A SEASON IN THE SUN: THE IOWA HAWKEYES

  

Zips…

 

On the last day of August 2002, the Hawkeye’s beat the Akron Zips, a bottom league team in the MAC conference. The previous season, the Hawkeye’s went to their first bowl in a number of years and surprisingly won. Coached by Kirk Ferentz, Iowa fans have a tepid feeling for the man. His first season was awful, but he is slowly improving. Ferentz was the other guy..not the real thing. That guy went to Oklahoma. The Zips was a case of the blahs. Could Iowa have a winning season? The most outside chance according to THE GAZETTE  was 8 and 3.  In the pink room after the game, Akron was flattened and defeated, but so what. It was a mismatch between a bad team and a mediocre team. Ticket sales were off. There were spaces and places for more fans in the stadium.

 

Miami…

 

Nope, you are thinking of another Miami that wins almost every game. This one is from Ohio and they lost to the Hawkeyes. Again, this was not a clash of giants, rather two unranked fighting out from the bottom. Hawks looked okay.

 

Cyclones…

 

Now we know that the Hawks are a fairly crappy team. They lost it all in the second half and a guy named Brad Banks looked good, then bad. Hawks sputtered. Cyclones went on to be ranked and will humiliate Big Red (Nebraska.)

 

Utah State…

 

Hawks get a chance to play another patsy. They win big.

 

Penn State…

 

This should be bad. Dragging themselves into “Happy Valley” the Hawks won in the last few minutes. Got it? You do the math. Hawks won. Maybe Iowa is getting better. Ticket sales improve. Both Iowa and Cyclones are in top 25. Cyclones bop Nebraska.

 

Purdue…

 

It is now hard to watch Iowa games. If they lose or win big, that’s easy. It’s that last minute score that drives folks wild. Well, they did it again. That’s the Hawks. In the last few seconds, they beat Purdue. Many viewers went to bed after the game. If you mix beer and last minute excitement, later you get exhaustion. Fans have become happy but tired. The national press is now looking at the team.

 

Michigan State…

The opposition fell apart in the second half and Heisman hopes for Michigan player are dashed. Coach will lose his job, as Iowa cruises by.

 

Indiana…

 

It was such a beautiful day for such a flat performance by the Hawks. Expectations are now somewhere in the sky for Iowa fans. However, they got the job done. Indiana has a new coach who is following after previous coaches. Losses.

 

Michigan…

 

HAWKS ROCK! Iowa has huge win over Michigan in the big house. Can Iowa do no wrong? We’re #1. Well, no, but maybe will get to #3. National awareness is now on the

Iowa team from Iowa City.

 

Wisconsin…

 

So what’s new? Iowa won.

 

Northwestern…

 

This is last home game and Iowa won big. Numerous seniors took their bows. For them, they went from last place 4 years ago to a tie for first place in the Big 10 (actually 11 teams.) Ohio State is that other team that will go on to win the championship over everybody else.

 

Minnesota…

 

The land of 10,000 lakes just dried up. Iowa won big in the metro-dome. Only the Cyclones beat them this year.

 

Orange Bowl…

 

Iowa scores on the first return for a 100-yard touchdown. Ouch! They play a football factory from California (USC) and lose. Fans are still happy.  Recruiting starts to improve. Brad Banks almost wins the Heisman. Ferentz wins coach of the year. There are numerous other awards. The Ferentz-Fry number of winning seasons is something like 70%.

 

Pro-teams want to talk to the Iowa coach about coaching with them. Fans now appreciate the guy. Oklahoma has a so-so season. Nebraska breaks every negative record in the book. Cyclones sputter at the end.

 

 Iowa has a season in the sun.