SAN DIEGO – Iowa unleashed Amir Smith-Marsette upon the hapless USC Trojans Friday night, and his series of explosive plays helped the Hawkeyes crush the Trojans, 49-28 for a Holiday Bowl victory.

Iowa (10‐3, 6‐3) defeated USC (8‐5, 7‐2), 49‐24, on Friday at the 2019 Holiday Bowl at SDCCU Stadium.

WR Ihmir Smith‐Marsette (offense) and DE A.J. Epenesa (defense) were named Most Valuable Players of the 2019 Holiday Bowl.

Iowa’s 49 points scored are the second most scored in a bowl game in school history (55 vs. Texas in 1084 Freedom Bowl). The 49 points scored are the second most allowed by USC this season (56 vs. Oregon).

Iowa won its third straight bowl game, tying its longest such streak in program history (2009 Outback, 2010 Orange, 2010 Insight).

Kirk Ferentz is 9‐8 all‐time in bowl games. Only Ohio State (10) has more bowl wins (including playoff wins) among Big Ten teams since 2001.

Iowa recorded its sixth 10‐win season since 1999. The Hawkeyes have 47 wins over the last five years, the most of any five‐year period in program history.

WR Amir Smith‐Marsette’s 98‐yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter tied a Holiday Bowl record and is the seventh‐longest kickoff return in school history.
He is the first player in program history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a single season (Nebraska, 95 yards). He has two career kickoff returns for a touchdown, tying the school record (Derrell Johnson‐Koulianos 2009, 2010; Kahlil Hill 1998, 2000). It is the second longest kickoff return by a Hawkeye in a bowl game. The longest was C.J. Jones (100 yards) in the 2003 Orange Bowl against USC.

WR Ihmir Smith‐Marsette’s 6‐yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter was his third rushing touchdown this year. He has a team‐high 10 touchdowns this season. He has scored a touchdown by reception (5), rush (3), and kickoff return (2) this season.

WR Ihmir Smith Marsette had 203 all‐purpose yards, raisin his career total to 2,834, 17th all‐time. He passed Eddie Phillips, Dennis Mosley, and Jordan Canzeri today on the all‐time list.

LB Nick Niemann returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was Niemann’s first career interception and Iowa’s first pick‐six of the season. Iowa has at least one interception return for a touchdown in each of the last 12 seasons, and 17 of the last 19 seasons.

https://twitter.com/PointsBetIA/status/1210783434311753729

Smith‐Marsette tied Shonn Greene’s Iowa bowl record with three touchdowns. He is also just the third player in the last 15 seasons to record a Rush TD, Rec TD, and kickoff return for a TD in the 1st half of a game. He joins Carlos Henderson in 2016 and Jason Chery in 2008.

Since at least 1970, WR Ihmir Smith‐Marsette is the only Hawkeye in program history to score a touchdown via rush, reception, and kickoff return, in a single game. He is the first player since 1998 (Deuce McAllister, Independence Bowl) to score a touchdown via rush, reception, kickoff return.

DE A.J. Epenesa tied an Iowa bowl record and matched his career high with 2.5 sacks today (Babineaux 2005 Capital One; Hodge 2005 Capital One), and raised his season total to 11.5, the most by any Hawkeye since Adrian Clayborn had 11.5 in 2009. Epenesa had a team‐high 10.5 sacks in 2018. He is the first Hawkeyes to record double‐digit sack totals in consecutive seasons since Matt Roth in 2002‐03 (10 in 2002, 12 in 2003).

QB Nate Stanley registered 204 yards of total offense today, raising his career total to 8,198. He is the third player in program history to surpass 8,000 career yards of offense (Chuck Long 10,254; Drew Tate 8,427).

QB Nate Stanley passed for 213 yards today, raising his season total to 2,951, a new single‐season career high and the sixth best single‐season total in school history. Stanley finished his career with 8,302 passing yards, second all‐time in program history (Chuck Long 10,461). He passed Drew Tate (8,292) today on the all‐time list.

QB Nate Stanley started his third bowl game (3‐0) and became the second quarterback in school history to win three bowl games (Ricky Stanzi, 3‐0). He is one of five quarterbacks in program history to start in three bowl games. Chuck Long started four (2‐2), and Matt Sherman (2‐1), Drew Tate (1‐2), and Stanzi (3‐0) started three.

QB Nate Stanley started the last 39 games at quarterback (27‐12). His 27 wins as a starting quarterback tie for second all‐time with Ricky Stanzi (27). Chuck Long holds the school record (35). His streak of 39 consecutive starts at quarterback ranks second in school history to Long (47). He has 16 touchdown passes this season and 68 in his career, second all‐time in program history (Chuck Long, 74).

K Keith Duncan scored seven points today, raising his season total to 119, third all‐time in single‐season program history (one shy of the school record, shared by Shonn Green in 2008 and Nate Kaeding in 2002). Duncan made 29 field goals this season, a single‐season school record, a Big Ten record, and tied for the sixth most in NCAA single‐season history.

RB Tyler Goodson rushed for 48 yards and one touchdown today. He finished the season as Iowa’s leading rusher (638 yards). He is the first true freshman to ever lead the team in single‐season rushing yards. The last redshirt freshman to lead Iowa in single‐season rushing yards was Ladell Betts in 1998 (679 yards). Goodson led the team with five rushing touchdowns.

WR Tyrone Tracy’s 23‐yard first quarter touchdown rush was a career long and the first rushing touchdown of his career.

TE Sam LaPorta recorded career highs in receptions (6) and receiving yards (44).

MISCELLANEOUS

Iowa is 12‐3 in its last 15 rivalry/trophy games.

Kirk Ferentz has 162 wins as a member of the Big Ten Conference, tying Joe Paterno (162) for fourth all‐time in Big Ten Conference history.

Iowa won the toss and elected to receive. The Hawkeyes have played 266 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 200 times (126‐74). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 66 times (36‐30).

Iowa is 3‐0‐1 all‐time in the Holiday Bowl, defeating San Diego State (39‐38) in 1986, Wyoming (20‐19) in 1987, and tying Brigham Young (13‐13) in 1991. Iowa made its fourth Holiday Bowl appearance, and in each game the Hawkeyes have had a Hartlieb on the roster. True freshman Thomas Hartlieb is on Iowa’s 2019 roster. Chuck Hartlieb played in the 1986 and 1987 Holiday Bowl. Jim and John Hartlieb played in the 1991 Holiday Bowl.
Iowa’s 21 points scored in the second quarter are the most points scored by the Hawkeyes in single quarter this season.

Instant replay:

1) USC fumble (overturned)
2) USC incomplete pass (overturned)
3) Iowa rush short of goal line (confirmed)
UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes open the 2020 season hosting Northern Iowa on Sept. 5 at Kinnick Stadium.

The University of Iowa announced Monday that it would remove the Tigerhawk from its helmet in honor of Hayden Fry when the Hawkeyes play USC on Friday at the Holiday Bowl.

It is the third time both Tigerhawks have been removed from the helmet for a football game. The first was Nov. 2, 1991, the day after six lives were lost in a shooting on the UI campus. The second was the 1996 Alamo Bowl, when Diane Mitchell, the mother of Iowa linebacker Mark Mitchell, was killed in a car crash on the way to San Antonio, Texas.

Fry was Iowa’s head football coach from 1979-98. He won three Big Ten Conference championships, took the Hawkeyes to 14 bowl games, and introduced the Tigerhawk logo to the athletics department, a logo that has become one of the most recognizable symbols in sports.

Fry passed away Dec. 17, 2019 at the age of 90.

The Hawkeye helmet was without the Tigerhawk, but it included a decal honoring former UI Athletics Director Bump Elliott. Elliott was Iowa’s director of athletics from 1970-91. He passed away Dec. 7, 2019 at the age of 94.

Elliott and Fry are both members of the College Football Hall of Fame. Fry is a member of the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame.

San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs USC

Friday, December 27, 2019

Kirk Ferentz

Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa 49, USC 24

KIRK FERENTZ: First of all, just a tremendous way to end the 2019 season for our football team. It was really a hard-fought game out there. Two highly competitive teams, two ranked teams. We got a lot of respect for USC, their program, their team certainly.

Just really proud of our team, the way they prepared, not only this week but also the entire month. That’s always a challenge in bowl games. This one was a little bit unique for us because it was a shorter preparation with the calendar falling the way it did. I thought our guys really handled things well, did a great job out here. Obviously competed hard tonight. Just really, really proud of them.

The biggest thing for us tonight, it was a complete team victory. It was offense, special teams, defense. That’s just good football. Somebody handed me on the way over here some stats that I think are pertinent:

12th year in a row we’ve had a defensive pick-six, defensive touchdown, off on interception. Happy about that. 49 points is the most we’ve ever had in a bowl game. A.J., back-to-back 10-sack seasons. Ihmir had a touchdown rushing, throwing, receiving and kick return, almost throwing. Then 47 wins over the last five years sets a school record.

Just really proud of our guys for that. A 10-3 season, certainly that is something to do in college football. Proud of our guys on that front.

Last, a couple thoughts. It’s been a really challenging month in Iowa athletics with the passing of Bump and Coach Fry. When you think about both those men, what they stood for, what they taught was competing at a high level and doing it with great competitiveness but also with integrity. That’s one of the reasons I’m so proud to be at Iowa. Hopefully this is one they both enjoyed tonight. More importantly their families enjoyed just as much. Just happy about that.

I think about our senior class this year, 19 guys, majority of them didn’t start actually. I can’t say enough about the job they’ve done throughout their entire time in our program, whether it’s five years, four years, some cases one year. Each and every one of them really did a great job modeling the right behavior, how to do things on a daily basis. The guys at the top have to set the tempo.

I can’t thank them enough publicly. Just did it in the locker room. They’re going to be Hawkeyes for life certainly. We’re going to be with them all the way through. It’s not a group I’m worried about too much down the road because they’re great young people. Can’t say enough about them.

I’ll throw it out for questions.

Q. So much talk has been about Bump, Coach Fry. What was the emotion seeing the Hokey Pokey?
KIRK FERENTZ: Pretty special. Paulsen was right there leading. Imagine that?

I didn’t queue them up on that one. Somebody else may have. Robin actually asked me about that 10 days ago, if that was going to happen. That was one of Coach Fry’s signatures, one of many actually. Nice tribute to him.

Q. The significance of 10 wins. Seems like that’s a pretty big deal.
KIRK FERENTZ: I think it’s the ninth time in program history it’s happened. It’s something we put out there for our team, being ranked is a big thing, too.

Biggest thing when it all came down to it, encourage our guys to compete, let’s go out and compete, try to enjoy the night. Last time together there. Are no tomorrows on this one. It’s all about the 2019 season.

Winning 10 games is hard. Winning any game is hard in college football. I can’t say enough about our entire football team. Again, it starts with those seniors. They can really feel proud about the contributions they’ve made here over the last four or five years.

Q. (Question about Ihmir and attacking the edges.)
KIRK FERENTZ: Seemed like there were some things we saw during the course of our preparation that we thought we might have a chance to get the ball on the edge. He did a great job. Thought we had a really good game plan, executed it well.

Ihmir, really glad to see him play the way he did. He hasn’t been full speed here the last couple weeks. Had a couple minor things going on. Came back the last week, couple days, practiced well, sure looked like he was full speed tonight. That was good to see.

Q. Coming into the week you were asked about the reputation of conferences in terms of team speed. How much of a role did your team speed on both sides of the ball play in this game?
KIRK FERENTZ: I don’t know if we were better than them that way, but I think we were able to stay with them. I’ve been around the Big Ten for quite a while. There’s been such a perception that gets a little distorted sometimes. It happens in sports all the time.

The conference stuff, things shift year to year, conference to conference. We had a really strong conference this year, I do know that. A lot of really good football teams. I think we’re one of them. The way our guys competed week in, week out, just really proud of what they did.

To win 10 games in our conference, it’s a conference where defenses tend to be pretty feisty and aggressive. To win 10 games the way we did, I’m proud of our guys overall.

Q. How big was the stop after the on-side kick?
KIRK FERENTZ: Really big. It’s interesting, first half we took the ball, drove it, possessed it basically on every possession, came out with points. Had one long drive in that second half, as well.

But, yeah, you could feel momentum swinging. Definitely an opportunity for us. For us to come out and get a stop after we’d been struggling to get a stop. Really huge to flip it back. That could have gotten interesting real quick if they had taken the ball and gotten down there and scored.

Q. Talking about right after that stop, coming back with the physical drive. Seemed to be a gut punch to them.
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, that’s how football goes. It’s back and forth, who can capitalize on opportunities. Certainly wasn’t great field position for us. Guys took it and responded, much the way they did in the first half. Did open up the lead a little bit. It was really huge.

That’s what I mean by good team football. A lot of good responses. You’re going to have ups and downs during the course of a game. How we respond, whether it’s on special teams, the kick return, certainly came at a big moment. That drive you mentioned is really pivotal as well.

Q. Offensive coordinators are lightning rods for criticism.
KIRK FERENTZ: Really (laughter)?

Q. When you look at the first scripted series, 10 plays, five different personnel groupings, can you evaluate if this might have been Brian’s best game as a play-caller?
KIRK FERENTZ: He’s actually had a couple good ones. Ohio State comes to mind also.

It really gets down to, yeah, I think our coaching staff, our entire coaching staff, has really done a good job. I think that’s been true all season long. They’ve done a great job of giving the players a good plan. Ultimately good, sound execution on the field. It’s all about the players.

These guys have really been responsive, they practiced really well this week. We’re not in the cozy confines of Iowa City. We’re not able to set the times like we want. A couple bowl activities, which were great. The guys have been flexible, they handled it, a mature football team. I think the coaches on both sides of the ball gave these guys good plans, special teams on top of it. The guys executed it.

Really pleased with everything I saw tonight. We knew they were going to get some yards. We knew they were going to score. We wanted to limit that to field goals instead of touchdowns. A good night for us.

Q. Everybody talks about spreads in football. It still comes down to the line of scrimmage, doesn’t it?
KIRK FERENTZ: It does. It sure helps.

Q. You were superior there.
KIRK FERENTZ: Again, I haven’t seen the film to your point. I thought our guys played really well on both sides of the ball, up front. They present some challenges for you defensively with their blitzing, their attacking. They load that box up pretty heavy when we were in our run groups.

I thought our guys blocked well, protected well when we needed to. Missed one there at the end. That was more than the line. I thought our guys did a good job up front, got good pressure off the edges. Tough to get to the quarterback. I thought those guys worked hard. We were rotating everybody through. Really proud of their effort.

Q. A program that oftentimes doesn’t get classified as very sexy. To get a sexy win with a named program, what does that do for the program?
KIRK FERENTZ: I mean, our goal is to be bowl champions. Had a really tough opponent to play, a ranked team, a team that’s very athletic, very well-coached, very explosive.

We had a lot of respect for them in all three segments. There’s no downside to winning a game, no downside to that. It’s great. To get our 10th win, to get it against a ranked opponent, get it on the road in a great bowl game.

Let me take one moment and compliment everybody associated with this bowl. The Holiday Bowl was great in the ’80s. It’s better now. Just the hospitality for our players. San Diego is such a great venue. Everything about it is good. Nothing that happened this week that we’d be upset about, that’s for sure.

Q. You talk about the senior class, how this was the ultimate team victory. Devonte Young’s block, is that what you mean?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, you think about that. Devonte is a great story in himself. You think about guys like the Paulsens. Nobody was more into the game like Levi and Landan our sidelines. Week in, week out, those guys are selfless. That’s how they are. They’re that way every day at practice, every game.

It’s easier to be a starter. Easier to be the guy out there playing all the time. We have so many guys that contribute on special teams, whatever. They’re just good team guys. They do it in the weight room, in meeting rooms, all those kinds of things. That’s what it takes to have a good football team.

I can’t say enough about them, whether it’s Stanley who is a marquee guy or a guy like John (indiscernible) who played on special teams but not an awful lot. All these guys are going to do a great job in life because they just know how to do things. That’s ultimately the goal of this whole thing.

Q. You mentioned the total team win. When did it sink in when it’s coming together?
KIRK FERENTZ: We always emphasize that, part of being a team win. Some days one of the segments doesn’t have a good day or night, somebody else has to carry the load.

Tonight all three complemented each other in all three phases of it. It comes down to our players. I think they have an appreciation for what it takes to be a good football team. They go out and work towards that end. Simply gets down to the preparation part, then you got to show up and compete, whether it’s 5:00, 1:00, 11:00. Our guys were whatever it is now 13-13. I’m just really proud of this whole group. They’ve been a fun group to be with.

Thank you.