Men’s basketball collapse
The men’s basketball team had people on campus convinced. The Hawks could do it. Against all the talk in the preseason, after losing an exhibition game to Division-2 Augustana, people were convinced the Iowa men’s basketball team could actually win a national championship.
It was a down year in college basketball.
Boy, did the Hawkeyes look good when they beat up on Michigan State and Purdue at the beginning of the Big Ten slate.
Jarrod Uthoff was a candidate for National Player of the Year. Peter Jok was knocking down every jumper he took.
Fran McCaffery was getting good contributions off his bench from such guys as Dom Uhl and Nick Baer.
And then the No. 4 Hawkeyes traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Hoosiers.
Iowa was 10-1 in the conference and had won each of those 10 games — including four against Michigan State and Purdue — by double digits.
Iowa lost a close one, 85-78, and the free fall started. The Hawkeyes went on to lose five of their last seven conference games, including a loss to Illinois in their first Big Ten Tournament game.
After being considered for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for as long as a month, Iowa dropped to the No. 7 line in the tournament. And if it weren’t for an Adam Woodbury put-back at the buzzer, the Hawkeyes would have been bounced in the first round by Temple.
What followed was a 19-point drumming at the hands of Villanova in the second round, ending what had once been a promising season for Iowa.
The 3-7 ending to the season for the men’s basketball team was a collapse of epic proportions.
— Blake Dowson
Rose Bowl
After just 11 seconds, Iowa was down 7-0 to the Stanford Cardinal.
Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, it was far from over.
Christian McCaffrey — the Heisman Trophy runner-up — singlehandedly crushed an entire season and devastated the 60,000-plus person fanbase that traveled to Pasadena believing Iowa-Stanford was an even matchup.
The 45-16 blowout in Iowa’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 25 years should have been the story of the year.
No, it’s not a happy story. In fact, it was agonizing for every Iowa fan. They rode the highs of a 12-0 regular season — highs that came after last-second field goals, seemingly endless Desmond King interceptions, and a “new” Kirk Ferentz. The program even reached as high as No. 3 in the College Football Playoff poll through its string of wins.
And then, for the first time that season, they felt the sting of loss in Indianapolis. The final drive of that game took a Big Ten Championship from a program that expected a mediocre, at best, season.
But Iowa fans hadn’t given up yet. They accepted the No. 5 spot in the national poll, and a Rose Bowl matchup with Stanford was a shot at redemption. Though Stanford had been to the three of the previous four Rose Bowls, notching wins in two of them, Iowa fans were cautiously optimistic. Iowa’s defense had been strong all season, and C.J. Beathard would have some time to heal.
And then McCaffrey happened.
He ran all over Iowa’s defense, starting in the very first play of the game with a 75-yard touchdown. McCaffrey set the Rose Bowl record for all-purpose yards, with 368, 172 rushing yards, 105 receiving yards, and 91 on returns.
Iowa spent a season defending its schedule and wins over subpar teams. After its near-win over Michigan State, it managed to finally gain respect.
And then the story of the year happened.
It only took one play for McCaffrey to start an avalanche that would bury Iowa’s entire season.
— Stacey Murray