. These are ultimately and increasingly exhibitions, so let’s hope the Hawkeyes have some fun on their vacation. Who knows, maybe they even score… -30-
Here’s a look at what others from near and far expect:
HawkeyeInsider.com
David Eickholt: Iowa 17, Tennessee 13. Click here to read more.
Sean Bock: Iowa 14, Tennessee 13
Go Iowa Awesome
Eliot Clough: Iowa 23, Tennessee 6
HawkeyesMic.com
Scott Dochterman: Iowa 20, Tennessee 16
John Bohnenkamp: Iowa 17, Tennessee 7
Marc Morehouse: Iowa 26, Tennessee 25
Brendan Stiles: Iowa 17, Tennessee 13
John Patchett: Iowa 17, Tennessee 10
Tyler Tjelmeland: Iowa 16, Tennessee 10
Jack Brandsgard: Tennessee 13, Iowa 10
CBS Sports
Dennis Dodd: Tennessee
Tom Fornelli: Iowa
Chip Patterson: Tennessee
Barrett Sallee: Tennessee
Shehan Jeyarajah: Tennessee
David Cobb: Tennessee
Jerry Palm: Tennessee
ESPN
Bill Connelly: Tennessee 22, Iowa 17
Athlon Sports
Steven Lassan: Tennessee
Joe Vitale: Tennessee
Luke Easterling: Tennessee
Bleacher Report
David Kenyon: Tennessee 16, Iowa 13
USA Today
Scooby Axson: Tennessee
Jace Evans: Iowa
Paul Myerberg: Tennessee
Erick Smith: Tennessee
Eddie Timanus: Iowa
Dan Wolken: Tennessee
For more Hawkeyes football coverage, follow @BlakeHornTV and @HawkeyeHQ on Twitter and Facebook. You can find Hawkeye Headquarters at HawkeyeHQ.com all season.
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