Iowa also dished out the worst loss in Fighting Illini history in 2018. A 27-24 upset of Shonn Greene’s 2008 Iowa squad is the only win for Illinois in the last 20 years. You might be sensing a running theme throughout these previews already and it will not surprise you that since 2001, this series has been incredibly one-sided in favor of the Hawkeyes. Lou Tepper laid a pair of consecutive 40-point bloodbaths on Iowa in the early 90’s and Ron Turner would dish out a 31-0 shutout of the Hawks in 2001. There have been hideous blowouts both ways, from 31-0 and 50-0 shutouts in consecutive home games by Illinois in the early 70’s to the 33-0 shutout of Fry’s Hawkeyes in 1983 to announce the Illini’s legitimacy to a butthurt-fueled 59-0 thrashing of Illinois in Iowa City two years later. I’ve already discussed the early history, and perhaps that’s because there’s not much fun to discuss. He does the same things as his predecessor. In 1999, Iowa flirted with being terrible as they upgraded Hayden Fry’s firmware to a version called “Kirk Ferentz,” which remains the name of Iowa’s coach to this day. 500 season and the occasional 10-win season with a major bowl game and a league title. Generally speaking, he would get between 8 or 9 wins a year with the occasional. The difference between Fry and Illinois’ Mike White is that Fry was doing it in a way that wasn’t an existential threat to Michigan, and so the power brokers in the Big Ten left him alone. That ended when Hayden Fry came to Iowa in 1980 and revitalized the dead program. Anyway, after 1960, Iowa suddenly decided to suck for two decades. Of course, in ‘56, preseason #1 Oklahoma went 10-0, and in 1960, Iowa shared the Big Ten title with a Minnesota team that beat them, but they claim those national titles nevertheless. WIthout Illinois there to regulate, Iowa somehow claimed three national titles in ‘56, ‘58 and ‘60. Iowa agreed with Illinois’ assessment that Iowa fans (and even some of their players!) were just too big of assholes to emotionally handle getting waxed by the Illini yet again, so they didn’t play again for 15 years. Clearly the officials had been responsible for their 27-0 halftime deficit.Ĭlassic Big Ten Football: Illinois at Iowa, 1952 When Ray Eliot took over at Illinois, he ripped off a streak of eleven straight against the Hawkeyes that culminated in a 1952 game where Iowa fans, thinking a win against Ohio State made them invincible, threw bottles and garbage at the officials. The stadium in which they play bears his name to this day. In 1939, Iowa back Nile Kinnick had the great fortune of not seeing Illinois on the schedule and for this reason he was able to become Iowa’s only Heisman winner. Iowa was not spared the rampage of Zuppke’s 1924 Illini squad, taking a 36-0 loss, but they stayed competitive with Zuppke throughout the end of his tenure. Okay, that’s not the entire story, but that’s the main takeaway from this.Įnjoying the high profile established for the Big Ten by Bob Zuppke’s Fighting Illini in the 1910’s, Iowa won two national titles in 19. Iowa wins roughly 8.2 games per year, plays good defense and special teams, plays an offense whose main purpose is to run the clock, and occasionally beats a top 10 team at home. Cross the Mississippi and you’ll get to the home of the Iowa Hawkeyes
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