Iowa football: Hawks have been so close, yet so far past three years

The Iowa football team has been within seven points of nine wins over the past three years. Here’s a breakdown of just how close, yet how far they’ve been.

If you’re an Iowa football fan, you know all too well the heartbreak of losing a close game. In fact, over the last twelve losses suffered by the Iowa football team over the past three years, nine of them have come by one score or less.

That’s not just understanding heartbreak, that’s suffering agony multiple times a season constantly wondering what-if?

What if Nate Stanley sneaks in for the two-point conversion against Wisconsin? What if pass interference isn’t called last year at Purdue? What if the Iowa football team doesn’t let multiple games against Penn State slip away?

Well, unfortunately, the game of what-ifs is what separates the great teams from the good teams. And make no mistake, despite what you may think, the Iowa football team is a good team. If they want to be great, they need to learn how to not just keep the game close, but to win the game in the final moments when it matters.

In those nine one-possession losses, the Hawks have lost by a combined 42 points. In case you’re keeping track at home, that’s just one point more than the amount Nebraska lost by to Ohio State this season.

Here’s a rundown of those games:

Wisconsin 24 – Iowa 22 (2019): Hawks fail to convert on 2 point conversion with time running down. Wisconsin runs the clock out.

Penn State 17 – Iowa 12 (2019): The Hawks struggled throughout this game but scored a touchdown with 2:31 remaining on a beautiful Brandon Smith catch. Penn State gets the first down on the ensuing drive and runs the clock out.

Michigan 10 – Iowa 3 (2019): On the second to last drive of the game, Nate Stanley completed a 31-yard pass to Tyler Goodson to get the ball to the 25. They then proceeded to have two holding penalties and a false start penalty to go along with a sack that would push them back 26 yards and force them to punt. The next drive, despite needing just 57 yards, resulted in basically nothing.

Northwestern 14 – Iowa 10 (2018): Northwestern scores a go-ahead touchdown with 9:27 left. Iowa fumbles on two of its last four drives.

Purdue 38 – Iowa 36 (2018): The Iowa football team scores with 10:19 remaining and fail to convert the two-point conversion, and then they allow the Boilermakers to drive down the field late in the game (with the help of a bogus pass interference call) to kick a game-winning field goal.

Penn State 30 – Iowa 24 (2018): Nate Stanley throws an interception at the goal line on a miscommunication with Noah Fant in what could have been the go-ahead touchdown late in the 4th quarter.

Wisconsin 28 – Iowa 17 (2018): Up 4 with four minutes remaining, the Badgers promptly drove the field to go ahead by 3 points with less than a minute left. Iowa throws an interception and Wisconsin scores again.

Purdue 24 – Iowa 15 (2017): The Iowa football team just flat out lost this game.

Wisconsin 38 – Iowa 14 (2017): This one too.

Northwestern 17 – Iowa 10 (2017): Iowa kicks a game-tying field goal with time expiring. Northwestern scores in overtime and the Iowa football team fails to score.

Penn State 21 – Iowa 19 (2017): Akrum Wadley scores a go-ahead touchdown with 1:42 left in the game. Penn State drives all the way down the field to score on the final play of the game.

By looking at this, it becomes quite apparent just why Iowa football fans are so quick to get riled up and upset over close losses. Over the past three years, it has happened at least three times a year where they lose in relatively unique ways by one possession or less.

If the Hawks were able to close out even half of these games, there could be a significantly different outlook on the success of the last three seasons and senior quarterback Nate Stanley.