Iowa 55, No. 19 Texas 17: A Long day for Longhorns

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Take that, Texas!

Iowa's offense sizzled in the southern California drizzle Wednesday night, as the Hawkeyes rolled to a record-breaking 55-17 rout of Texas in the first Freedom Bowl.

Quarterback Chuck Long, perhaps playing his final football game for Iowa, led the onslaught with school passing records of 29 completions, 461 yards and six touchdowns. His scoring passes also tied the Big Ten record set by Illinois' Dave Wilson in 1980.

Long was a landslide winner of the game's Most Valuable Player Award. The 6-foot-4 junior helped Iowa deal the Longhorns their worst loss in 80 years. The University of Chicago beat Texas, 68-0, in 1904.

The victory was a most satisfying one for a native Texan named Hayden Fry. The Iowa coach had a 2-11 lifetime record against Texas. It also was Fry's fourth straight season of eight wins or more, as the Hawkeyes finished 8-4-1.

'This is definitely the biggest win of my career,' Fry said. 'Being from Texas, you don't get the chance to beat the U of T very often. I have never had a victory more meaningful to me.

'It was a great victory and one that the coaching staff, especially myself, wanted very badly. We never dreamed we could throw that well on them, let alone score 55 points.'

It was Texas' worst loss under Coach Fred Akers and the most lopsided Longhorn setback since losing to Oklahoma, 52-13, in 1973. Akers is 2-6 in bowl games.

'Iowa did a great job ... as perfect as I've seen,' Akers said. 'Chuck Long was everything we saw on film, and more.'

A meager crowd of 24,093 weathered the game-long rain at the Big A and was rewarded with an unexpected offensive show.

The game had been regarded as a tossup, mostly because the two teams ranked among the nation's top 20 defenses. But it became an offensive bonanza for Iowa very early.

Iowa, scoring the most points ever in six bowl appearances, padded a 24-17 lead with 31 points in the third quarter. Four of Long's scoring passes came in the third period alone.

Long, who has yet to announce his decision on returning to Iowa or turning pro, used five different receivers for his six scoring passes: Jonathan Hayes (twice), Mike Flagg, Bill Happel, Robert Smith and Scott Helverson.

The previous Iowa record was five TD passes by Fred Riddle against Indiana in 1963. Long also broke the completion mark of 26 set by Mike Cilek in 1967 and bettered his single-game yardage total of 420 last year at Northwestern.

Asked if it was his best game at Iowa, Long replied, 'Oh, yeah, it must have been. It wasn't easy because it was a great challenge to throw against Texas. But they used so much man-to-man coverage that we caught 'em.'

The weather conditions and performances by Long and the Iowa team were similar to the Hawkeyes' 40-3 win at Purdue Oct. 13. Despite a steady rain that day in West Lafayette, Ind., Long completed 17 of 21 passes for 369 yards and four touchdowns — against man-to-man coverage.

The Iowa offense rolled up 560 total yards and 28 first downs against the Longhorns. Texas, which finished 7-4-1, had just 300 total yards.

Long played nearly the entire game, but Fry had an explanation.

'We had to put Long back in (the fourth quarter) because the backup broke his finger,' said Fry, referring to second-string quarterback Mark Vlasic. 'Fred Akers is a great man and a great coach, and I apologize for the score being too high.'

Long missed his first three pass attempts of the first half, but then caught fire. He completed his last nine passes and 14 of his last 15 attempts, sparking Iowa to a seven-point lead at intermission.

Texas, which had 46 turnovers during the regular season, gave up the ball twice in its first six plays and had five turnovers for the game.

On the Longhorns' sixth play, Mike Stoops gave Iowa brilliant field position when he snared his third interception of the season. He darted in front of receiver Rob Moerschell and picked off Todd Dodge's pass, returning the ball 18 yards to the Texas 19.

A first-down draw play with Owen Gill gained 13 yards. Two plays later, Long found a wide-open Hayes in the end zone for a 6-yard scoring pass.

The Hawkeyes increased their lead to 14-0 when Long tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Flagg, a Cedar Falls freshman. A 41-yard reception by Flagg on third-and-3 set up the score.

Texas finally got its offense untracked on its next possession, driving 80 yards in 12 plays. Bill Boy Bryant made a diving catch of Dodge's pass in the front comer of the end zone. Jeff Ward's kick reduced Iowa's lead to 14-7 with 13:35 left in the half.

The Longhorn drive didn't faze Iowa's offense, though, as it drove 77 yards in 10 plays for another touchdown. Fred Bush scored the first touchdown of his career, blasting in from a yard out with 10:14 left in the half.

Long was 4 of 5 during the drive for 66 yards, including a 29-yarder to Helverson that put Iowa in Texas territory.

The seesaw scoring continued, as Texas rambled 80 yards in 11 plays. The Longhorns cut the lead to 21-14 when Dodge hit tight end William Harris on a fourth-down, 1-yard TD pass.

A big play in that drive was a 28-yard pass from Dodge to Bryant when Iowa had the Longhorns facing a third-and-17.

Texas, recovering a fumbled Iowa snap at the Hawkeye 27, tightened the game even more when Ward drilled a 46-yard field goal with 2:23 left in the half.

Ward had missed a 51-yard try to the left on the previous play, but Iowa's Keith Hunter was whistled for roughing.

Iowa extended its lead when Tom Nichol hit a 27-yard field goal on the last play of the half.

The Hawkeye offense continued to click in the third period, gaining a whopping 301 yards on just 23 plays.

Iowa was whistled for clipping on the second-half kickoff, but that was merely a temporary setback. Long rifled a first-down pass to Hayes over the middle and the talented tight end turned it into a 49-yard gain, rambling to the Texas 39.

Long hit Happel for a 10-yard gainer and a face mask penalty on Texas tacked on another 5, putting Iowa at the Longhorn 24.

Long's string of consecutive completions ended at 11 and the Hawkeyes settled for a 35-yard Nichol field goal.

On Texas' second play after the kickoff, linebacker Larry Station stripped the ball from Jerome Johnson and nose guard Hap Peterson recovered for Iowa at the Longhorn 33.

Long seized the opportunity immediately, lofting a beautiful 33-yard scoring pass to Happel. The Cedar Rapids junior roared past Tony Griffin at the line of scrimmage, raced down the sidelines and gathered in Long's toss in the end zone.

The rout was on.

Smith, the speedster from Dallas, was the next beneficiary of Long's hot arm. Smith leapt over the shoulder of cornerback James Lott and waltzed into the end zone. The 49-yard scoring pass and Nichol's kick put Iowa in front 41-17.

Long tied Riddle's record at the 4:53 mark of the third period, hitting Helverson on a 4-yard scoring strike to make it 48-17.

Jeff Drost's recovery of a Terry Orr fumble at the Iowa 35 stopped a Longhorn threat.

Smith's 31-yard pass reception put Iowa at the Texas 23. Long followed with an 8-yarder to Happel and a 15-yarder to Hayes, the latter snapping Riddle's record. With 2:19 still left in the third period, the scoring was completed.

Happel was Iowa's leading receiver with eight catches for 104 yards. Smith had four receptions for 115 yards, Flagg five for 71, Hayes three for 70 and Helverson four for 66.