Read the arguments from Loyal Homer and Babe Ruthless about which BCS teams they believe were the most impressive from this BCS bowl season.
When I flipped on the BCS National Championship on last night (a little late thanks to recording it on my DVR since Mrs. Sports Geek and I were finishing up watching an old episode of House… also on the DVR) I was expecting to see a great game, and wondering if I would regret selecting Iowa for the focus of my “Most Impressive BCS Team” argument today. (Note to Longhorn quarterback of the future, Garrett Gilbert: situations like the one you found yourself in last night are why backup quarterbacks study hard and remain vigilant. Hit the film room before next season starts, kid.) Needless to say, I’m glad I stuck with my first instinct that no team would deliver a more impressive performance in a BCS bowl game than the Iowa Hawkeyes did with a win over the vaunted triple option running attack of Georgia Tech.
I will not touch on all of the various parts of the Big Ten’s impressive performance during the 2009-2010 bowl season (I will leave that to Bleacher Fan next week, actually). However, Iowa’s performance in a BCS bowl game was significant because it capped their league’s bowl season with an emphatic victory, and showcased the toughness and grit that Big Ten football is all about (in a good way, this time).
Part of the reason Iowa’s performance was great is that expectations coming in were low. Georgia Tech had the gadget, intimidating offense while Iowa had the error prone quarterback, and the reliance on luck that was sure to run out sooner or later. Iowa defied many critics and the odds to win a big game for the school and the conference.
Quarterback Ricky Stanzi’s triumphant return to the field made this game, and Iowa’s performance, even better. While the master of the pick six did fulfill his contractual obligation to throw a touchdown to the OTHER team, he is also a seasoned leader who showed poise and smarts in the fourth quarter to orchestrate the touchdown drive that ultimately put Tech away. After suffering an ankle injury that required surgery and prematurely ended his regular season, Stanzi showed grit and toughness to work hard during his rehab and be prepared to play well in a big time BCS matchup. No, he did not play a perfect game. But his steady performance and clock management was exactly what the Hawkeyes needed to win.
Iowa showed off the moxie it developed this season by winning in spite of its usual mistakes. Stanzi’s pick six, zero for two on fourth down attempts, four stupid penalties, and a key fumble lost are not exactly the blueprint for a win – unless the team in question is Iowa. Iowa routinely overcame a host of mistakes and close calls to win 11 games in 2009 and will finish as a top ten team.
Iowa also proved the importance of defense in late season games. Beating a multi-faceted, complex option running attack like the one featured at Georgia Tech is no small task. It requires very athletic players along the defensive line and very disciplined defenders all the way around. The quarterback reads what the defense ends do in order to decide how to execute the play. The defensive cannot crash down on the quarterback or dive play too quickly, and cannot swing too widely and allow the quarterback to cut the play up on the inside. Iowa’s defensive ends were up the challenge, and the entire team defense played well against Tech’s offense, which was one of the top running offenses in all of college football.
Perhaps expectations for Iowa’s performance were too low, or Georgia Tech’s prowess was overblown, or the Big Ten isn’t really terrible and college football really IS cyclical. Maybe one or all of those reasons explain why Iowa’s performance was the best by any TEAM in the BCS this college football postseason.
