Unique Iowa connections to all 42 college football bowl games in 2023

IOWA CITY — Cue the celebratory french fry baths, mayo dumping and other quirky bowl traditions. It is officially bowl season.

Over the next three weeks, 84 college football teams will play in bowl games spanning geographically from Boston to Honolulu.

Here are some obscure and not-so-obscure Iowa Hawkeye connections to each of the 42 bowl games:

Saturday, Dec. 16

Myrtle Beach Bowl (Georgia Southern vs. Ohio)

Ohio and Iowa won against Iowa State this season. The Bobcats’ 10-7 win over the Cyclones was a week after the Hawkeyes’ 20-13 win in Ames.

Celebration Bowl (Howard vs. Florida A&M)

Florida A&M defensive back Kym-mani King played five snaps against Iowa in 2019, according to Pro Football Focus. All five snaps were on the punt return unit. (He was with Iowa State at the time.)

New Orleans Bowl (Jacksonville State vs. Louisiana)

Jacksonville State quarterback Logan Smothers transferred from Nebraska after the 2022 season. His only start as a Husker was against Iowa in 2021. The Hawkeyes won, 28-21, as Smothers went 16-for-22 with one interception and two rushing touchdowns.

Cure Bowl (Miami (Ohio) vs. Appalachian State)

Iowa offensive line coach George Barnett previously worked at Miami (Ohio). That’s where he first coached Rusty Feth, who transferred to Iowa to reunite with Barnett in 2023.

New Mexico Bowl (New Mexico State vs. Fresno State)

Fresno State recruited former Iowa wide receiver Arland Bruce IV in the transfer portal before he ultimately committed to Oklahoma State.

That probably worked out best for the Bulldogs in the long run considering Bruce was among the athletes sidelined amid allegations of betting on his own team.

LA Bowl (UCLA vs. Boise State)

Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill’s three sisters, Kodi, Sami and Abbi, played water polo at UCLA.

Independence Bowl (California vs. Texas Tech)

Kirk Ferentz’s first bowl win as a head coach was against Texas Tech in the 2001 Alamo Bowl. (Twenty-two years later, he will be looking for his 11th bowl win on Jan. 1 against Tennessee.)

Monday, Dec. 18

Famous Toastery Bowl (Western Kentucky vs. Old Dominion)

Tripp Woody, Iowa’s 2024 kicker commit, is from Waxham, N.C. There is a Famous Toastery restaurant about 10 miles from there in Indian Land, S.C.

Tuesday, Dec. 19

Frisco Bowl (UTSA vs. Marshall)

Current Marshall wide receiver Cam Petro has the same hometown (Suwanee, Ga.) as former Iowa running back Tyler Goodson. They went to different high schools, though.

Thursday, Dec. 21

Boca Raton Bowl (USF vs. Syracuse)

As the name suggests, the location of the Boca Raton Bowl is Boca Raton, Fla. Iowa running backs coach Ladell Betts was the offensive coordinator at the high school there from 2014-15.

Friday, Dec. 22

Gasparilla Bowl (Georgia Tech vs. UCF)

Iowa has lost four of its last six bowl games played in the state of Florida. One of the two wins was against Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl after the 2009 season.

Saturday, Dec. 23

Birmingham Bowl (Troy vs. Duke)

Howard Jones, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Hawkeyes from 1916-23, left Iowa to coach Duke — it was called Trinity College at the time — for the 1924 season. He then coached at USC for the rest of his career.

A century after his final season with Iowa, Jones still has the highest winning percentage (.708) among those who coached at least 50 games in program history.

Camellia Bowl (Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois)

Jay Niemann, Iowa’s assistant defensive line coach and defensive recruiting coordinator, was Northern Illinois’ defensive coordinator from 2011-15. The Huskies went to bowl games in all five seasons.

Armed Forces Bowl (James Madison vs. Air Force)

Air Force the only service academy to ever play against the Hawkeyes. The lone game between Iowa and Air Force was in 1958, and it ended in a 13-13 tie.

The game was about two months after Kirk Ferentz’s third birthday.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Georgia State vs. Utah State)

Former Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras committed to Utah State in the transfer portal earlier this month. He will spend his last year of eligibility with the Aggies after recovering from shoulder surgery.

68 Ventures Bowl (South Alabama vs. Eastern Michigan)

Eastern Michigan and Iowa had athletes selected in the NFL Draft, NBA Draft and MLB Draft in 2023. Only 15 other FBS schools had at least one athlete selected in each of the three drafts this year.

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl (Utah vs. Northwestern)

Utah kicker Chase Carter, who has handled some kickoffs this season, was high school teammates at Pella with Iowa offensive lineman Nick DeJong.

Hawaii Bowl (Coastal Carolina vs. San Jose State)

Coastal Carolina tight end Matt Alaimo, a graduate transfer from Rutgers, had an eight-yard reception last year against Iowa.

Tuesday, Dec. 26

Quick Lane Bowl (Bowling Green vs. Minnesota)

The site of the Quick Lane Bowl -- Ford Field in Detroit -- is about two miles away from where Iowa defensive lineman Kenneth Merrieweather, a true freshman this year, went to high school.

First Responder Bowl (Texas State vs. Rice)

Hayden Fry’s first win as a college head coach was when his 1962 SMU team defeated Rice, 15-7.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Kansas vs. UNLV)

Guaranteed Rate, along with sponsoring this Phoenix-based bowl game, is the naming rights sponsor for the Chicago White Sox’s stadium. Iowa women’s basketball guard Kylie Feuerbach has an NIL deal with the White Sox.

Former Iowa men’s basketball guard Ahron Ulis, who transferred to Nebraska after the 2022-23 season, also received an NIL deal from the White Sox.

Wednesday, Dec. 27

Military Bowl (Virginia Tech vs. Tulane)

Tulane and Iowa both finished in the top 10 of the final 1939 Associated Press Poll. Tulane was No. 5, and Iowa was No. 9. Iowa’s Nile Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy that year.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl (North Carolina vs. West Virginia)

Iowa wide receiver Seth Anderson’s sister ran track at North Carolina.

Holiday Bowl (Louisville vs. USC)

University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson was a professor of communication earlier in her career at Louisville, among other universities.

Texas Bowl (Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State)

Iowa has faced nine different SEC teams in its history. Texas A&M is the only one of those nine the Hawkeyes have not defeated at least once. It is partly because the only matchup -- a 29-0 loss -- was in 1931.

Thursday, Dec. 28

Fenway Bowl (SMU vs. Boston College)

Iowa played on a baseball field this season (in its 10-7 win over Northwestern) for the first time since the 2017 Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College. The Hawkeyes bested Boston College, 27-20.

Pinstripe Bowl (Rutgers vs. Miami (Fla.))

The University of Miami plays its home football games at Hard Rock Stadium, which also is home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Joe Philbin, the offensive line coach on Ferentz’s first staff at Iowa, was the head coach of the Dolphins from 2012-15.

Pop-Tarts Bowl (NC State vs. Kansas State)

Kansas State athletics director Gene Taylor previously was the deputy athletics director at Iowa under Gary Barta from 2014-2017.

Alamo Bowl (Arizona vs. Oklahoma)

Iowa alum Bob Stoops coached Oklahoma from 1999-2016. His brother Mike Stoops, who also is an Iowa alum, coached Arizona from 2004-11.

Friday, Dec. 29

Cotton Bowl (Missouri vs. Ohio State) (New Year’s Six bowl)

Missouri was the fifth out-of-state school to play the Hawkeyes in school history -- the first game between the two schools was in 1892 -- following Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Knox.

Gator Bowl (Clemson vs. Kentucky)

Kentucky — Iowa’s bowl opponent in last year’s Music City Bowl and the Citrus Bowl before that — is the only team to ever play Iowa in consecutive bowl games.

Sun Bowl (Oregon State vs. Notre Dame)

Iowa’s first nonconference game to air on NBC was the 1957 Rose Bowl against Oregon State, according to the team’s media guide. Iowa’s first nonconference game to air on ABC was its 1957 game against Notre Dame. The Hawkeyes won both games.

Liberty Bowl (Memphis vs. Iowa State)

Iowa’s 47-23 all-time record against Iowa State is better than any of its other rivalries.

Saturday, Dec. 30

Peach Bowl (Penn State vs. Ole Miss/New Year’s Six bowl)

Ole Miss wide receiver Calvin Wilson is the grandson of former Iowa defensive back Steve Wilson, who was a team captain in 1968 alongside Ed Podolak. Wilson’s seven interceptions in 1967 remain tied for fifth in program history.

Orange Bowl (Florida State vs. Georgia/New Year’s Six bowl)

Iowa tight end Erick All Jr., a transfer from Michigan, had four catches for 63 yards against Georgia during the Bulldogs’ most recent trip to the Orange Bowl in 2021. All’s Wolverines lost, 34-11.

Music City Bowl (Auburn vs. Maryland)

Iowa is a part of Maryland’s record book, and not in a way the Terrapins would like. The Iowa defense’s six interceptions in the 2021 game in College Park were tied for the most by an opposing defense in Maryland program history.

The other team to pick off Maryland six times in one game was Pennsylvania in 1941.

Arizona Bowl (Toledo vs. Wyoming)

Wyoming offensive coordinator Tim Polasek previously coached Iowa’s offensive line from 2017-20.

Monday, Jan. 1

Rose Bowl (Alabama vs. Michigan/College Football Playoff semifinal)

Alabama’s Nick Saban and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz were both on Bill Belichick’s Cleveland Browns coaching staff in the 1990s.

Sugar Bowl (Texas vs. Washington/CFP semifinal)

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. threw three interceptions in one game against the Hawkeyes in 2021 when he was the starter at Indiana. Riley Moss returned two of the picks for touchdowns.

Fiesta Bowl (Oregon vs. Liberty/New Year’s Six bowl)

Former Iowa linebacker Jestin Jacobs transferred to Oregon after last season. Jacobs has 31 tackles and one sack in seven games.

ReliaQuest Bowl (Wisconsin vs. LSU)

This season marks the five-year, 10-year, 15-year and 20-year anniversary of Iowa teams that went to this bowl game when it was called the Outback Bowl.

Citrus Bowl (Iowa vs. Tennessee)

The Iowa connection in this bowl game is obvious. Iowa is playing in it.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com