1990 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

The 1990 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1990 college football season.

Cincinnati
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.

The other two games in the non-conference schedule were both high-scoring affairs, which included their eighth in a series of fifteen straight wins over in-state rival Iowa State, and a loss to the mighty Miami Hurricanes. Even in showing some competitiveness at the game in Miami, FL, few Hawk fans could have guessed what was going to follow, esp. following the 5–6 debacle of the previous season, which represented the first season Iowa had not gone to a bowl since 1980.

But starting the next week, 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 & 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.

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.

But the Hawks key road triumphs weren't finished. Two weeks later in 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 over 100 yards just in the 1st quarter. By the end of the quarter, the Hawks led by an amazing 28–0, and they stretched it to 41–7 by the end of the half, and 48–7 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.

The Hawkeye bubble burst the next week in Iowa City with a last-second loss to Ohio State. They bounced back the next week with what proved to be a Big-10 clinching win at home against Purdue. Then 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 (at least at that time) the Hawkeyes all-time leading rusher, though he lost a key fumble on that play.

The Rose Bowl placed an over-matched Iowa against one of the best teams in the country that season, the Washington Huskies. The Hawkeyes trailed badly at the half before making the game close by the end, but lost in Pasadena again, 46–34. It was Hayden Fry's last trip to Pasadena, and he ended up 0–3 in those games.

Other notable players

 * Bret Bielema, nose guard – Head coach at Wisconsin, 2006–present