POLL: What One Play Defines Iowa Football?

“His only college touchdown came in his last college game, the 2005 Capital One Bowl, where quarterback Drew Tate threw a 56-yard pass to Holloway as time expired in the fourth quarter, giving Iowa a 30-25 victory over LSU.”

Seriously awesome moment for the program, the player, and the fans. I think he defines the hard-working attitude of the program. He may not have been the most talented guy on the field, but he worked his ass off and, in the end, he etched his name into Hawkeye lore.

the Iowa Hawkeye program seems to get it done despite traditional concepts and logic. Everything about that play (the opponent we weren’t supposed to play with, the blown lead, the chaos, an unknown player) sums up Iowa perfectly.

Tight End – Iowan – Walk-on – OMHR

A game winning TD pas to the TE to beat a perennial powerhouse just reeks of Iowa to me. This is a program that overachieves, and often does so with the TE. It just seems too perfect.

Something about the whole #1 vs. #2 matchup really set it apart for me.

That’s not the game people. WAKE UP.

I just called my therapist to confirm. I don’t know WHAT you guys are smoking.

IC kid, kicking a FG to beat the #3 (?) ranked team, the drama around KF picking him to kick it, the iconic slide afterwards, national TV…the whole thing reeked of Iowa. Plus, I went to high school with the guy.

But I think it’s from too long ago, and another era completely. The question is kind of vague, as I don’t think any one play can adequately summarize a program that has been playing for a century plus (Boise State, however, can be easily defined by the trick play versus OU in the Fiesta Bowl). Thus, I decided to vote on what, to me, best represented the nature of Iowa football under Kirk Ferentz. And the choice was easy: Murray’s kick to beat PSU in 2008. That, to me, personifies all the best of Ferentzian football, and all that we can hope the team will be: a local walk-on, someone no other team wanted, getting a chance to defeat one of college football’s royalty, and coming through in the clutch.

Iowa’s teams will always have to rely on the overlooked and unheralded players to contribute, often meaningfully. And, the 2008 PSU game was the best aspects of Ferentz’s strategy: stick with a clearly superior team until the 4th quarter, then seize the opportunities when they arise.

1939 Iowa-Notre Dame. Nile Kinnick’s final booming punt to seal the deal. Can you imagine: NFL was in its fledgling years, the entire state of Iowa went nuts, bonfires were started in Iowa City, and we were actually darlings in the national media? Nile’s leg did more to win that game than anything else he contributed, and the game was sealed on his final punt. Runner up: the field goal after the touchdown, otherwise we would have been kissing our sister.

I think that the play that best represents Iowa football is Shonn Greene’s TD run against Wisconsin in 2008. Yes, THAT one.

It was an off-tackle running play where he got spun around, broke multiple tackles and had to keep churning and fighting to get to the end zone. This, from a 23 year-old junior who never would have even had the ball in his hands were he not able to persevere through his own personal challenges. Moreover, we started the season with no clear option at RB and ended the season with the Doak Walker award winner and as much as “next man in” may sting right now, it’s certainly been part of Iowa football.

The combination of hard work, perseverance, team work and a little bit of natural talent got him into the end zone and that, to me, is Iowa football over the last 30 years. The pain of last weekend’s loss notwithstanding.

It’s either that or it’s Drew Tate getting his helmet ripped off at Michigan in 2004, continuing to look for a receiver and then throwing an incompletion.

And I remember exactly where I was for each. I was in the stands for two of them (Daniel Murray v. PSU and Chuck Long v. MSU). My dad was in the stands (alone) for Marv Cook v. OSU.

Though I love them all, I can’t vote against my screen namesake.

Iowa is #1 and has to come back, at home, 31 seconds left, fourth down, for the victory against a tough MSU team with Lorenzo White and Andre Rison (and Norm!). It was awesome.

But seriously, I think the 8 play goal-line stand against Syracuse in ‘06. Bend but don’t break. Thats Iowa football.

Just when you think we are down and out we punch you right in the mouth. To me, THAT defines Iowa Football!

It’s the greatest college play I’ve seen, period.

This defines the Iowa Football Program because:
A) We were about to get beat by a team that had no business being in that game. We played “just well enough” to avoid a loss and not well enough to win by any assertion of our will. That has been the definition of Iowa Football for many years now. AND…
B) It was completely unnecessary. The defense had already blocked ONE FG attempt but weren’t educated enough on the rules of the game to know what to do with it. Ergo, the Iowa Coaching Staff obviously hadn’t prepared the team adequately enough by at least explaining some of the more obscure rules, rules that are no less important. AND…
C) It was a hard-nosed, blue-collar, dig-in-and-make-shit-happen kind of play. A play which has also been definitive of Iowa defensive football. I wish our current defense would get that chip back on its shoulder and play like they gave a damn.

THE one play that encapsulates Iowa Football in the 2000’s.

I went from suicidal to blissfully berserk in 1 minute 37 seconds. It was the first Iowa game the in-laws ever watched with me. They live in Buckeye country, but we were all Hawkeyes that day. They finally “got it” after that.

what I consider a definitive Iowa play and what I consider my favorite play. The closest thing I can think of that is both high on the definitive scale and high on the favorite scale and it is actually a series of plays. The Syracuse goal line stand in 2006. It was a pretty boring game marked by frustratingly conservative offensive but that big 4 down stand at the Syracuse one yard line to secure the win was a highlight and, if I recall, one of the last appearances of Alex Kanellis before concussions put an end to his brief Hawkeye playing career.

…I wouldve guessed it was a pretty awesome looking TD in a game they ended up losing.

Velvet.

Fucking.

Horses.

KF choosing to punt inside the opponents 40 yd line.

at least of my generation (good summation from Hoya). Good entries all-around. Hadn’t thought of the Kinnick plunge/punt. Good additions.

My favorite play is the shovel pass from Banks to Lewis at Michigan in 2002. That confirmed that the 2002 team was pretty fucking good and could put their foot on someone’s throat (and it just happened to be a top 10 Michigan team in the Big House). And Lewis capped it off by completely dump-trucking a Michigan defender right before the goalline which led to a mass exodus to the exits. Kind of a random play, but definitely my favorite as it captured that team well and truly announced Iowa’s revival.

The game also gave us the Bullies of the Big Ten moniker.

If I have to pick one on the list, I pick Long’s keeper. That’s classic Hayden, “go fsck yourself” football. That’s some of the stubborn, old-fashioned ruggedness that characterized his coaching, and to some extent characterizes Coach Ferentz as well, though Kirk’s stubbornness is really losing its patina of respectability.

Anyway, all of the dramatic last-minute finishes are of a kind to me, none stands more than any other. Halloway was probably the most exciting and dramatic and it demonstrates the “next man up” theory but so does Murray’s kick, and even McNutt’s catch to some extent. I can’t pick one of those. Long’s touchdown didn’t seal the win the way those others did, but it sure showed the face of the program. We are going to play Iowa football, our way, on our terms, and we’re going to keep doing it until we beat you with it.

But the play that I would pick is actually the planned safety in the 6-4 PSU game. To me, that also defines the “Win our way, go fsck youself” attitude, but it’s also classic Iowa football, especially during the Ferentz era where the offense is less exotic and less pass-oriented — we’ll beat you on defense. We will hand you the game, and the ball, and dare you to score on us, and you won’t.

Iowa under Coach Ferentz has been a head-scratcher of a program — good when we shouldn’t be, bad when we shouldn’t be, winning against teams we can’t beat, losing against teams that can’t beat us, a hyper-conservative coaching staff, yet a team that defies every major conventional bit of wisdom about college football. And they win more games than they lose. Somehow, it all fits together. This last weekend notwithstanding.

So, I say the intentional safety.

He has built what success he has with a stalwart “stop the run defense” combined with just enough offense to win.

…And it shouldn’t be close.

When has Iowa been Number 1 and beat the Number 2 team (coached by Bo freaking Schembechler) on the last play of the game?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQqfrbuAgvY

I was at the Cap 1 Bowl and that was clearly the best I ever saw personally, but that was a broken (lucky) play that in someways (cue current events) highlights how inept our Head Football Coach can be in his Saturday role as Chief Clock Officer.

Even though I think my favorite play was “The Catch” by Holloway, none of these seem to particularly define Iowa football to me. It bothers me a lot that there’s not a single running play in that bunch. Well, ok, Long’s bootleg is technically a running play, but it’s not the hand off to a running back, watch him make one cut and go type of play that I’ve found so exciting to watch in recent years, be it Russell, Young, Greene, or now Coker. To me, that is what defines Iowa football (at least offensively).

That brings me to another point. Where are the amazing defensive plays on this list? The defense has always been a massive part of the team’s success as well.

I know this is a cop-out, but I don’t think I can pick one single play, at least not without some more thought. I just know that it’s not any of the plays listed in the poll.

To me (in my own lifetime) the definition of Iowa football is not a triumph, but a tragedy. Even so, the Iowa Hawkeyes (any sport really) are the only team which I really and truly have a strong emotional investment, and an avid interest.

Holloway is probably my favorite play. But that is not, at all, how I would define Iowa football.

So be forewarned, if looking for a feel-good moment, do not read below.

Jan 1, 1986
Pasadena, CA
First Quarter

Iowa takes possession after a fumbled punt snap by UCLA. It is 1st and 5 from the UCLA 5 yard line. The Hawkeyes, lead by senior Chuck Long in his 5th bowl appearance, trot onto the field with Iowa fans screaming their bloody heads off. Long hands the ball to the sure-handed star Ronnie Harmon…

You can certainly say that Kinnicks TD run is the greatest or most historic play. But that was distant history just as the Ploen to Gibbons. (I think that’s the right combination) pass was in Evy’s day by the time Fry showed up after nearly 20 losing seasons. Then began the most successful period of Iowa football with a few downturns but essentially running to today. The play has to be a Fry era play because Ferentz doesn’t happen without Fry. The signature player of the era was Long. The naked bootleg combines Long with a characteristic Fry call with the game on the line and ranked number one. It’s not Iowa’s greatest play but the most symbolic of the program.

And I thought to myself…there is only one? /sad’d

And it partly is because it’s still the biggest game Iowa’s ever won, in a sense, but also because:

1. Iowa had already shown itself to have been the better team all game, yet bad breaks—like a non-TD call on an obvious TD catch—kept UM in the game until the last play. Resilience.

2. Houghtlin was a clutch kicker who was only average otherwise. I don’t think he was recruited, I think he was a walk-on. That’s the Iowa way.

3. That was the peak of a great Iowa season, yet it was a season that ended on a downer. Seems like that’s par for that course (1981, 1985, 1991, 2002)

4. The ball was about to be placed only six yards back, but when Bo called a TO to ice Houghtlin, Mark Vlasic noticed it and made the correction. A little dumb luck helps, too.

That’s why I voted #1. But my second choice would be the Holloway play, for all the same reasons. Still, #1 vs #2 in Kinnick—hard to top as the definitive Iowa moment.

But since I wasn’t, I have to go with Warren Holloway. THE CATCH!

Murray’s kick was pretty epic, especially since I was there. And it really turned the program around from the garbage 2007 year and the underachieving first half of 2008.

7 got 6 was an awesome end to a game, but nothing I would call program defining.

Iowa 6, Penn St 4

walk-on glory. Houghtlin or Murray (both were walk-ons at one time).
As has been mentioned by Hoya, this program is defined by its walk-ons.
That makes me happy and sad.
And yet, I hate kickers.
There I am done.