Monday, July 19, 2010

Top Ten Most Memorable - #5

2002 - Iowa 31 - Purdue 28 - At a point in the season where the Iowa Football team was trying to find itself, the Purdue Boilermakers made a visit to Kinnick Stadium with confidence and attitude. The one team that had given the Hawkeye offense fits since Kirk Ferentz arrived at Iowa was doing it again. The Purdue offense was having success against the proven D, but the difference on this Fall afternoon was the play of the Iowa Special Teams. A blocked punt for touchdown along with a blocked field goal returned over seventy yards for a seven was joined by a 50+ yard field goal by Lou Groza award winner Nate Kaeding accounted for over half of the Hawkeye points. But one play, one series and one player defined the day for Iowa. Mackey Award winner Dallas Clark proved to be the Hawkeye hero. In the third quarter Heisman Runner-Up Brad Banks connected with Clark for a 95 yard out pattern which resulted in a touchdown. The combo proved to work once again later in the game. With the Hawkeyes facing a fourth down with less than a minute to go, Banks and Clark connected again for the game winning touchdown pass from the seven. But the Boilers would not give up. Moving down the field Purdue looked as if they would do no worse than tie, but lesser known defensive back Adolphus Shelton picked off a Brandon Kirsch pass at the Iowa 25 and the Hawkeye faithful poured out onto the Kinnick Stadium turf. Word has it Purdue head coach Joe Tiller was quoted as saying, "What the Hell just happened." And more was said from the Purdue Coaches Booth in the press box, but that language was heard often throughout the game, but not for print here.

Amy T #5 - Iowa 24 - Ohio State 27 - 2009. The battle for the Big Ten Championship was on the line in the horseshoe, but an overtime period that found the Hawkeyes losing yards, and the Buckeyes maintaining field goal range was the difference as the Buckeyes headed to Pasadena.

Phil H #5 - Iowa 31 - Purdue 28 - 2002.

Pete V #5 - Iowa 29 - Minnesota 27 - 2004. Another crazy game in the battle for Floyd of Rosedale. The Hawkeyes sealed a victory that found place kicker Kyle Schlicker kicking five field goals and linebacker Chad Greenway stopping the Gopher running game behind the line of scrimmage resulting in a missed field goal giving the Hawkeyes their sixth straight win en route to a share of the Big Ten Championship.

2 comments:

Jon Pippert said...

Pip's #5 - 2009 Iowa 21 Penn Sate 10. Iowa won in one of the toughest enviornments in the country on a rainy night and ruined Penn State's "White House." After Penn State scored on their first play from scrimmage a 79-yard TD the Iowa defense controlled Penn State the rest of the night. Iowa was still down 10-5 early in the fourth quarter and then Adrian Clayborn single handly had one of the greatest plays in Iowa football history, which was a season changing play. Clayborn blocked a punt and returned it 53 yards for touchdown. Adam Robinson scored a 13 yard TD on the next series and Iowa sealed it with another late field goal against Penn State. This game set the stage for the rest of the year with Iowa playing its best football on the biggest stage. Iowa was dealt with a tough road schedule in '09 and used it as motivation, which is a reflection of the best head coach in the country.

Anonymous said...

Al's #5 - 2004 Iowa 33 Ohio State 7. What a way to celebrate game 100 as a head coach! The Hawkeyes picked up just their 14th victory over OSU and first in Kinnick since 1983. Both teams entered play losers in 2 of their last 3 games but the Iowa Hawkeyes showed no signs of weakness during this one. Behind redshirt freshman Drew Tate, the Hawkeye offense exploded to 33 points on the always tough Ohio State defense. No single play stands out more during this game than a first down run by Brownlee where he juked now Green Bay Packer, AJ Hawk, out of his jock strap! This play was a great example of the 2004 Iowa Hawkeyes, maybe not the most talented group of players, but one of the hardest working teams in the nation. Knocking off Ohio State was the first step in one of the greatest single seasons in Iowa history.