A football season to remember

WASHINGTON, Iowa — Earlier this year, I wrote a story about how Kirk Ferentz might not be the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeye football team by the end of the 2015 season.

Hawk fans around the country wanted him fired after a dismal 2014 season. Many never wanted Ferentz to coach again. I bet after the success the Hawks have had this year, with a Big Ten West championship and a Rose Bowl trip, fans probably wouldn't mind keeping him around a while longer.

Iowa had never had a 12-0 start in school history. Its best start prior to 2015 was a 9-0 run in 2009 when the Hawks defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Orange Bowl. Since then, Iowa has been to four bowl games the last five years, but the last three have been chalked up as losses. After being pummeled by Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl, Iowa came back with a vengeance ... not on Tennessee, but to show everyone it won't be pushed around.

Iowa took the stand that they are a powerhouse, they are strong and they are the Iowa Hawkeyes.

During the season Iowa had some scares with 'trap games.' When the Hawks were getting ready to play Nebraska, they had to play last-place Purdue. This was the biggest trap game because Purdue could have caught the Hawks thinking ahead to Nebraska and beat them. But, as Kirk Ferentz said in an interview, 'We are taking it one week at a time.' Like this quote, I can remember former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer always saying 'one play at a time.'

That brings me back my point — teams can't look ahead to the future; they need to live and play in the present.

In addition to trap games, Iowa had its fair share of injuries this season. The Hawkeyes lost Jordan Canzeri for a couple of games, Tevaun Smith for a couple games and star defensive end Drew Ott. These athletes were three play-making seniors who were a big part of the offense and defense. Iowa got lucky with C.J. Beathard because when he was banged up, he was hurt just before the bye week. That meant he was given an extra week to heal.

The dream of a perfect season came to a close when Iowa lost the Big Ten Championship by three points, to the three-point favorite Michigan State Spartans. However, it was a tremendous game and a giant defensive showdown. One defense would make a stand and the other defense would one up the last.

The Hawks had issues at the running back in recent years and, after losing Mark Weisman to graduation, Iowa had a bunch of unproven ball carriers to start the season, other than Jordan Canzeri. That changed during the off-season with Leshun Daniels, Akrum Wadley and Derrick Mitchell stepping up and making a big difference in the running game. With Mitchell movinging from wide receiver to running back, it helped to allow the screen pass to open up. Wadley is able to get the speed going, Daniels is the power back and Canzeri is the ideal mix of all three.

After Iowa lost to Michigan State, it fell from No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings to No. 5. This meant the Hawks dropped out of the College Football Playoffs and Michigan State took the spot.

However, Iowa's consolation prize is a trip to Pasadena, Calif., to take on No. 6 Stanford rd Cardinal in the Rose Bowl. This will be the first Rose Bowl the Iowa Hawkeyes have attended in Twenty-five years. Will Iowa prevail? Will Iowa come home with their first Rose Bowl win since 1959? Only time will tell.