Hawkeyes win Orange Bowl, 24-14

By
tracy.mccullough
Published: January 5, 2010Posted in: Latest News
Iowa's Tyler Sash celebrates the Hawkeye's victory over Georgia Tech during the FedEx Orange Bowl at LandShark Stadium in Miami, FL on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Iowa's Tyler Sash celebrates the Hawkeye's victory over Georgia Tech during the FedEx Orange Bowl at LandShark Stadium in Miami, FL on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The Hawkeyes will leave Miami victorious, defeating Georgia Tech 24-14.

Georgia Tech entered tonight’s game planning not to punt the football much.

The Yellow Jackets had not punted in 22 consecutive possessions and only 30 times overall. That changed dramatically in the first half against Iowa.

Georgia Tech punted on its first six first-half possessions, matching a season-high for the Yellow Jackets. In three games this year, the Yellow Jackets didn’t punt, including its last two against Georgia and Clemson.

Additionally, Georgia Tech had the fewest three-and-outs in the country with 14 entering the game. The Yellow Jackets had five in the first half alone.

Curfew freedom

Curfews ranged throughout Iowa’s stay in Miami, but the bed checks stayed the same.

Iowa’s players were coy about whether anyone had ever defied curfew by sneaking out after bed checks. All said they were unaware of any indiscretions of current or past players.

“Not this year at all,” Iowa center Rafael Eubanks said. “I know there have been guys who have been late, like they’ve been caught in traffic in years past or something trying to make it back.”

“If they had, I’m not sure I’d tell you guys,” Iowa quarterback Rick Stanzi said.

The players are split two to a room, and they leave the door latch open at curfew. A coach knocks on the door and makes sure the players are in bed and then moves on to the next room.

“Coach always talks about, if you’re down at bowl games, you’ve really got to take responsibility and allow yourself time to get back and stuff like that,” Eubanks said. “I can’t remember anybody sneaking out past curfew.”

The players aren’t required to sleep or turn the lights out, just be in the room preparing to sleep.

“You can have the TV on but for the most part, you’ve got to be getting ready for bed,” Iowa tight end Tony Moeaki said. “You can’t be playing video games or something.”

Iowa arrived in Miami on Dec. 27 and will leave today for Eastern Iowa.

Weather pains

The temperature at kickoff last was 49 degrees, the coldest temperature at kickoff in Orange Bowl history. That broke the low of 57 degrees at the 2008 Orange Bowl featuring Kansas and Virginia Tech.

Contrary to many reports, it was not the coldest day in Miami history. The lowest temperature ever recorded Jan. 5 in Miami was 37 degrees in 1919.

Ticket update

The University of Iowa sold 15,000 tickets to last night’s game, but the athletics department probably will take a huge financial hit despite those sales.

Each Big Ten school competing in the Orange, Sugar or Fiesta bowls receives at least 17,500 tickets to sell to its fan bases. Some of those tickets are earmarked for the players, administrators, their families and the band. But the average ticket price is around $150, meaning Iowa’s athletics department lost about $375,000 on those tickets.

Iowa had around 30,000 fans attending the game with many buying tickets directly from the bowl. Many fans complained privately about the location of Iowa’s seats, many of which were located in the upper deck.

The announced attendance was 66,131.