Fun Facts: Iowa vs. Tennessee, with obligatory Taylor Swift mention

Fun Facts about Monday’s Citrus Bowl between Iowa and Tennessee at Camping World Stadium in Orlando:

1. Both teams are ranked. Iowa is 0-2 and has lost by an average margin of 28.5 points against ranked teams. Tennessee is 0-3 and has lost by an average of 23.7 points against ranked teams.

2. The last time the Hawkeyes and Volunteers met was nine years ago at the TaxSlayer Bowl. The starting quarterbacks were C.J. Beathard and Joshua Dobbs, who now are on NFL teams.

3. Butch Jones coached the Volunteers in that bowl. Tennessee fired him in 2017. He now is head coach at Arkansas State, which lost to Northern Illinois in the Dec. 23 Camellia Bowl.

4. This game had the lowest opening over/under number of all 41 bowls at 35.5 points. The “under” has cashed in Iowa’s last eight games. Iowa and Tulane are the only two teams in the nation in which the "under“ has paid off 11 times.

5. In November 2020, Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III was replaced as a starter at Michigan by current Iowa QB Cade McNamara. Neither is playing in this game. Milton was the MVP in Tennessee’s Orange Bowl win over Clemson last year.

6. Both teams will rely on a Nico. Tennessee’s starting quarterback will be first-year freshman Nico Iamaleava, Iowa has sixth-year senior wide receiver Nico Ragaini.

7. Iamaleava was the 2022 Polynesian High School Player of the Year. Previous winners include current NFL stars Talanoa Hufanga and Puka Nacua.

8. Iowa’s only regular-season game against a team that was in the SEC at the time was in 1987 against Tennessee in East Rutherford, N.J.

9. Tennessee’s average home attendance was 101,915.

10. Iowa has allowed four rushing touchdowns, the fewest of any team in the nation.

11. Vols kicker Charles Campbell made two field goals at Iowa in 2021. They were Indiana’s only points in its 34-6 season-opening loss to the Hawkeyes.

12. Iowa is the only team in the nation with a consensus All-America in each of the last five years. This is the first of those years in which it had two, Cooper DeJean and Tory Taylor.

13. Tennessee’s leading receiver is Squirrel White. He has 64 catches, more than any two Hawkeyes combined. His full name is Marquarius Malik White. As a young boy, he got his nickname from his great grandmother after he moved simultaneously with a squirrel in her garden. "My mom, when I get in trouble, she'll call me Marquarius," White said.

14. Corn and soybeans are 1-2 as Iowa’s top two crops. Tennessee’s 1-2 are soybeans and corn. Jack Daniels isn’t considered a crop.

15. The words “Rocky Top” are used 19 times in the Tennessee song “Rocky Top.”

16. Iowa and Tennessee each have a Knoxville. Iowa doesn’t have a Pigeon Forge. Tennessee doesn’t have a Maharishi Vedic City.

17. Dave Flemming is ABC’s play-by-play announcer for this game. As the San Francisco Giants’ radio play-by-play anouncer, he called Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 715th home run in 2006. Except the microphone went dead during the call.

18. Taylor Swift owns two homes in Tennessee. Her family moved to the state when she was 14.

19. The Rolling Stones will play at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium next June 3. The Stones recently released their first album of original material since 2005.

20. Orlando is in Orange County. It was named Mosquito County until 1845. Mosquitoes have been plentiful in the Orlando area recently.