With the conference championship games now in the rearview mirror and the College Football Playoff officially set, it’s out with the regular season and onto bowl season. For the Hawkeyes, we knew coming into the day they would not be one of those teams headed to the CFP thanks to their four losses, but Iowa did finish the year sixth in the Big Ten.
With Indiana topping Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday night, both the Hoosiers and Buckeyes will be in the CFP. They’re joined there
by Oregon as the representatives from the Big Ten. That puts the Hawkeyes third in the conference pecking order in terms of bowl selection, right behind Michigan and USC, who still hasHaha, Pac-12 obligations for one final year.
All of that was known going into the weekend. Now, Iowa knows both where they’re headed and who they’ll face in their final game of 2025.
And the answer should be a bit familiar for Hawkeye fans as Iowa headed back to Tampa for the ReliaQuest Bowl, which was formerly known as the Outback Bowl. This will mark the seventh trip to the ReliaQuest/Outback Bowl for the Hawkeyes under head coach Kirk Ferentz.
However, Iowa hasn’t been there since 2019 when the bowl was still the Outback. That one was a 27-22 win over #22 Mississippi State for the unranked Hawkeyes.
This one will again have the Hawkeyes entering the game as underdogs punching up a bit in terms of the national rankings as they’ll face off with the Vanderbilt Commodores. Up until this week, Vanderbilt was looking to schedule an extra game in lieu of an SEC Championship appearance to keep their hopes of a College Football Playoff appearance alive.
Instead, they end up on the outside looking in despite a top-15 ranking, 10-2 overall record and a Heisman hopeful in quarterback Diego Pavia.
The Commodores will come into the contest riding a three-game winning streak, capped off by a 45-24 win over then-#19 Tennessee. The Volunteers had been rumored to be one of Iowa’s potential opponents in the ReliaQuest Bowl as late as Friday.
Thankfully for Hawkeye fans who are still trying to forget the 2023 Citrus Bowl blowout loss to Tennessee, Iowa will instead square off with Vanderbilt for the first time in program history.
We’ll have a more detailed look at that matchup, as well as some background on the Commodores from this season as we progress toward New Year’s Eve. Until then, here’s an early look at the details for Iowa’s bowl trip to Tampa.
Date: Wednesday, December 31st
Time: 11:03 am CT
Matchup: Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3) vs Vanderbilt Commodores (10-2, 6-2)
Location: Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, FL
TV: ESPN
