Hlas: Hawkeyes could use a non-Taxing win

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — What does it all mean?

OK, this is a sports page, so let's not get too philosophical. Let's reduce the question to this: What does the TaxSlayer Bowl mean to overall state of the Iowa football program?

If you hastily answered 'Not much,' the answer to you is … not much.

If you think a win over a 6-6 Tennessee team in a bowl named for a tax software company played in a stadium named for a bank would help heal a Hawkeyes season that became an open wound in late November? Then the answer to you is … something, maybe even quite a bit.

Four years ago, Iowa had a 7-5 regular-season that was as disappointing and perhaps even more so than this one. The Hawkeyes played a 10-2 Missouri team in the Insight Bowl, won, and the story didn't really change. The 2010 season was still a bust, and will always be regarded as one.

But 8-5 did trump 7-6, and at least there were warm Insight Bowl memories to tout on the I-Club's spring fundraising circuit.

That was also Iowa's last bowl win. Beating Mizzou in '10 sure felt like a better fall of the curtain than defeats to Oklahoma in the '11 Insight and LSU in last year's Outback Bowl.

But even with the Outback loss, Iowa's 8-5 mark of last season will feel better than its 8-5 this season with a win Friday, even if it thoroughly vanquishes the Volunteers. It's all about perception. Last year's Hawkeyes had a revival after the horrors of 2012's 4-8 season. This year's team had expectations placed upon it externally and internally, and didn't meet them.

Oh, how precarious a football season can be. Had Iowa simply not punted the ball directly to Nebraska whiz kid DeMornay Pierson-El twice in a row in the fourth quarter on Nov. 28, he might not have had returns of 41 yards that set up a touchdown and 80 yards that was a TD itself in the Huskers' comeback win.

Iowa would have gone on to the Holiday Bowl to play USC. That would have been a bowl and a matchup that resonated well with Hawkeye fans. Coupled by the fact they had defeated Nebraska, some of the Hawkeyes' frustration about the season would have been muted.

But instead we get this Jan. 2 piece of afternoon time-slot filler for ESPN, a nondescript matchup sandwiched between the Armed Forces and Alamo bowls, games that at least have some dignity attached to their names.

What does the TaxSlayer Bowl mean? The two combatants have a combined record of 11-11 against FBS competition, and an 8-11 mark against teams from Power Five conferences.

Tennessee's biggest win of distinction was at South Carolina, which also took a 6-6 record into a bowl. Iowa's top FBS triumph was at Pittsburgh, which is 6-6 and will battle in that aforementioned Armed Forces Bowl Friday against a Houston squad with an eye-popping 7-5 mark.

Still, there is a victory that Iowa can win today, and that would be 2.75 million times better than losing. You win, you grin. Win big, and the worst that happens is your fans and foes say that's the way you could have played all season.

That's a burden the Hawkeyes would happily take right now. Should both of Iowa's quarterbacks shine today, well, sorting out their statuses in the next eight months really wouldn't be the worst problem to own.

In fact, it wouldn't be the lousiest day in Hawkdom if one QB between Jake Rudock and C.J. Beathard played really well this afternoon.

The Hawkeyes need to win. But more importantly, they need to not lose again.