Iowa football: Five observations in Senior Day win over Illinois
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa football team won what would aptly be described as an ugly game versus Illinois today. Here are five observations from the senior day victory.
Much like nearly every game this season, the Iowa football team put together an ugly performance, and like seven other times before it, they turned an ugly performance into a win. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
But as Matt Opad pointed out, it didn’t start off the way. The Hawks quickly drove down the field and scored before turning around and forcing a turnover by Illinois. However, they couldn’t convert the fantastic field position into any points after a Keith Duncan miss and momentum swung right to Illinois who promptly drove down the field.
From that point forward it was your typical bend-but-don’t-break Phil Parker defense, and your typical frustrating offensive performance by the Iowa football team. But again, the Hawks came away with a 19-10 win for their eighth win of the season and their fifth win in the Big Ten, giving Kirk Ferentz a share of fourth place on the all-time Big Ten wins records list next to mentor Hayden Fry.
With that being said, here are my five quick observations from today’s victory.