I’m not usually one that falls into the, “I’m rooting for X league!” conversation in bowls or the NCAA Tournament. I never cared. Something bad happened to a league rival? YES. I want the worst possible consequences for my league rivals. Wisconsin’s fall? YES. MOAR. Nebraska struggling for nearly a quarter-century now and getting blown out yesterday while their coach wears a backwards camo hat? Hell yes. MOAR PAIN. Give me all of the pain.
But there is a middle ground, and that’s Big Ten versus SEC.
Maybe that’s just the culture now and all of the pro-SEC propaganda pushed through various channels. I hate all of the spin and false narrative surrounding that league so I’ve shifted opinion. So I took joy in Illinois beating Tennessee, despite them being a “rival” of Iowa (we never play them anymore so hardly a “rival”.) Illinois now has more SEC wins over the last two years (2) than Mississippi State (1).
Then Iowa mostly handles Vanderbilt, 34-27, in the Reliaquest Bowl while I am guzzling beers at a game watch. And that feels great. Iowa over an SEC team. Over a ranked SEC team, Iowa’s first win over a ranked team since the 2021 Penn State game. FEELS AMAZING, YOU GUYS.
And really, this game was dangerously close to belt to ass territory. Iowa led 7-0, got inside the Vandy 5, then threw a slant to a back up running back that was tipped and then intercepted (felt too cute by half to me.) It was teetering on a blowout. Even though it didn’t pan out that way, Iowa held the Commodores at arm’s length through most of the game. They never had a chance to tie. They never had a chance to actually lock Iowa up in a duel. None of that happened.
Instead, it’s the Big Ten putting the SEC into a figure four leg lock. It’s Iowa putting Vandy into a full nelson. Whatever their 10 wins meant in October-November, Iowa stuffed that into a tiny box and punted into the Gulf. Screw you and your cute 10-win campaign. Congrats on winning 10 in a sub-standard SEC. Good job, good effort.
Other thoughts:
- Iowa really felt like they were in control the entire game. Even when Vandy got that within a score, Iowa responded. 24-17? Iowa answers with a touchdown to go up 14. Another touchdown? Iowa goes on a 13-play drive that sucks up over 7 minutes of game time and knocks a field goal through. Vandy kicks early to close to within 7? They don’t get the ball back because Iowa bleeds the clock out. Iowa had them in a head lock the whole day. Hey – Iowa won what turned out to be a semi-close game! Over the hump!
- On the final drive, I thought Mark Gronowski played his final carry so well, not rushing to pick up the first down and instead making Vanderbilt use a timeout. Iowa picked up the first down on a Xavier Williams carry on the next play and that was the end. Excellent game awareness.
- I vaguely remember watching football in 1988 and 1989. I really remember 1990. I have never, in those 35+ years, seen an illegal kick. Makes sense – everyone lined up in a traditional punt formation until the mid-2000s. Even after the shift to the rugby-style punt, I’ve never seen an illegal kick. We were at a Denver game watch location so couldn’t hear the audio that well and it was tough to pick up where Iowa would get the ball outside of a big roar from the Iowa crowd. ESPN didn’t show the actual field position until 20 or so seconds after the penalty call, and sure enough – spot foul plus a 5-yard penalty, so first and goal. I have never, ever seen that before. Kaden Wetjen was so in their heads that they committed what is functionally a turnover.
- THEN, we get an amazing pitch and catch from Gronowski and Reece Vander Zee. If only Iowa had a few of these guys healthy throughout the year…
- …Is this team better than the 2008 team that basically had the exact same season as these guys? 9-4, won the Outback/Reliaquest, lost four games by a combined 12 in 2008 and 15 this year? I don’t know if they’re better than 2008. I probably lean 2008 since they had the best overall player in Shonn Greene, and Ricky Stanzi was only just becoming Ricky Stanzi at the end of that season. But this team is in the neighborhood. Can they carry the momentum of this season into 2026, as the 2008 team did in 2009? If they do, 2026 will be FUN.
- Gronowski is a DUDE. For the I don’t know how many times – we didn’t quite get what we asked for from him. The passing game never quite clicked. And that makes sense! He missed all of spring and part of summer with the shoulder procedure he had, plus that impacted his conditioning. Then the Indiana injury occurred and it never quite came together. Still – the guy accounted for 27 touchdowns. That’s a lot of touchdowns. His 16 rushing touchdowns tied the league record for a quarterback.
- DJ Vonnahme! All the talk about Iowa tight ends being done, Tim Lester doesn’t utilize them…yeah, about that. 7 catches, 146 yards, 1 touchdown, and despite a tepid start to the season, he finished as the team leader in receptions, receiving yardage, and receiving touchdowns.
- One thing BHGP Discord was in agreement on – you go roughly 30 days between games and players fall out of game condition. They’re in good shape of course, but there is a difference between being in shape and being in game shape. Iowa’s defense, which was mostly good today, was sucking wind late on. They’re not in game condition. We then saw that in the night game with Ohio State shockingly losing (teams with the bye in the playoff era are now 0-5.) That looked like a team that lacked game conditioning to me.
- It’s fun to watch bowls that still matter. Illinois-Tennessee mattered. Iowa-Vanderbilt mattered. There are probably too many of these silly games, they are a racket in some regards, and some of them have to go the way of the Pop Tart Bowl to survive, but would you want these games to go away entirely? No. No you don’t.
- Kirk Ferentz – 11 bowl wins. That’s now a Big Ten record. No matter how you slice that, it’s an impressive number and he now holds that record on his own.
- I think Diego Pavia is a fun player but, um, yeah, it was fun seeing him get popped a few times. I think people really, really, really liked seeing him take some hits.
- Who did this??
- No more Iowa football. Sad face. Pour one out. Remember this season as a fun one! We were nearly there. So close. But that chase was fun. I will remember this team fondly, and I think you should too.
