OK, you saw this and thought ‘What’s the debate? It’s Tate to Holloway in the 2005 Capital One bowl. Next topic.’
In case it’s only been three days since you have viewed that play in some fashion, here it is again for you:
Yes, it’s awesome and I just watched it again and it’s one of the favorite moments of my entire lifetime…it’s in the Top Ten with my daughters being born, getting married and a few other things that are for another day.
But was it bigger than Stanzi to McNutt, Michigan State, 2009? Here is that play:
Ahh…more gooseflesh on a Wednesday…can’t beat it.
OK, let’s get down to brass tacks here…
Tate to Holloway:
-Enabled Iowa to post it’s third straight 10 or more win season
-Enabled Iowa to post its third straight #8 season ending ranking
-Widely considered one of the greatest endings to a bowl game in the history of the sport
-Will still be played to millions of people in highlight reels for years, perhaps decades to come
-Capped an unreal year, a Big Ten title when they should not have done that given all the injury adversity they faced
-A huge play for a bowl win, and a January bowl win at that
OK, that’s a pretty convincing list. Now why Stanzi to McNutt was a bigger, more important play
-Led to Iowa’s 8th straight win to start a season, the most in school history. The 10 win 2004 season and Top 8 ranking had been done in each of the preceding seasons. An 8-0 start had never been done, ever
-Kept Iowa in the hunt for National Title talk, which is a boon for recruiting
-Brought Sports Illustrated to Iowa City the following week, which led to an amazing comeback against Indiana, which led to just the second Hawkeye related cover in four or five decades; you can’t pay for that kind of exposure for your program
-Without that win, Iowa does not get to 9-0, and does not get to the Orange Bowl, does not get to win the Orange Bowl, which is enormous for recruiting
These are just some of the counterpoints. So which play was the most ‘impactful’ to the Iowa football program? You likely have your own thoughts on this, and I’d love to read them and have this debate.
Tags: hawkeye football, Hawkeye Nation, Iowa football, Marvin Mcutt, Rick Stanzi
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You forgot one + for the tate-to-holloway: That we defeated the defending national champion. That may not sway your choice, but I think it’s something that should be taken into account.
Those are great lists of points for each play. Both plays were clearly huge in many ways, and both were the final play of one of the best games in each respective CFB season. But the craziness at the end of the Capital One Bowl and the unexpectedness of the final play just can’t be matched, it was an absolute SHOCK. I think Tate to Holloway is #1 all-time for Iowa, but I’d say Stanzi to McNutt is also right up there along with Cook’s catch at Ohio State and some of the others.
I agree that in hindsight Stanzi to McNutt was the more important play; however, I think Tate to Holloway was the more exciting play comparing one moment to the other. Tate to Holloway was more miraculous and it had me jumping around, calling people, etc. We (including non-Hawk fans) talked about that for weeks… Stanzi to McNutt was exciting, but, maybe just a little more predictable or expected. Anyway, both were great plays.
It kinda cuts both ways here. Without hindsight … the 2004 victory seemed to cement Iowa nabbing the best recruiting class that Ferentz has put together while at Iowa. With hindsight … with how few guys actually remained from that 2005 class … and considering how the 2005 class contributed to Iowa’s poor performances in 2006 and 2007 (although admittedly a big part is on the coaches for not cracking the whip enough and not handling personnel issues somewhat better) … the impact of the 2004 season on recruiting ended up not appearing as big.
Aside from the recruiting and exposure slant of the success of the 2009 season … a season that certainly hinged on winning close games … especially capping such a tough victory over MSU on the road … we cannot forget that the MSU victory was pivotal in making the 2009 season HISTORIC. Without the victory, we don’t get into and win our first “traditional-bowl” since the 50s. Without the victory we don’t tally our best season start in school history.
Each victory was pivotal in story-book seasons for the Hawkeyes. It’s hard to imagine two seasons where the Hawkeyes had to overcome more …. and yet overcome they did!
One advantage that the Cap One bowl game might have is that it wasn’t only part of the story-book season … it was the dramatic end to that tale!
An incredibly hard choice, but I cannot help but give the nod to the MSU game.
If I look back to how I was feeling before each play happened, I would say that Tate-Holloway was a much bigger emotional swing from depressed to elated. We were all ready to begin pointing fingers on who screwed up clock management and instead got a 56 yard play to win it as time expired.
Stanzi-McNutt, while exciting as it was the last play of the game, was not the same emotional swing as Tate-Holloway.
I have to give the edge to the Cap One Bowl. That play cemented that year’s recruiting class. And while that group seemed like such a disappointment, a number of them were key parts of this year’s squad. Stross, Richardson, Eubanks, Moeaki, Calloway, and Angerer were all members of that class, as was Shonn Greene. One could make the legit argument that without one, the other doesn’t even happen. Plus the Cap One was so unexpected. The emotional swing was huge! Even though it could be explained by my being 14 at the time, I was running around the house screaming for like 10 minutes after that.
The MSU finish was great. But I wasn’t nearly as on edge as I was for the game in Orlando. With Stanzi under center, and with the way things had gone all year, I had a gut feeling that it was going to happen the whole time. Especially when we got down inside the 10. In the 4th quarter, Stanzi is almost Vince Young-like: he will not let his team lose.
Loved them both, but Stanzi to McNutt was a result of disciplined, planned, coordinated, in your face for the victory effort. Tate called the LSU play on the field, and it worked out.