Ferentz Era Countdown: #23 2019 Outback Bowl

It’s hard to believe, but this will be the 27^th season with Kirk Ferentz guiding the Iowa football program. It will also be a record setting one for the longest active tenured head coach in college football, as Ferentz is poised to pass Woody Hayes for most wins by a Big Ten head coach.

Also, Ferentz will reach another milestone by turning 70 years old on August 1^st. He also shows no signs of slowing down and heading into retirement as he continues to post winning season after winning season.

With all that in mind, we decided to vote on the 27 best games of the Ferentz era. By picking only 27, you leave a few on the cutting room floor and truth be told, I probably squeezed a few in that might not make the list a year from now, but I wanted to represent the various eras of Ferentz leading the program.

The 23^rd game on the list is one from a very familiar bowl destination for Iowa fans. It’s the Outback Bowl and it’s the Hawkeyes most recent trip there. Yep, that’s right it’s the game that made me never again ask for more cowbell.

Iowa defeated Mississippi State 27-22 and did so with -15 yards rushing. Yep, Iowa has one player with positive rush yardage and frankly never got their ground attack going. That was in large part due to Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. While he didn’t end up with great tackle numbers on the day, he basically lived in the Iowa backfield all game long. Defensive end Montez Sweat was also very good, but Simmons was a freak of nature.

The key to this victory?

It was Iowa’s defense creating turnovers and making timely plays, and the Hawkeye offense cashing in on opportunities when they presented themselves.

Basically, the formula for Iowa football for most of the tenure of Kirk Ferentz.

Mississippi State opened with a pair of field goals in the first quarter to go up 6-0. Iowa’s offense was not good early on. Truth be told, it wasn’t all that good the entire game with only 199 yards of total offense compared to 74 plays and 342 yards by Mississippi State.

Iowa finally started moving the football early in the second period. A targeting call on MSU aided the Hawkeyes and got them down to the 33 yard line. Eventually Miguel Recinos hit from 44 yards out and it was 6-3.

After the Iowa defense got a fairly quick stop, the Hawkeye offense too over their own 25 yard line. That’s when the Hawkeyes finally hit a big play. That play was of course, by Nick Easley, who ended up being the MVP of the game. Nate Stanley executed play action in the backfield. Mississippi State took the cheese, including a fake by Easley on a block and he sprinted alone and Stanley hit him in stride and Easley did the rest for a 75 yard score and a 10-6 Iowa lead.

But, Iowa wasn’t done in the first half. On the next drive, Nick Fitzgerald was sacked by A.J. Epenesa. Chauncey Golston scooped up the ball at the MSU 13 yard line and the Hawkeyes were in business with seven minutes left before halftime. On the second play from scrimmage, Stanley hit Ihmir Smith-Marsette for a score from 15 yards out and it was 17-6.

That score held until halftime. Iowa had the ball to start the second half and a good return by Smith-Marsette had the Hawkeyes in business at their own 44 yard line. After getting to the Mississippi State 45, disaster struck. Stanley was sacked by Sweat and then on the next play, Stanley threw an interception that was caught by Willie Gay. He returned it down to the Iowa 7 yard line. Three plays later, Fitzgerald completed a 1 yard pass to running back Kylin Hill for the score. They failed to convert the two point play and it was 17-12 Iowa.

Disaster struck again on the return by the Hawkeyes. Smith-Marsette had the ball pop out of his hands and it fell into the hands of a Mississippi State player. They were now in business from the Iowa 33 yard line. From there, Fitzgerald made what was pretty remarkable run down the sidelines for a touchdown. Suddenly, a game that Iowa was leading by 11 at the break, saw the Hawkeyes down by two with just four minutes gone in the third period.

Iowa was forced to punt and then the turnover bug hit MSU.

Golston, who had recovered a fumble earlier, this time intercepted a pass and returned it to the MSU 32 yard line. The Hawkeye offense had a chance to capitalize on another mistake and they did just that. On the sixth play of the drive from the MSU 8 yard line, Stanley hit Easley and thanks to a nice block by Brandon Smith he gets into the end zone for his second TD of the game and a 24-19 Iowa lead.

On their first drive of the fourth quarter, it looked like Mississippi State was going to take the lead back. Fitzgerald found Steven Guidry open for what looked like a touchdown. However, he was tripped up at the 1 yard line. Iowa’s defense held and they had to settle for a 20 yard field goal to make it 24-22.

The Hawkeye offense went three and out and MSU was back in action. Fitzgerald completed a 34 yard pass and they were in business at the Iowa 31. After a pair of running plays, Fitzgerald finds Guidry open in the end zone for what looked like the go ahead score. But, the ball bounced off him and into the hands of Jake Gervase, who returned it to the 28 yard line.

From there, Stanley hit T.J. Hockenson for a pair of gains of 20 and 22 yards. Eventually the drive stalled at the 22 and Recinos hit from 40 yards out and it was 27-22 with nearly six minutes left in the game.

Following a pair of three and outs, Mississippi State took over at their own 31 with 2:22 left in the game. A 15 yard completion got MSU down to the Iowa 37, but that was basically it for the drive. On 4^th and 5 from the Iowa 32, a pass was broken up by the Iowa secondary and the Hawkeyes could celebrate a win in Tampa.

WHY WAS THIS GAME INCLUDED ON THE LIST?

A bowl win over an SEC opponent is almost always going to make it.

Plus it was a pretty wild game with some crazy swings in momentum. Iowa goes from lifeless in the first quarter to scoring 17 points rather quickly.

What a great story Nick Easley was. Walk-on who wasn’t really on anyone’s radar to winning the MVP of a New Year’s Day bowl game. Wow. That’s pretty cool stuff and I remember Kirk Ferentz getting a little choked up about it in the post game.