Oh Brother!!!

Tomorrow’s Iowa football game deserves more than just footnote to the preceding Survivor blog.

It was this same weekend of the season, 20 years ago, that Iowa and Michigan squared off as the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country. Iowa had been at #1 for several weeks, Michigan at #2. The game was an 11 a.m. kick at Kinnick.

That was 1985. I was a freshman in high school, and as the low scoring game progressed, I found myself on a school bus headed to a marching band competition at Cedar Rapids Washington High School. I’m in my seat listening to the game on a “Walkman.”

The clock stopped at :02 left, with Iowa on the Michigan 14 yard line, the Wolverines up 10-9. Rob Houghtlin is brought in to kick a field goal. As time expires, the kick sails right through the middle and Iowa’s perfect record is preserved. “The kick is good, the kick is good, oh brother!!!” screamed WMT radio announcer Ron Gonder. It was, perhaps, the biggest and most exciting game in Hawkeye history, at least in the modern era of college football.

That was the last time Iowa was ranked #1 in the country, for the following Saturday, they lost to Ohio State. 1985 was six years into the Hayden Fry era … about the same time in his Iowa career as Kirk Ferentz is now. It was the top of the sundae for Iowa football. This weekend’s game doesn’t have quote the high stakes of that game 20 years ago, but here’s hoping the result is the same. Go Hawks!