The Iowa football team hasn’t played in the Holiday Bowl since 1987, and unless they end up there this season, it could be a while before they make it back.
At the conclusion of last season, there was a strong feeling the Iowa football team would end up in the Holiday Bowl. All signs pointed that way, but the Outback Bowl loved what Iowa football fans brought to the table and chose to bring in the Hawks instead of Northwestern.
Now, unless the Iowa football team has an 8-4 or 9-3 season (which is quite possible), they may not have an opportunity to head to San Diego to play in the Holiday Bowl for some time.
The last time the Iowa football team was in the Holiday Bowl was back in 1987 when Chuck Hartlieb was the starting quarterback and the Hawks knocked off Wyoming.
The only other time the Hawks traveled to San Diego to play in the Holiday Bowl was literally the year before 1987, a game that they also won.
Now, with the conclusion of the current six-year bowl cycle coming to the forefront after the 2019 season, there are a few changes happening per Brett McMurphy.
The Big Ten is going to be losing the Holiday Bowl and in its place, it will get the Las Vegas Bowl and the Belk Bowl (it’ll be alternating each year). Additionally, the Big Ten will be adding the Cheez-It bowl.
For the sake of the Iowa football program, I hope we never have to experience going to the low-end Cheez-It Bowl, but the combination of the Las Vegas Bowl and the Belk Bowl will be a possibly fun experience for the Iowa football team.
The Las Vegas Bowl is an easy trip for Hawkeye fans and in warm weather while the Belk Bowl is located in North Carolina, which isn’t as easy of a trip but again, a much warmer location than the state of Iowa in the winter.
While an appearance in the Holiday Bowl would be awesome (and again, totally plausible next year), the Iowa football team has high hopes this season and if everything goes right, we could be talking about another return to the ever-cherished Rose Bowl instead.