The Iowa Hawkeyes had not won a bowl game since 2010, and in many of those performances fell flat on their face. Yesterday’s Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. But Kirk Ferentz and Iowa are just fine with that as long as it gets them a win.
Over the years, Iowa has had a habit of winning games that it looked like it had no busines winning. How does Iowa win these games? They hang around even when they aren’t playing well, play mistake free football and capitalize on other team’s miscues. The Pinstripe Bowl fit that to a T.
The first half did not go well for Iowa. It looked as though this game was following the previous three bowl games and Iowa was going to be run off the field. But, this year was different. Despite being outgained 269-57 by Boston College, Iowa only trailed 17-10. An interception by Jake Gervase and a long kick return from Akrum Wadley set Iowa up with short fields.
Boston College outgained Iowa by nearly 200 yards. However, it turned the ball over three times, which led to 10 Iowa points. Anthony Nelson had a strip sack which led to the go-ahead touchdown run. On the ensuing drive, Josh Jackson tied an Iowa school record with his 8th interception to essentially win the game for Iowa.
The second half was a complete turnaround. Iowa came out and forced a three-and-out and responded by driving right down the field to tie the game on an Akrum Wadley 5-yard touchdown run. The Iowa defense that was getting dominated all over the field was suddenly flying to the ball and it was the Boston College offense that was stuck in the mud, or ice.
Akrum Wadley kept Iowa in the game in the first half and won them the game in the second half. Rightfully, The MVP of the game was Wadley. He ran for 88 yards, 1 touchdown and had 293 total yards. Wadley was held in check for much of the first half. In the second half, he had a lot of key runs. None were bigger than his 17 yard run on the first play of Iowa’s go-ahead drive.
A minor tweak that paid major dividends for Iowa was the decision to have Wadley return kicks. Iowa had not given Wadley returning duties since week 2 against Iowa State and he delivered. His 72 yard return in the first half set up an Iowa touchdown.
This game was messy. It was not very well-played, the field conditions were poor and saw players from both teams slipping all over the place. But in the end, Iowa did just enough to get its first bowl victory since 2010. With the win Kirk Ferentz ties Hayden Fry for the Iowa record for wins by a head coach.
Kirk Ferentz wouldn’t have it any other way. Last night, ugly football was winning football. The win is all that matters to the longest tenured head coach in the FBS.
