Alternate Reality: Iowa-Penn State 2008
by Adam Jacobi on Jul 14, 2010 7:30 AM CDT
in Iowa Hawkeyes Football
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PrintHere's the setup: After conceding an early lead, Iowa found itself down 23-14 in the fourth quarter to Penn State late in 2008. Iowa responded with a touchdown, then two stops of PSU's offense to take over with the ball and a 2-point deficit late in the game.
Here's what happened: Buoyed by one of the most obvious and consistently called pass interference calls ever (sorry, PSU fans, but A: you'd claim the same with the shoe on the other foot and B: go home already, BHGP isn't your house), Iowa drove down the field as time waned, culminating in Daniel Murray nailing this 31-yard field goal to give Iowa the lead with one second left.
Here's why it matters, aside from the immediately obvious. We cite Morehouse, during his ongoing countdown of the 10 best games of the last decade (emphasis ours):
Add the drama of Daniel Murray. He hadn’t stepped onto the field in five weeks. Suddenly, coach Kirk Ferentz taps him on the shoulder for a 31-yarder into a swirly wind.
After two middling years, Iowa found its footing. Since this game, the Hawkeyes are 15-2.
The fog of ‘06 and ‘07 had finally lifted.
So, okay. Kirk Ferentz tabbed Daniel Murray to take that field goal, and Kirk Ferentz was operating with exponentially more information than you or I when it came to personnel decisions. So let's keep that in mind.
But let's also assume, for whatever reason, that Daniel Murray or whoever lines up there that night, misses the kick (shank, block, wind, whatever) and Iowa loses to Penn State. Is Iowa's record going forward still as exemplary? Tell you what: let's put it to a vote, and discussion past that goes below.
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Well
They lost the Rose Bowl that year, right? Anyway, guess we’ll never know if they would have made the Big10 proud in the NCG, or whether they would have just added to the Big10’s woes. Perhaps we did the Big10 a favor…
To take advantage of Penn State’s defense, it is best to use a pro style passing atttack. How many teams do that in college football? USC, Alabama, and…then who? USC was the most talented team in the country that year. SEC fans think this assertion is ridiculous, but USC would have crushed Florida and Oklahoma, and Penn State would have done much better against the latter two.
"My, my, my, my, my, my, my Mitchell. What would your mama say?"
by ReadingRambler on Jul 14, 2010 9:56 AM CDT up reply actions
I think Florida was significantly better than Oklahoma
and probably about equal with USC.
by HawkeyeRecon on Jul 14, 2010 9:58 AM CDT up reply actions
You don't have to talk to us about losing to the most talented team in the country
in a BCS bowl that is not the NCG. Oh 2002 OB… How that USC team wasn’t the national champs I will never figure out (besides the obvious obligatory loss to a lesser team that was a Pete Carroll trademark)
"I shoot, I score. He shoots, I score." - Dan Gable
by ClaybornSmash on Jul 14, 2010 11:53 AM CDT up reply actions
And yet were still probably the best team in the nation at the end of the year
"I shoot, I score. He shoots, I score." - Dan Gable
by ClaybornSmash on Jul 14, 2010 1:40 PM CDT up reply actions
2002 Miami FL was no slouch.
Yes, they were still in the Big East, but here are there scores (and the records of their opponents):
W vs. Fla A&M, 63-17
W @ Florida, 41-16 (Florida was 8-5)
W @ Temple, 44-21 (4-8)
W vs. BC, 38- 6 (9-4)
W vs UConn, 48-14 (6-6)
W vs Fla State, 28-27 (9-5)
W @ West Va., 40-23 (9-4)
W @ Rutgers, 42-17 (1-11)
W @ Tennessee, 26-3 (8-5)
W vs. Pitt, 28-21 (9-4)
W @ Syracuse, 49-7 (4-8)
W vs. Va Tech, 56-45 (10-4)
L vs. Ohio St, 24-31, (14-0)
Miami may have been suspect defensively, but I that is 7 wins against teams who won at least 8 games (Fla, BC, FSU, W Va, Tenn, Pitt, Va Tech).
2002 USC was racking up points for the second half of the year, but they were also a bit suspect on defense, and had dropped games to Wash State and Kansas State (although, WSU finished 10-3, and KSU finished 11-2).
Maybe USC beats Miami. Or maybe it becomes a 52-49 shootout and USC wins. Who knows.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Jul 14, 2010 5:15 PM CDT up reply actions
and gets throttled by Oklahoma or Florida
j/k, you guys might have had a decent shot against Oklahoma. USC has done more damage to more Big10 teams than anyone else.
by HawkeyeRecon on Jul 14, 2010 9:57 AM CDT up reply actions
Ferentz was confident that Murray had a hot foot that night because
he spent the evening cozy and snug in front of the Iowa sideline heaters.
If you feel like singing along, don't.
James Taylor
I think we would not have done as well
this was one of those games that gave the team the confidence to believe they could win close ones. Which we saw way too many of last year.
I don’t think it affected the rest of 2008, but if nothing else, Stanzi alone probably benefited last year in the games he led to 4th quarter comebacks.
It never gets to be easy
Losses to Sparty and Penn State make it 13-4.
Without Murray’s kick to win, the Hawks don’t have the confidence required for 7 to get 6, and Penn State wins in the 2009 Whiteout.
So, are you saying that if Iowa had lost this game, your entire defensive line would have transferred? Because that’s the only way Iowa loses to Penn State. Confidence my butt.
"My, my, my, my, my, my, my Mitchell. What would your mama say?"
by ReadingRambler on Jul 14, 2010 8:31 AM CDT up reply actions
I was assuming more that Penn State would be riding high from their appearance in the mNC game
And that their offensive line may be slightly more prepared for the game. I’m willing to concede, however, and say that Iowa’s only additional loss would have come in E.Lansing, if you’d prefer.
by The Mexican't on Jul 14, 2010 8:34 AM CDT up reply actions
It wouldn’t have mattered if we had defeated the New England Patriots in the MNC game. We still had to replace three excellent starters with duct tape and rubber bands.
"My, my, my, my, my, my, my Mitchell. What would your mama say?"
by ReadingRambler on Jul 14, 2010 9:54 AM CDT up reply actions
Hey now, scarecrow might take offense to that.
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Jul 14, 2010 9:56 AM CDT up reply actions
The turnstile is offended!
"I shoot, I score. He shoots, I score." - Dan Gable
by ClaybornSmash on Jul 14, 2010 11:55 AM CDT up reply actions
Stanzi makes a mental note
that wind can do vile things to the flight of a football.
After losing a close, brutal game to Sparty the next year, he openly argues with KOK on the sideline of the Indiana game. Calling his own plays from the huddle, he ignores the OC’s directions and runs a conservative ground game in the third quarter. The Hoosiers get a TD due to awesome field position, but the 4th qtr points put up by the Hawks more than carry the day.
After blowing jNW off the field, Stanzi and his healthy ankle roll into Columbus and roll out with tickets to Pasadena.
The Oregon Ducks learn the meaning of pain as they are blown off the field 38-3. A certain blog complains that KF let his foot off the gas in the fourth quarter or it would have been a shutout.
Facts sometimes have a strange and bizarre power that makes their inherent truth seem unbelievable. - Werner Herzog
Now remember...
…the first rule of alternate realities: If one exists then they all exist. Which means that I could make an argument that this is even worse than all of the “pre-season prognostication” that most other sites do, in that this is “post-season skewed reality prognostication”. Although, I think that it is a concept that ESPN might put some major dollars into if pitched in a way that wins Tim Tebow the National Championship and the Heisman every year in college and a victory in a knock down drag out fight with Satan himself. Which, if the original point holds true, is a definite possibility.
I thought the first rule of alternate realities
was that everyone has goatees in the evil ones.
It never gets to be easy
by chitownhawkeye on Jul 14, 2010 4:35 PM CDT up reply actions
I think
2008 probably doesn’t end on such an upswing and taking it to Spurrier and the ‘Cocks. That ’hangover’ feeling could have rolled into 2009, but I think KF still would have everyone working hard and I think the results of 2009 would have been quite similar to reality.
It wouldn’t have been all bad. 8-5 record with a relatively easy win over a top fifteen Missouri team.
"My, my, my, my, my, my, my Mitchell. What would your mama say?"
by ReadingRambler on Jul 14, 2010 3:05 PM CDT up reply actions
And jNWU could have gotten a bowl win!
Nah, I’m just kidding, there is no alternate reality where this could happen.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
2009 UNI game was the real turning point, IMHO
Iowa loses that game, and we’re looking at the potential for a meltdown ala 2005 or 2007. Losing to Penn State in 2008 would have been survivable. Not UNI 2009.
You got no fear of the underdog; That's why you will not survive!
by YouCanPutYourEddsInIt on Jul 14, 2010 6:46 PM CDT reply actions
I feel for PSU
When I think of that 2008 IA-PSU game, I can’t help but think of (and seethe over) Iowa State in 2002, spoiling what was quite possibly going to be a championship year for Iowa. By any reasonable standard, the Hawkeyes were a far superior squad to the Ohio State that year. It was the “Luckeye” year when Ohio State went to like 15 overtimes to get past powerful Illinois and snuck out of there with “W” only by the grace of God and the officials, who were tired of the game and wanted to get home.
But that Orange Bowl was probably a critical experience for Ferentz, Inc. Iowa has never been blown out like that since in a bowl game. Only two losses since, and both were close games that required some generous officiating in favor of Texas and Florida to hand Iowa the loss. Otherwise, we have feasted upon these better, faster, more elite programs for most of the last decade.
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