Hawkeyes crushed by Sooners in Insight Bowl
Posted on 31. Dec, 2011 by admin in Iowa Football
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
TEMPE, Ariz. — Five weeks following a 13-point loss to Nebraska where the offense was non-existent, little changed for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2011 Insight Bowl.
Despite compiling more yards of total offense and dominating time of possession, Iowa was unable to win its second straight Insight Bowl, leaving Sun Devil Stadium on Friday with a 31-14 loss to No. 19 Oklahoma. For the Sooners, they finished 10-3 with the victory, its third straight bowl win. Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes saw the three-game bowl winning streak it entered with snapped.
Iowa found itself in an early hole when junior quarterback James Vandenberg threw an interception on the Hawkeyes’ second drive to Oklahoma cornerback Jamell Fleming, who advanced the ball up to the Iowa 5. Redshirt freshman quarterback Blake Bell then proceeded to score the first of three rushing touchdowns to put the Sooners ahead 7-0.
“We knew he was most likely going to run the ball,” senior defensive end Broderick Binns said. “It was something that we practiced throughout the month preparing for this game, but things just didn’t go our way today.”
Bell’s second touchdown would come in the second quarter, and like the first score also came from four yards out. The Oklahoma scoring drive was aided by a personal foul penalty called on senior strong safety Jordan Bernstine when he laid a helmet-to-helmet hit on Sooner signal-caller Landry Jones, who revealed after the game his tooth was chipped on the hit.
Oklahoma had a chance to make it 21-0 on its opening series of the third quarter, but Jones threw a red-zone interception to Binns that kept the Sooners off the board. Jones would rebound though later in the quarter when he threw his lone touchdown pass of the evening to tight end Trent Ratterree.
Iowa would score a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to trim the Sooner lead to 21-14. Vandenberg connected with sophomore tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz for the first scoring strike of five yards, then the second touchdown pass went nine yards to true freshman running back Jordan Canzeri, who had a team-high six receptions on top of the 58 yards rushing he had in place of suspended running back Marcus Coker.
The Sooners would make a 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-14. Following the ensuing kickoff, a scary instance occurred. Just as the Hawkeyes broke their huddle, the ESPN skycam unexpectedly broke and fell to the turf. The equipment slightly grazed the arm of senior wide receiver Marvin McNutt, who finished the game with 46 yards receiving on four catches.
“It was just pulling me, and I didn’t want to keep going with it,” McNutt said about the skycam incident.
Vandenberg would get stopped on a fourth-down play that he also got injured on. The turnover on downs was quickly followed by Bell’s third rushing touchdown of the game from 21 yards out.
“James, I think, is fine,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He took a shot there at the end, and I don’t think he would have come back at any point in the game.”
The Hawkeyes won’t return to action again until Sept. 1, when they visit Soldier Field in Chicago for a game against Northern Illinois, who won the MAC this season.
Recent Comments