Hawkeyes, LeShun Daniels survive the high-ankle sprains of 2016

IOWA CITY — Opportunities were there at the beginning. The middle had a few potholes. The final lap started with a huge obstacle, but the finish was strong.

LeShun Daniels' career as a Hawkeye does kind of mirror Iowa's 2016 season.

The big question is does the 'huge obstacle' part underplay the high-ankle sprain that cost Daniels a ton of his junior season and does it not go far enough in describing what happened to the Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) at Penn State?

Let's just focus on the end. That's where we all are after Iowa's 40-10 bashing of No. 16 Nebraska (9-3, 6-3) at Kinnick Stadium on Friday.

Daniels rushed 29 times for 158 yards in his final game at Kinnick. In their final Kinnick game of 2016, the Hawkeyes delivered you a blessing and a curse.

Yes, hammering the Huskers in a border rivalry and retaining the Heroes Trophy were a satisfying end, but certainly there's a smidge of lament out there somewhere on what could've been.

It just wasn't anywhere in the Hawkeyes' postgame.

'At that point in time, I had no idea,' said Daniels when asked where he thought the season was headed after the 41-14 shellacking at Penn State on Nov. 5. 'That was the most frustrating loss I had ever been a part of since I've been here, but we knew that, especially the senior class, we couldn't go out like that.'

The Hawkeyes' charter landed in Iowa City before 2 a.m. the next day, which turned out to be the dawn of a new life in November. Maybe a bit dramatic on that? You know how the rest of November went — clean sweep with victories over No. 3 Michigan that you'll probably buy posters of, a win at Illinois and Friday's thunderclap that laid waste to the Huskers (264 rushing yards to just 90 is a 'thunderclap').

'We got back together that next day,' Daniels said, 'we were like, 'This isn't going to happen. We're not going to go out this way these last three games of the season.' We knew we had Michigan coming in the next week, and we knew we had to give it our all. Over the last three weeks of the season, everyone has really been believing in each other.

'We've had our ups and downs these last three weeks, but we knew we were going to finish strong, we were going to play together, we were going to give it everything we had.'

This final push gave the season a sheen. Let's sort through some of the accounting.

It didn't live up to the expectations left at its doorstep after a momentous 2015. It did include a Kinnick defeat to FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, the Hawkeyes' first defeat to an FCS-level program.

There was Michigan and a poster moment the Iowa program desperately needed (10 million people watched on ESPN as Keith Duncan's 33-yarder sailed through the uprights).

The final push almost gave Iowa a piece of hardware. Yes, the 2016 Hawkeyes did have a chance to kind of, sort of defend its Big Ten West Division title going into Saturday's action. But Wisconsin's 31-17 victory over Minnesota gave it the outright title in the West. The Badgers (10-2) will face Penn State (10-2) in the Big Ten championship game next weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.

With at least two and maybe three Big Ten teams in the running for a berth in the College Football Playoffs (Ohio State is No. 2 and likely in), Iowa likely won't know its bowl destination before the result of the B1G title game.

In a quick conversation Friday night, Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said the Pinstripe Bowl, which was on hand for Friday's game, is probably out. The Holiday Bowl (San Diego, Calif.) and Music City (Nashville, Tenn.) are possibilities, as is the Outback Bowl (Tampa, Fla.), which has hosted Iowa four times since 2004.

The Hawkeyes and their senior running back ended up having an interesting 2016. Iowa could make its fourth appearance in the Holiday Bowl, first since a 13-13 tie with BYU in 1991 (legendary Iowa coach Hayden Fry is in the Holiday Bowl hall of fame).

With his effort Friday, Daniels became the first Iowa running back to eclipse 1,000 since Marcus Coker had 1,384 in 2011. Junior running back Akrum Wadley needs just 34 yards to pass 1,000, which would give the Hawkeyes two 1,000-yard backs for the first time in its history.

'You've got to give credit to those guys, they're the ones running the ball,' guard Sean Welsh said. 'There have been times where we didn't help them. I think it's been an all-around group effort between us and the backs.'

It hasn't been a perfect season. It wasn't a perfect senior day for Daniels. He did get caught from behind after breaking free on a 56-yard run in the first half.

'Some of the young running backs definitely gave me crap about it,' Daniels said with a laugh. 'It is what it is ... I ended up scoring anyway, so it was all right.'

Daniels did end up finishing the drive. Same with the Hawkeyes, even after the high-ankle sprains of 2016.