Readers' No. 8 (tie) -- 2004 Ohio State, 2004 Outback and 2000 Michigan State

No. 8 (tie) -- 2004 Ohio State -- WOODSHED, Iowa

draw73 has a winning comment: With only a week to completely revamp our offense after losing our 19th string running back, Drew Tate comes out slinging and we literally kick the crap out of the Buckeyes. I've never seen an Iowa team do to an OSU team what I saw them do that day. Simply awesome!

Flenker might say it the best: Pummeling Ohio State in 2004 contributed to (at the time) one of the best days of my life.

Djwoody: Still love it.

HawkStang: Iowa completely dominated the 23rd ranked Buckeyes 33-7. Ferentz's only win over OSU. Drew Tate's windmill arms.

Ross: The only win over OSU in the '00s. Beating OSU always feels good; dominating them feels even better.

hawks84: Only Ferentz win vs. Bucks.

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Headline: Passing the Bucks

IOWA CITY - This was men and boys.

From a coaching staff that had its team prepared to the hilt to the quarterback who whirled and dished like a point guard. From a defense that leads the nation in attitude to the fifth-string running back making plays like a fifth-year senior.

This was varsity and junior varsity. Hammer and nail. Sack and quarterback.

Quarterback Drew Tate threw three touchdown passes and Iowa's defense held No.-25 Ohio State to 177 yards in the Hawkeyes' 33-7 victory Saturday before 70,397 at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) snapped an eight-game losing streak to Ohio State (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) with its largest margin of victory over the Buckeyes. Iowa's high was 23 points in a 35-12 victory in 1960. OSU is 0-3 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1988.

"They didn't give up," said Iowa defensive end Matt Roth, who led the charge with two sacks. "We just kept getting better and stronger and faster and stronger and we just fed off the crowd and fed off our performance."

That covers all the bases. The Hawkeyes were better and stronger and stronger and better.

Iowa's defense allowed the Buckeyes to cross the 50 twice, once against the second team when OSU scored. Against Iowa's first-team defense, OSU had 102 yards.

The only debate was when the Hawkeyes knew they had Ohio State. Might have been the fast start, the 10-0 halftime lead and the 86 total yards OSU had at halftime.

"We jumped on them and that really helped," linebacker Chad Greenway said. "We knew if we jumped on them early we'd be all right."

Might have been free safety Marcus Paschal's interception with 2:32 left before halftime. The Buckeyes drove 68 yards to Iowa's 13, but on third-and-8, Paschal picked off a lazy pass from quarterback Justin Zwick to preserve the lead.

"I think that got to them," defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux said. "They had something going, feeling good about themselves and then they didn't get anything out of it."

It very well could have been the offense's explosive third quarter. Iowa scored on four of its first five possession in the second half, scoring 10 points off two turnovers and racing to a 33-0 lead with 9:28 left in the game.

"I think it was over after that third TD," said linebacker Abdul Hodge, who led the Hawkeyes with 12 tackles. "They weren't going to come back from that."

Ten minutes left against Ohio State and it was not if but by how much for the Hawkeyes. Of course, the coaches never thought they had it. That's just coaches.

Maybe when the Elvis impersonator, during the mayhem of the postgame field rush, strolled up the steps to the Iowa locker room did the coaches allow themselves to enjoy it.

Maybe they took a breath when Herky broke out two PVC tubes strung together with the name "Buckeye Buster" scrawled in black marker.

"I'm not sure when exactly I started to feel comfortable today," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "It was somewhere in the fourth quarter, I promise you. We're not that good. We're not good enough to start feeling good about anything, including the next five weeks."

You can forgive Ferentz's trepidation. Iowa was, after all, down to its No.-5 running back.

When junior Marques Simmons left with a sprained ankle in the first quarter, the Hawkeyes were down to sophomore walk-on Sam Brownlee, who started the season No.-5. Brownlee responded with 35 yards on 10 carries and a reception for 10 yards.

But it was clear early that running back doesn't matter as much as Tate.

The sophomore completed 26 of 39 for 331 yards and three TDs. He ran for a 1-yard TD that gave the Hawkeyes a 30-0 lead with 14:53 left in the fourth quarter.

Offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe rolled Tate out nearly every pass play, stopping the Buckeyes from drawing a bead on him.

"He's obviously a competitor and a tough guy," Ferentz said. "I think the thing that impresses us most is his pride and commitment to being a better football player. He's got the football mentality you're looking for."

Junior wideout Clinton Solomon caught seven passes for 131 yards, including TD catches of 11 and 36 yards. Receiver Ed Hinkel caught six passes for 76 yards. Senior Warren Holloway caught five for 64, including a 28-yarder that led to Kyle Schlicher's career-long 45-yard field goal.

Iowa passed its first seven plays. It's clear the Hawkeyes have transformed from run-first to pass-first-second-third and so on.

With Tate, why not?

"I'd say right now we're a team that's going to do whatever it needs to do to win," Tate said. "That's it."

"He's a great athlete," OSU linebacker A.J. Hawk said. "We had an idea of what he was going to do. He just came out and performed and nobody could stop him."

It wasn't just Tate Ohio State couldn't stop.

The Hawkeyes, all the Hawkeyes, were better and stronger and stronger and better.

No. 8 (tie) -- 2004 Outback Bowl -- Zook cooked

From @James_Shapiro: Was there. Called Gator fans at half saying "SEC speed's so impressive, your guys hit the ground so fast when we hit you."

E-mailer Thomas: Florida is just to fast right? No way Iowa can compete with even a lackluster Florida team right? This was a clinic on how to play smart football and pretty much signaled the end of the Zooker in Gainesville.

DenverHawkeye07 still remembers the 2005 Outback. You know, the offsides: Possibly Ferentz's best defense and prepares Zook for future beatings. Also, in retrospect, even sweeter after we got jobbed in 2005 Outback...NOT OFFSIDES!)

From e-mailer Brian: The first of four (and counting!) New Year's wins under Ferentz. The Hawks shut down the OMGSECSPEED, and secured back-to-back double-digit win seasons and #8 final rankings.

hawks84: Rarity to pound Florida. 

From e-mailer Aaron, who had this as his No. 1: I doubt many people will have this one ranked so highly. Here's why it should be: by 2004 everyone in IC considered it conventional wisdom that Iowa was again a nat'l powerhouse. But if you talked to folks in California (I went to college out West during this time) or in the SE, Iowa was still an utter anomaly, a team designed to win only in the sluggish Big Ten, and an afterthought as a nat'l force. Plus with the horrible USC Rose Bowl as the lone, glaring data point for national consideration Iowa was in bad need of a statement game on a big stage. Granted, this was not the best Florida team that the 2000s would produce, but as I recall Chris Leak was considered a pretty good college quarterback, and the Hawks put to rest any notion that they couldn't keep up SEC defensive speed... to the tune of 400+ yds, 22 FD and 37 pts! This was the most dominant performance so far in Ferentz's tenure in my mind . . . This was Iowa's coming-out party: we rebuilt, we achieved, and on this great day in January we fully arrived.

From Hank: A big time win over a big time program. The first January bowl win since the '50s and a convincing one at that. Sure, now we know that Zook couldn't coach my flag football team but still, this was Florida. The last Iowa bowl game that I did not attend in person - watched a bar in Mexico with about 20 Hawkeye fans. We were on a family vacation at some resort in Playa del Carmen. The resort only got ESPN deportes, so I had to find a place in town that had regular ESPN.

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Headline: Outback blowout

TAMPA, Fla. -- Football is a game of put up or shut up.

The Florida Gators did neither Thursday.

Even after the Hawkeyes blew their doors off with a 13-point second quarter, the Gators keep right on trash talking. A 24-point Iowa lead in the third quarter, they still chirped, unfazed. One Gator defender got up in receiver Ed Hinkel's face and did a whole bunch of head bobbing. Hinkel calmly turned and pointed to the scoreboard.

The scoreboard said it all for the No. 13 Hawkeyes.

"I just started laughing and told him to look up at the scoreboard," Hinkel said. "I guess that's just how Florida is."

Running back Fred Russell earned MVP with 150 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Nathan Chandler played his best game in his last game during Iowa's 37-17 Outback Bowl victory over No. 17 Florida.

The Hawkeyes (10-3) drained the Gators (8-5), physically and mentally and sent their fans packing after Russell's 34-yard TD run put them up 34-17 with 4:37 left in the third quarter. The Florida section of the sellout crowd of 65,372 at Raymond James Stadium bailed, leaving a bunch of maroon seats.

"They talked all the way to the end," center Eric Rothwell said. "That's pretty much all they did. It's a lot easier when you just have to point at the scoreboard. You don't have to think of anything to say back. You just point."

The Hawkeyes can point a lot of things.

They won their first New Year's Day bowl game since the 1959 Rose Bowl.

With last year's 11-2 run, they have double-digit victories in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history. When the rankings come out Monday, they should be in the top 10, their first back-to-back top 10 finishes since 1956-59.

"I think this is one more step toward credibility," said Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, still damp from the double-barrel Gatorade ambush his players executed with about two minutes left. "We all feel good about each other right now. We're a family and that's kind of what it takes."

Iowa beat the Gators in everything except hype.

The Hawkeyes held Florida to 57 yards rushing, an Outback record low. The

Iowa coaches toyed with some junk defenses, but in the end, they went with the same old Norm Parker grip-and-grunt that's become their trademark.

Florida quarterback Chris Leak, everybody's favorite freshman, looked lost, completing 22 of 41 for 268 yards, two TDs and an interception. Defensive linemen Matt Roth, Howard Hodges and Tyler Luebke sacked Leak.

"Same ol' same ol'," said cornerback Jovon Johnson, who had an interception. "When we're doing it hard, doing it right, we don't have to change our defense."

Chandler, everybody's favorite footwipe, played a flawless game. From his decision-making to his bootlegs to his arm, Chandler saved his best game for his last, completing 13 of 25 for 170 yards, a TD and no interceptions.

"THIS IS THE most fun I've had all season," Chandler said. "This was how I wanted to go out."

Right out of the tunnel, Florida cornerback Keiwan Ratliff bumped facemasks with Iowa receiver Mo Brown and laid down a riff of trash. The Hawkeyes never took the bait.

Instead, they played the game. A strategy so crazy in this SportsCenter, sound bite, talk-radio world, it worked to a T.

OK, the Gators had every right to talk trash for about three minutes. They held a 7-0 first-quarter lead on Leak's 70-yard bomb to receiver Kelvin Kight with 7:18 left in the first quarter.

The Hawkeyes didn't waver. On their next drive, they rode Russell's 28-yard run and running back Jermelle Lewis' 17-yarder to set up Chandler's 4-yard TD pass to Brown with 3:56 left.

The second quarter was all Iowa. Kicker Nate Kaeding booted the first of his three field goals, a 47-yarder. Chandler scored on a 5-yard bootleg, and Kaeding added a 32-yarder for a 20-7 halftime lead.

Meanwhile, Florida had 1 yard in the second quarter.

"After they scored the long one, no one panicked," said Iowa strong safety Bob Sanders, who was a major part of the coverage scheme that held tight end Ben Troupe to zero catches. "No one yelled, no one pointed fingers. We just got together and said enough."

IOWA'S ROLL continued on the Gators' first series of the second half.

Sophomore wideout Matt Melloy came close to blocking punts all day. He finally got one after the Gators' fourth-straight three-and-out. Melloy broke in from the left side, blocked the kick and then hustled into the end zone to cover the ball for a score.

It was Iowa's fifth blocked punt this season and third TD off a blocked punt. The 27-7 lead sapped the life out of the Gators.

You know it's your day when a reserve former walk-on from Mt. Pleasant makes that play. You know it's not your day when you set an Outback Bowl record with 10 punts.

"The other four losses, a play here and there, and we could've won," Florida Coach Ron Zook said. "This one, we got beat."

They were beat, as in dead tired, going through the motions.

"They were done (in the second half), done," Roth said. "They looked like they wanted to go home."

Iowa's offensive line beat them, sitting on the Gators all day and producing 238 yards rushing, converting 7 of 18 third downs and building a nine-minute advantage in time of possession (34:10 to 25:50). Florida had 325 yards, but a lot of it came after Iowa took a 34-10 lead.

Florida's special teams made mistake after mistake, leaving the Gators with average starting field position at their 19.

"Once one guy got going, the next guy followed and then it was a chain reaction, all over the team," guard Pete McMahon said. "Everybody had a quiet confidence and just did their job."

The Hawkeyes were the quiet ones. But they sure made their point.

No. 8 -- 2000 Michigan State -- The possibilities

From Hawksull: (Ferentz's) first Big Ten win really stands out. Had not won a Big10 game in a long time and the Hawks beat a ranked Michigan State at Kinnick on a late Kevin Kasper touchdown. It was a completely electric day and we started to believe they could win again ... that lead to the 2002 season and we all know what happened then.

From Thomas: The rebirth. This is when everyone started to believe in that lockeroom. Forget about the fans … this is when the team knew that they were gonna break the rock if they just believed.

From HawkStang: First Big Ten win under Ferentz. Snapped a 13 game losing streak on homecoming against an MSU team ranked 25th at the time.

Final word from draw73: First Big 10 win for Ferentz after so many close calls. The first Ferentz game I cried at (but not the last).

33 votes

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Headline: Emotions flow

IOWA CITY - The catch in his throat went to the place that has kept him sane during his days as Iowa's football coach. His eyes watered, he took a silent second to collect his thoughts, and then he talked about his players.

Say anything you want about unsigned $500,000 contracts, about losing streaks and empty aluminum bleachers, when Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz cleared his throat and gulped to keep the tears back, he went to the place that keeps football coaches from madness.

He didn't wave a finger, he barely cracked a smile. He talked about his players.

"People don't realize what these kids put in," Ferentz said in a gravelly voice that belied his 45 years. "The thing we see is the way they come to work. The spirit, the resiliency, that's what makes it worthwhile, that's what makes it worthwhile."

End of interview. End of losing streak, plural.

Kevin Kasper broke a wide receiver screen 43 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown and the Hawkeyes' defense made it stand, clinching a 21-16 victory Saturday over Michigan State at Kinnick Stadium.

And now the paragraph that you all have hated since last year's loss at Michigan State is deleted. The Hawkeyes (1-5, 1-1 Big Ten) no longer have a school-record 13-game losing streak, no longer have a school-record 14-game Big Ten losing streak, no longer have the nation's second-longest active losing streak.

If there can be such a thing as a celebratory deletion, have at it.

The Hawkeyes throng that plowed the field after Ryan Van Dyke's last-gasp pass hit the Kinnick turf certainly would be happy to try.

"I think we got to the point where we couldn't lose again," said defensive end Aaron Kampman, who intercepted a pass and blocked a field goal. "I think our football family had finally had enough. I think we all can breathe now."

Ferentz could live until he's 100, the gameball his seniors handed him in the lockerroom after the game will forever be a pristine memory of the day everything finally worked.

The defense defended. Well, when T.J. Duckett wasn't rumbling, it did. The offense moved the ball. When it had  its back sewed to the wall, yeah, it did. The special teams was stellar, from Kahlil Hill's 90-yard kick return that pulled the Hawkeyes from the abyss to the two blocked kicks.

"There were some plays out there that weren't so pretty, what have you," Ferentz said. "The whole thing's the Mona Lisa as far as I'm concerned. That was a Picasso."

ARGUING MATTERS of taste is a losing proposition.

But perhaps Iowa isn't fighting for life if fullback Jeremy Allen doesn't treat the football like lava with Iowa marching for a two-touchdown lead late in the first quarter. And maybe the Hawkeyes don't need two defibrillating defensive stands in the final two minutes if Hill doesn't lose a punt in the wind, allowing Craig Jarrett's first-quarter punt to supersize into a 68-yard that pinned Iowa at its 8-yard line.

That left the Spartans (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) with just 51 yards to tie the game. Duckett got 50 of that on the first carry. Van Dyke hit tight end Ivory McCoy from 2 yards, but Iowa defensive tackle Jerry Montgomery blocked the extra-point kick to preserve the lead.

The Spartans walk away with a defeat, but Duckett, a 6-foot-2, 251-pound sophomore, walks away with respect, 248 rushing yards and a touchdown.

"I think he got heavier as the game went on," said linebacker LeVar Woods, who stopped one of MSU's last-minute drives with an interception off a pass Montgomery tipped. "He's just a big dude. You try to hit him low. You can't do anything with him high."

Duckett led the Spartans to 286 rushing yards, 201 more than Iowa's 85. The Spartans gained 466 yards to Iowa's 231.

Those numbers scream Iowa defeat, but another loss wasn't a whisper much less a scream.

"Offensively, I think we had pretty good numbers," first-year Michigan State coach Bobby Williams said. "But we didn't get the win, so those numbers don't mean anything."

THE HAWKEYES TOOK a 7-0 lead on the game's opening drive, a wonderful run-pass mix straight out of an offensive coordinator's daydream. Freshman quarterback Jon Beutjer completed 6 of 7 passes for 41 yards.

Running back Ladell Betts gained 20 yards on six carries. Betts scored on a 5-yard run, just Iowa's second rushing TD this season.

But that was it for Iowa's offense. The Hawkeyes gained 75 yards on that drive and went incognito while the Spartans scored 16 straight points to take a 16-7 lead on Duckett's 31-yard run with one minute, 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

"No, it wasn't pretty," said Beutjer, who completed 17 of 25 for 146 yards, one TD and no interceptions. "But do you think anybody is going to remember that?"

Good point.

For memorable, you only need to fast forward 20 seconds from Duckett's run. Fast forward and enjoy the stop and start, herky and jerky, doe-see-doe of Hill's 90-yard kickoff return.

Hill made like a mad bat, shuffling his way down field, checking here and there for open space before finding it after Robbertto Rickard's pancake block on the last Spartan standing.

"You see color and you move away from the color," said Hill, whose return was the fourth of his career. "I try to work on moving sideways but up at the same time. Move sideways, but keep moving forward. I know how crazy that sounds, but it worked today."

With Duckett on the sidelines nursing a sore ankle, the Spartans marched to Iowa's 6, where kicker David Schaefer lined up for a 24-yard field goal. He kicked into Kampman's arm, Woods recovered and the Hawkeyes had hope.

OF COURSE, TO that point Iowa's offense produced just 72 yards between the opening drive and the game's final 6:48, so hope was relative.

Yet, the Hawkeyes converted three third downs before offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe called wide receiver screen to Kasper, a play that worked once all season, and that was just two plays earlier.

"Yeah, that one has been a tough one for us," said Kasper, who caught just one pass for 9 yards going into the last drive. "Sometimes when I hear that play, there's doubts. Today, it was perfect."

It wasn't perfect. It was Picasso.

It will look like a masterpiece, just like the gameball on Ferentz's mantle.