NASHVILLE, TN – The last time the Iowa football team scored 21 first-half points was in the same stadium in the same bowl game. Yet unlike 2022’s shutout victory over Kentucky, Iowa couldn’t keep its SEC opponent off the scoreboard, falling to No. 19 Missouri, 27-24, Monday afternoon at Nissan Stadium.
Ahead by a touchdown to open the second half, the Hawkeyes were outscored, 13-3, the rest of the way, gaining only 102 yards and committing two turnovers. Their longest drive was just 35 yards. The Tigers averaged more than five yards per play and converted a pair of field goals from at least 50 yards to hand the Hawkeyes their second consecutive bowl loss.
“The bottom line is, this is what I told [players] in the locker room, ‘We didn’t play well enough to expect to win against a good team, a ranked team,'” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said in his postgame press conference.
Iowa, which finished the season at 8-5, has yet to top a ranked opponent since topping Penn State back on Oct. 9, 2021.
Without top receiver Luther Burden III, who opted out of the contest to prepare for the NFL Draft, the Tigers posted 18 catches and 287 yards through the air. Second-year wideout Marquis Johnson led the way with seven receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown. Senior quarterback Brady Cook completed 18-of-32 passes and added another 54 yards on the ground and took home MVP honors.
Filling in for fellow NFL hopeful and opt-out Kaleb Johnson, Iowa running backs Kamari Moulton and Jaziun Patterson delivered a combined 170 rushing yards. Quarterback Brendan Sullivan completed 14-of-18 passes for 131 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
The Hawkeyes had a chance to tie the game with less than two minutes to go, but a fourth-and-1 attempt near midfield fell short. Sullivan was stopped short of the line by linebacker Daylan Carnell for a turnover on downs.
“[Missouri] kind of had it figured out,” Sullivan said of the final play. “We tried to go hurry-up, sneak. It just wasn’t working.”
Ferentz was noticeably upset on the sidelines, arguing with the officials that it should’ve been a neutral zone infraction on the Tigers. Nevertheless, the head coach admitted that the controversial no-call “wasn’t the deciding factor in the game, certainly.”
“There really is two halves,” Ferentz continued. “Third down conversion is probably part of that.”
The Hawkeyes converted 6-of-18 third downs, including a 2-for-8 mark in the second half. The Tigers, who finished the season 10-3, converted 5-of-12 for the game.
Exiting the halftime tunnel with a 21-14 lead, the Hawkeyes added a 38-yard field goal before the Tigers hit paydirt on a four-yard touchdown run from running back Joshua Manning. The ensuing Iowa drive saw a Sullivan interception that resulted in a Missouri field goal to tie the game with just over 10 minutes remaining.
An Iowa three-and-out – it averaged five plays per drive in the second half – led to another Missouri field goal. Tiger kicker Blake Craig, a redshirt freshman from Kansas City, entered the contest with 10 missed field goals but continued his perfect afternoon by splitting the uprights from 56 yards out – his sixth make from at least 50 yards this season. The connection was the longest field goal in Music City Bowl history. Blake Craig broke it earlier in the game with his 51-yarder.
The Hawkeyes opened the scoring with an eight-play, 70-yard opening drive capped off by a six-yard touchdown run from second-year running back Terrell Washington Jr. on a jet sweep. Sullivan completed all three of his passes for 48 yards on the drive, highlighted by a 29-yard toss off his back foot to tight end Addison Ostrenga.
Cook matched Sullivan’s passing prowess with 10 completions for 140 yards in the first half, finding senior wideout Theo Wease Jr. for an eight-yard touchdown grab and sophomore Marquis Johnson for a seven-yard score on the following drive.
“They got great athletes across the board,” Iowa senior defensive lineman Deontae Craig said of Missouri “When you got a professional quarterback that goes out there and improvise and make plays, it helps them move the ball.”
Wetjen’s 100-yard score gave the Hawkeyes’ a brief 14-7 lead, but Johnson’s touchdown was just one highlight in Missouri’s aerial attack that gave the Iowa secondary fits. The Hawkeyes conceded four passing plays of at least 15 yards.
Cook had more rushing yards than the Hawkeyes until Moulton rattled off a 38-yard scamper, dodging multiple defenders before getting tackled at the 3-yard line.
A head-turning Sullivan scramble got Iowa two more yards before Moulton delivered a one-yard plunge to grant the Hawkeyes a 21-14 lead at the break.
As the 2024 season comes to a close as the new arrives, Iowa will look back on an uncharacteristic year where its offense blossomed from the fruitless performances of the last few years, but also where a double-digit lead was never guaranteed despite a mass of senior returnees on defense. The Hawkeyes blew three leads of at least 10 points this season.
“Every day is a different discussion, but if we want to be a 10-win team or 11-win team like our opponent, you got to do a better job of those,” Ferentz said. “We squelched that one, unfortunately so.”