The 2001 season marked a turning point for the Iowa Hawkeye football program under head coach Kirk Ferentz.
Iowa had only won four combined games during Ferentz’s first two seasons. The Hawkeyes finished the 2001 campaign at 7-5 with a 19-16 victory over Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl, marking its first winning season since 1997.
Despite things finally looking up for the program, national pundits and experts predicted a similar season in 2002, citing a lack of experience on offense. After all, the offense would feature unknown junior college transfer quarterback Brad Banks, former walk-on tight end Dallas Clark, and unproven running back Fred Russell.
But even with tempered expectations from the media and their own fanbase, the Hawkeyes would soon shock the college football world.
The game
Iowa breezed past Akron in the season opener but ran into trouble in its next contest on the road — Miami (OH), led by future NFL star Ben Roethlisberger.
The RedHawks grabbed a 17-16 lead in the third quarter on a scoop and score, but Banks and the Hawkeyes rallied with consecutive touchdowns to secure a 29-24 win.
Following the narrow triumph, Iowa returned home to Kinnick Stadium for a matchup against in-state rival Iowa State. The Cyclones had beaten the Hawkeyes in four-straight contests dating back to the 1998 season.
Iowa jumped out to a 24-7 lead by halftime, aided by a 46-yard touchdown sprint from Russell and a 50-yard touchdown pass from Banks to wideout Maurice “Mo” Brown.
With a complete stranglehold on the game and the sellout crowd at Kinnick rocking, it looked like the Hawkeyes would finally conquer the Cyclones and remain undefeated on the young season.
But Iowa State had other ideas.
Cyclone quarterback Seneca Wallace quickly rallied his squad back in the second half, throwing one touchdown and rushing for another on the way to 29 straight Iowa State points.
After dominating in the first half, Banks and the Iowa offense went stagnant in the second. Banks lost two costly fumbles in his own territory to help spark the Cyclone comeback.
Following another Hawkeye fumble, Iowa State extended its lead to 36-24 late in the fourth quarter to essentially end any hopes of an Iowa comeback. However, the Hawkeyes did add a cosmetic touchdown to make the final score 36-31 in favor of the Cyclones.
The loss dropped Iowa’s record to 3-1 and extended its losing streak against Iowa State to five games, which remains its longest losing streak to date against the Cyclones.
Though it was a frustrating loss at the time for Iowa, no one realized how crucial it would be later in the year.
Aftermath
The devastating loss could have easily derailed Iowa’s season, but it all came together for the Hawkeyes following the Iowa State game.
Iowa bounced back the following weekend with an easy win over Utah State and survived another blown fourth-quarter lead in a thrilling 42-35 overtime victory at No. 12 Penn State in the conference opener. The win catapulted the Hawkeyes into the national rankings for the first time since 1997 and put the rest of the Big Ten on notice.
The following week against Purdue, Iowa relied on two special teams scores and a late touchdown pass from Banks to Clark on fourth and goal to secure another last-second 31-28 triumph.
From there, the Hawkeyes won their next five contests by at least two possessions, including a 34-9 thrashing of No. 9 Michigan at Michigan Stadium and a 62-10 demolition of Northwestern on Senior Day. The victories left Iowa 7-0 in Big Ten play heading into its final conference game at Minnesota.
Playing in front of a very pro-Iowa crowd at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Hawkeyes defeated the Golden Gophers, 45-21, to finish 11-1 and clinch a share of the Big Ten title with Ohio State, who also finished undefeated in conference play.
Despite the game taking place in Minneapolis, many of the Iowa fans in attendance rushed the field following the victory and even took down the goalposts, an image that remains in Hawkeye lore to this day.
Could Iowa have made the BCS championship game?
Iowa’s dominant finish to the regular season earned it a trip to the 2003 Orange Bowl, where the Hawkeyes were soundly defeated, 38-17, by Southern California to finish the season 11-2 and No. 8 in the final polls.
Despite the incredible season, many Hawkeye fans feel that Iowa would have been selected for the BCS National Championship Game had it not lost to Iowa State. Ohio State and Miami (FL) each finished the season undefeated and were selected for the championship game. In that game, Ohio State defeated Miami in double overtime in controversial fashion, 31-24, to win the title.
Even if Iowa finished the regular season undefeated, it would have been hard for it to beat out a national brand like Miami or Ohio State, but the BCS system was mired in controversy during this time, so there would have been at least a chance to be selected, a rare chance for any Hawkeye football squad.
Controversially, Iowa and Ohio State never had the opportunity to play each other to determine an outright Big Ten champion. Since the Big Ten only had 11 members and no championship game at the time, the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes never faced each other in 2002 due to the unbalanced schedule.
Ohio State fans are convinced that their squad would have still won anyway, but Iowa had a roster that was a legitimate national title contender and blasted six of its eight conference opponents by at least two scores. It’s hard to tell who would have won on a neutral field, but it would have been a guaranteed classic.
And what about Iowa State? The Cyclones suffered a late-season collapse after climbing to as high as No. 11 in the AP Poll and finished the year with a dismal 7-7 record.
Despite the difficult loss, the 2002 Iowa football team is regarded by many Hawkeye fans as the best team in the Ferentz era and one of the greatest squads in program history. The team has paved the way for many other successful units in the 22 years since.