It’s Iowa vs Georgia Tech in the 2010 Orange Bowl.
First things first; I picked Iowa to play against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl and turned out to be wrong on that one. I was nearly certain of it on Friday, based on what I heard and whom I heard it from. I believe that had Texas beaten Nebraska in the fashion that most people expected, the TCU-Boise State Fiesta Bowl might not have happened. But since things didn’t turn out that way, I think the Fiesta folks, who had considered the Non-BCS BCS game during the weeks leading up to Selection Sunday, felt they had a possible ‘People’s Champion’ game on their hands.
They get #4 vs #6 in the BCS rankings, two teams that are undefeated on a stand alone television night. I think that game will do just fine in the ratings, and should outperform the Fiesta where Boise upset Oklahoma. This year’s Fiesta should pull at least a 9.0, which would be better than the game a few years back.
What I am interested to see is how well TCU and Boise State show up in the stands and in the hotels of Phoenix. The Fiesta Bowl had a HUGE check in hand just waiting to be delivered if they selected Iowa, but they took a pass on that. Will the risk be worth it? I’ll be watching, as last year’s Boise State vs TCU bowl game was in the Poinsettia and it drew just over 32,000 fans. Incidentally, that game had a better TV rating than did the Outback Bowl between Iowa and South Carolina. However, the Poinsettia was a stand alone game in prime time on December 23rd; no other bowl games were played that day or night.
Another interesting aspect to me, and the thing that stands out the most at this point in time, is that the Orange took Iowa over Penn State. I felt that the Fiesta would not pass up a Big Ten team, but in the unlikely event that it did, the Nittany Lions would be the Orange’s selection.
Neither of those things happened of course…
Iowa getting the at large BCS nod over a Penn State team with the same record is significant, in my opinion and something to remember. Penn State is the 6th winningest program in the history of the sport with 810 wins; Iowa has 578 wins. Penn State has multiple national titles and Heisman Trophy winners, and Iowa has one of each. Penn State has the winningest coach in the history of the sport, and they come from a much larger state and their fanbase comes from very large metropolitan areas. They also have the second largest alumni base in the world.
And the Orange Bowl chose Iowa.
This has as much to with the unmatched loyalty of the Iowa Hawkeye fans as anything else, and I say that with all due respect to the Iowa program. It’s a very good program, but no one in their right mind would argue that Penn State isn’t one of the game’s elite programs.
However, Iowa’s is an elite fanbase; among the Top Ten or perhaps the Top Five in the sport. That might ruffle the feathers of a few of our friends reading this story from rival fanbases, but it’s simply reality in today’s BCS bowl climate. There are few teams that Iowa would lose to in a head to head BCS battle, and Sunday’s selection over Penn State proves that.
So Iowa fans, once again, you need to take a bow because you got over on Penn State, just like the Hawks did on the field against the Nits in September.
Now, on to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
In my opinion, there are three teams they did not want to face in the Bowl Season, or rather, three teams that would be their absolute worst draw to go up against their style of offense: Nebraska, Alabama and Iowa.
They run a full house backfield that is an option attack, certainly a throwback to this day and age of football.
In my book, what is the one thing that you need to have more than anything else to have a shot to shut down an attack like that? Discipline at the defensive end and linebacker positions.
Iowa has that in spades.
There were a few games this year where Iowa played quarterbacks that could run, where attacking from the outside was not something you wanted to do, and Iowa’s ends play amazingly disciplined football, almost as if they were the ones optioning the quarterback. I would also put Iowa’s linebacker trio up against any other in all of college football, plus Iowa handles gap responsibilities as well as any team in the nation.
Did teams put up some rushing yards against Iowa this year? Yes, as the Hawks allowed 122 rushing yards per game. But the biggest numbers that Iowa allowed came against teams that were dual threat, spread attacks. You could argue that Ohio State was not your typical spread attack team, but their quarterback Terrelle Pryor was the most dangerous player Iowa faced all season long.
With Georgia Tech, you know they are going to run the football, and they do it well, averaging over 300 yards per game which is 2nd in the nation. But they are 115 out of 120 in throwing the ball, averaging 135 yards per game through the air. Iowa threw 363 passes this year, whereas Tech threw the ball just 159 times. You can really load up against a team like this, but must be mindful of the play action. It also helps to have cornerbacks and safeties that are sound tacklers, and Iowa has that, too.
The Tech defense can also be run on, as they allowed over 150 yards per game on the ground. In their two losses, they allowed 183 yards rushing against Miami (and gained less than 100 in that game) and more than 300 yards against Georgia just two weeks ago. That is a game film the Iowa staff will be able to dissect and breakdown leading up to the game.
One final thought for you before we embark on four weeks of breaking down this game…the Iowa coaching staff has proven to be among the best in the nation as it relates to preparing for bowl games.
They learned a lot of lessons from the Orange Bowl back in 2003, and Kirk Ferentz admits they did not have the right preparation plan for that one.
You look at the 2003 Iowa team, that had similar offensive production to this year’s Iowa team…they didn’t crack 300 yards in their final regular season game, a win at Wisconsin, and put up over 400 against Florida in the Outback Bowl. They totally dismantled South Carolina last year. They nearly beat a superior Texas team in the Alamo Bowl back in 2006 and came within a touchdown of Florida in the Outback following the 2005 season.
They will have a good plan for this game, and I expect the offense to come out firing on all cylinders; it’s just what they have done time after time.
Georgia Tech Season Stat Rankings
GT Season Schedule With Box Score Links
Tags: georgia tech, hawkeye football, Hawkeye Nation, hawkeyenation.com, Iowa football, Jon Miller, Orange Bowl
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