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The 1990 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
in the
1990 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split national championship and the ensuing controversy helped lead to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The national title was split between ...
. The Hawkeyes played their home games at
Kinnick Stadium Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Iowa Hawkeyes football, Hawkeyes football team. Opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds u ...
and were led by legendary coach
Hayden Fry John Hayden Fry (February 28, 1929 – December 17, 2019) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1962 to 1972, North Texas State University—now known ...
. After starting 7–1 and rising to No. 6 in the polls, Iowa finished the season with an 8–4 record (6–2 Big Ten), winning a four-way tie for the Big Ten Conference championship by defeating the three other teams atop the conference standings –
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
,
Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...
, and
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
– in their respective head-to-head matchups. The Hawkeyes earned their third trip to Pasadena in ten years, but fell behind early in the 1991 Rose Bowl and lost 46–34 to the
Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...
. It was another 25 years before Iowa made a return trip to the Rose Bowl.


Schedule


Rankings


Game summaries


Cincinnati

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> Kicking off the start of the 1990 Iowa Hawkeye season, the Hawks welcomed in the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Bearcats finished out the '89 season at 1–9–1 as the Hawks finished out at 5–6. In a game that ended up in a blowout, the Hawks cruised to a 63–10 win. Iowa managed to set records as well as they pummeled the Cincinnati defense. After Cincinnati built a 7–0 lead after an interception and a 1-yard touchdown run from Joe Abrams, the Hawks took command for the afternoon. After a scoreless first quarter, quarterback Matt Rodgers led the Hawks to 28 unanswered points, following two touchdowns from Rodgers, and one each from running backs Nick Bell and Tony Stewart. Cincinnati scored its last points of the game with a late field goal and ended the half with Iowa up 28–10. After halftime, Iowa went on cruise control. Iowa went on to score 21 points in the 3rd and 14 in the 4th to win the contest 63–10. Rodgers ended the game going 15–27 on passes with 191 yards. Hawkeye offense racked up 662 yards with 455 yards rushing. The defense was excellent as well. The Bearcats were allowed only 4 first downs and 69 yards rushing.


Iowa State

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> The Hawkeyes won a high-scoring affair with in-state rival Iowa State, their eighth in a series of fifteen straight wins in the rivalry.


At Miami (FL)

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> After pulling to within 24–21 midway through the third quarter, Iowa fell to the mighty Miami Hurricanes in the
Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...
, 48–21. It was Miami's 33rd consecutive home win. Even in showing some competitiveness at the game in Miami, FL, few Hawk fans could have guessed what was going to follow, especially following the 5–6 debacle of the previous season, which represented the first season Iowa had not gone to a bowl since 1980.


At Michigan State

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> In opening Big Ten play, Iowa started what ended up being their third Rose Bowl run in ten seasons. What set this conference season apart from others was that the Hawkeyes played most of their best football on the road. In weeks 1, 3, and 5, Iowa upset what ended up being the other three teams that tied for the Big 10 championship that season, all at their home venue. First was a wind-blown, defensive struggle at East Lansing, with Iowa holding onto a 12–7 victory. Hayden Fry admitted after the game that every pass he had Matt Rodgers throw was with the wind, which was blowing at a diagonal across Spartan Stadium.


Wisconsin

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> After falling behind 10–3, the Hawkeyes scored the final 27 points of the game to earn a victory over the Badgers in the first meeting between Hayden Fry and former Iowa assistant
Barry Alvarez Barry Lee Alvarez (born December 30, 1946) is an American former college football coach and athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons, from 1990 to 2005, compili ...
.


At Michigan

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> After a win over (what ended up being cellar-dweller) Wisconsin at home, Iowa traveled to the Big House in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines were still smarting after a tight, tough loss the previous week against Michigan State and it was Homecoming week. But Iowa kept it close throughout. Following a botched two-point conversion by the Wolverines after they had taken a 20–10 lead, the Hawkeyes went to work. Following one Hawkeye touchdown countered by a Michigan field goal, the Hawkeyes put together a drive for the ages, never facing a third-down. Tony Stewart grabbed the last of a series of key passes from Matt Rodgers with one hand, giving the Hawkeyes the ball at the Michigan 1-yard line. Paul Kujawa ran it in from there, and with the extra point, the Hawks took the lead by the eventual final score of 24–23. A sack by Moses Santos and an interception by linebacker John Derby sealed the stunner. It was Michigan's first loss on Homecoming since the 1967 season.


Northwestern

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> Nick Bell rushed 16 times for 136 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tony Stewart added 122 yards on 15 carries as the Hawkeyes rushed for 371 yards.


At Illinois

*Sources:
Box score A box score is a structured summary of the results from a sport competition. The box score lists the game score as well as individual and team achievements in the game. Among the sports in which box scores are common are baseball, basketball, A ...
/small> The Hawks key road triumphs weren't finished as they traveled to Champaign, Illinois. Against an Illinois team that had the inside track to the Rose Bowl, Iowa put together one of their best offensive games in the Fry era, especially for a key road game. The Hawkeyes used an early fumble by the Illini to begin an exhibition by RB Nick Bell, the likes of which had rarely been seen in the Big 10 between two undefeated teams (in conference play). Bell literally ran over the Illini, scampering for 130 yards in the 1st quarter alone. The Hawks led by an amazing 28–0 early in the second quarter, and they stretched it to 44–14 by the end of the 3rd quarter, before settling for a 54–28 final. It was most likely from the efforts of that game that Nick Bell was named by the media as the Big 10 player of the year.


Ohio State

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> The Hawkeye bubble burst in Iowa City with a last-second loss to Ohio State. Buckeye WR Bobby Olive caught the game winning TD, his second scoring reception of the 4th quarter, from QB Greg Frey with 0:01 left on the clock. Ohio State also scored a 48-yard touchdown as the first half expired.


Purdue

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> The Hawkeyes, entering as 26-point favorites, bounced back with what proved to be a Big 10-clinching win at home against Purdue.


At Minnesota

*Sources: Box Score and Game Story
/small> Knowing that they were Rose Bowl-bound before they even took the field, the Hawkeyes dropped their final road game at Minnesota, 31–24. In that game, Tony Stewart became the Hawkeyes all-time leading rusher (at least at that time), though he lost a key fumble on that play.


Rose Bowl

*Sources: ox score/small> The Rose Bowl placed an over-matched Iowa against one of the best teams in the country that season, the
Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...
, led by head coach Don James. The Hawkeyes trailed badly at the half and trailed 39–14 after three quarters. With Washington reserves taking over in the fourth quarter, Iowa scored two touchdowns to draw within thirteen. With another Washington touchdown the margin was back to twenty, and Iowa's late last score and conversion brought them to within a dozen where the game ended, 46–34. It was Hayden Fry's last trip to Pasadena, and he ended up 0–3 in those games.


Roster


Postseason awards

*
Hayden Fry John Hayden Fry (February 28, 1929 – December 17, 2019) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1962 to 1972, North Texas State University—now known ...
Big Ten Coach of the Year * Nick Bell and Matt Rodgersco-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year ''(coaches)'' *
Merton Hanks Merton Edward Hanks (born March 12, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He was a five-time All ...
– All-American Defensive Back (Newspaper Enterprise Association)


Team players in the 1991 NFL draft


Other notable players

*
Bret Bielema Bret Arnold Bielema (; born January 13, 1970) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a position he has held since the 2021 season. Bielema served as the head football coach at ...
,
nose guard A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive tackles. Defensive tackles are typically ...
– Head coach at
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, 2006–2012, Head coach at
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
, 2013–2017.


References

{{Big Ten Conference football champions
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
Iowa Hawkeyes football seasons Big Ten Conference football champion seasons
Iowa Hawkeyes football The Iowa Hawkeyes football program represents the University of Iowa in college football. The Hawkeyes compete in the Big Ten Conference. Iowa joined the Conference (then known as the Western Conference or Big Nine) in 1899 and played their first ...