Iowa Football: Bowl Game Is A Big Next Task

After a 42-point beat-down against Nebraska on Black Friday, the Iowa Hawkeyes look good for the upcoming bowl season. Let’s quickly recap the incredible performance the Hawkeyes contributed against the Cornhuskers.

The Hawkeyes started off the game rather slow, which was looking like another 17-10 result. Once the second half kicked off, the Hawkeyes completely took over the game. All knotted up at 14 at the half, the Hawkeyes steamrolled their way to a 42-14 lead after the 3rd quarter. This performance was lead none other than Nathan Stanley and the, at the time, red-hot Hawkeye offense.

Iowa accounted for 192 yards passing, with Nate Stanley having a 13/20 pass-attempt/completion ratio through the air. The leading receiver on the day was Noah Fant, who caught three passes for 116 total yards. For only three catches, that’s an insane number of yardage by Fant. He recorded two touchdowns on the day which piled on top of Iowa’s incredible score of 56 points.

Iowa rushing on the day was unbelievable, racking up 313 yards. The leading receiver? You guessed it, Akrum Wadley, with 159 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns (long 29-yards). Although with a struggling Nebraska defense in 2017, it is still safe to say Iowa will be prepared for their bowl game, as we all hope and pray. Overall, unbelievable game played by the Hawks in a game that had major impact come bowl selection Sunday, Dec. 3rd.

The Hawkeyes look fired up and ready for bowl season.

It has been nearly a decade since Iowa’s last bowl victory. When was their last? Well, a quarterback by the name of Ricky Stanzi was on the field, along with Micah Hyde, Tyler Sash, and many more. One of the key struggles the Hawkeyes have faced throughout the drystreak of bowl victories is the execution. Every year (except 2012 not bowl eligible), the Hawkeyes show up like a deer in headlights. The closest the Hawks have come to a victory was the 2014 Outback Bowl against LSU, which resulted in a 21-14 loss.

This year, the Hawkeyes (and fans, especially) expect to bring home a bowl game trophy. Let’s face it, at this point, winning literally any bowl game in the country would be like winning the title right now in Iowa City. The bowl game victory dry streak has been going on for far too long and it’s about time the Hawkeyes get a postseason victory. The main key this year is obviously the execution and preparation that the Hawks seem to have been lacking for years upon years. There’s something about this roller-coaster of a season that says to me this will finally be the year that the losing streak will be snapped. The Hawkeyes could play a Division III school in a bowl game and we would all still be happy, that’s basically what it’s come down to.

Overall, Iowa needs to keep up this incredible play style that was against Nebraska on the season finale and Ohio State.

The Hawks can match up against anybody with that level of execution and play, especially since they did it in Lincoln, since Iowa’s road performances aren’t usually the prettiest the past couple years. Again, play like Black Friday’s game and Iowa should have no worries ending their bowl game losing streak and grabbing their first since 2010 Insight Bowl against No. 12 Missouri. What a fun game that was, by the way.