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The Hawkeyes handily defeated the Spartans 38-16, and turned their attention to Ohio State, a team whom the Hawkeyes had not beaten at home since 1983. Behind a strong defensive performance that allowed only 177 yards, the Hawkeyes easily defeated the Buckeyes by 26 points, the largest margin of victory over Ohio State in Iowa history at the time. However, tragedy struck soon thereafter, when head coach Kirk Ferentz's father died. In the emotional game that ensued, the Hawkeyes narrowly defeated Penn State 6-4 on two Kyle Schlicher field goals.
The Hawkeyes then raised their record to 8-2 with victories over Illinois, Purdue, and Minnesota. With a share of the Big Tenchampionship on the line, the Hawkeyes met Wisconsin in the final regular season game of the year. Iowa won the game, completing its second consecutive unbeaten season at home, and thousands of Hawkeye fans swarmed the field in celebration. Several weeks following the victory, Iowa accepted a bid to play the LSU Tigers in the 2005 Capital One Bowl.
In a game that was originally thought to be a defensive matchup, the Hawkeyes took a 24-12 lead early in the fourth quarter. But behind freshmanquarterbackJaMarcus Russell, the Tigers stormed back, and took a one-point lead with 46 seconds remaining. However, LSU's comeback was all for naught, as Iowa's Drew Tate completed a 56-yard touchdown pass to Warren Holloway as time expired, giving Iowa the 30-25 win and a 10-2 final record.
In 2003, Iowa began the season 4-0 and would eventually complete the regular season with a 9-3 record that included wins over Iowa State, Michigan (Iowa's second straight victory against Michigan), and Minnesota. However, the Hawkeyes lost to Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue. Finishing fourth in the Big Ten standings, the Hawkeyes accepted a bid to play the Florida Gators in the Outback Bowl. Despite falling behind early on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak to Kelvin Knight, the Hawkeyes reeled off 27 straight points en route to a 37-17 victory. It was a milestone victory, as it gave Iowa its second consecutive 10-win season along with the first Hawkeye victory in a January bowl game since the Rose Bowl in 1959.
Prior to the season, the Hawkeyes looked to replace seven offensive starters and four defensive starters. Key losses from 2003 included Maurice Brown, Robert Gallery, Nate Chandler, Fred Russell, and Ramon Ochoa on offense. Defensively, the Hawkeyes looked to replace Howard Hodges, Jared Clauss, Grant Steen, and Bob Sanders.
Replacement starters on offense were Drew Tate, Champ Davis, Jermelle Lewis, Calvin Davis, Tony Jackson, Lee Gray, Mike Elgin, and Chris Felder. On defense, Derreck Robinson, Tyler Luebke, George Lewis, and Marcus Paschal assumed their roles on the starting lineup. On special teams, David Bradley returned for his senior season as punter, while Kyle Schlicher replaced Nate Kaeding as the starting kicker.
Kirk Ferentz was able to get his first win over Ohio State in this dominant victory. Iowa's defense was relentless and held the Buckeyes to just 27 yards rushing on 29 attempts. Additionally, Ohio State only ran six plays in Hawkeye territory through the first three quarters of the game. Sophomore quarterback Drew Tate had four touchdowns (1 rushing).
In one of the more unlikely victories of the season, Iowa traveled to the Metrodome to challenge the Golden Gophers powerful rushing duo of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney. The Hawkeye defense came into the game rated #1 in the country in rushing defense.
Despite that, the Gopher tandem shredded the Hawkeye defense with the Gophers outrushing Iowa by an outlandish margin of 338 to 6 in yards gained. The Hawkeyes prevailed however behind the deft passing and scrambling of sophomore quarterback Drew Tate, a pass defense that held the Gophers to 64 yards through the air and forced three turnovers, and Iowa's sophomore place-kicker Kyle Schlicher, who was a perfect 5-5 in field goals.
The Hawkeyes led virtually the entire game, but needed a huge defensive stop in the closing minutes, with Jr. linebacker Chad Greenway stopping Marion Barber III for a key loss on 2nd down in Iowa territory and eventually forcing Minnesota to attempt a 51-yard field goal, trailing by two. Although Gopher placekicker Rhyss Lloyd had won three games in his career with last-minute field goals, this time his attempt shanked wide.
QB Drew Tate then guided the Hawks to one closing first down with the help of an offside penalty on Minnesota, and the Hawks survived, winning their sixth consecutive game, all against Big 10 teams. By the time the Hawkeyes kicked off in their next (and final) regular-season game, they learned they would be playing for a portion of the Big Ten title.
Iowa clinched a share of Big Ten title with this victory over Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes' defense was smothering, holding a top-ten Badger team to just seven points. Fans rushed the field as it capped off a historic run and an undefeated home season.
LSU would not go away in this back-and-forth bowl game. The Tigers took the lead with under a minute to play. Drew Tate was able to find Warren Holloway for a 56-yard pass as time expired to give the Hawkeyes a miracle victory which would become to be known as "The Catch" among Iowa fans.