Kirk Ferentz, Iowa football prepares to face No. 14 Vanderbilt in a farewell to the 2025 season

TAMPA, Fla. — A grand spectacle always makes an ending that much more exciting. There’s only so many ways to celebrate properly.

On New Year’s Eve, on national television and with one more win on the line, the ReliaQuest Bowl is that spectacle Iowa football has been waiting for.

“This is a kid's game at the end of the day,” quarterback Mark Gronowski said. “All of us dream to be in this opportunity, and all of us are playing in this game.”

Yes, the Hawkeyes had hopes of competing for a Big Ten championship, or sneaking their way into the College Football Playoff this year. That wasn’t meant to be. They still, however, found themselves playing in one of the biggest bowl games available to the Big Ten.

And, against an SEC program in No. 14 Vanderbilt. All that’s missing is a trophy and the chance at a ranked win.

Funny how that’s what could happen in the next 24 hours.

“There's always talk of ‘the Big Ten’s better,’ ‘the SEC’s better,’” TJ Hall said. “But the bowl games are really when we get to see who's the best of the best.”

Iowa hasn’t beaten a ranked program since its win over Penn State in 2021 — a 13-game skid that’s plagued the Hawkeyes. But unlike previous years, every ranked loss was by one score, coming down to the fourth quarter.

A dagger every time, but the Hawkeyes found a way to get back up after each loss. That’s what Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz is most proud of when it comes to this year’s team.

“It would be a fitting end for our team,” Ferentz said with a growing smile.

This game, against No. 14 Vanderbilt, carries the weight of another chance at that ranked win. Although it won’t boost a CFP resume or give Iowa a shot at the conference title, the weight of it matters beyond moment of euphoria on a football field.

The NCAA transfer portal opens two days after the game, and Ferentz has said the Hawkeyes will be active in the portal. The ReliaQuest Bowl has one major opt-out — Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers — so both teams will be playing just as if it’s a primetime, regular-season nonconference game.

Both teams are treating the bowl game as such.

“I think what makes this most exciting to us is the opponent we're playing against and how tough and challenging the game will be,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said. “We know we need to be at our best tomorrow. We expect to be at our best.”

A win over the Commodores could send the Hawkeyes into the offseason with an extra sense of accomplishment. The rock would finally crack open after trying to break it time and time again.

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It’ll send the senior class out the door knowing they’ve helped push the program out of that rut, and be the cherry on top of a season that’s been littered with individual awards since the end of the regular season.

“It’s definitely starting to hit that it’s coming to the close,” Gill said. “I've taken it day by day, just trying to be where my feet are.”

But even with the thought of a ranked win in mind, there’s still one thing clear — the bowl game is as much of a celebration as it is a competition, because it gave the Hawkeyes one more month together.

“It definitely is weird,” Logan Jones said. “I'm kind of not trying to think about it a little bit just because it's gonna be an emotional game. I'm just trying to appreciate every second I get out here.”

Ferentz has always regarded his players with pride, since he’s still a competitor, too. There’s a time to soak in the moment of the finish line in sight.

But that time isn’t right now. It’s time to make that goal a reality on the gridiron.

“I told our guys at the front end of the month, I've been to a lot of bowl games in my career,” Ferentz said. “Really what it gets down to, if you win it's great, if you lose, it stinks. Simple as that.”

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