Defense paves way in Orange Bowl win

By Brian Heinemann
Special to the Herald

MIAMI ----- The Iowa Hawkeyes defense had been pretty darn good all year long, finishing the regular season ranked 11th in the nation.

Tuesday night in Miami, they looked more like No. 1. They were, in a word, phenomenal.

Typical to what the Hawkeyes did all season long, the offense did just enough and the defense carried the day in Iowa’s (11-2, 6-2 Big Ten) biggest bowl win in decades, a 24-14 triumph over ACC champion Georgia Tech at Land Shark Stadium.

“Having that time (for bowl prep) was extremely big. I can’t imagine preparing for them in a week,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. “The credit goes to our defensive staff and players. They just did a great job. Norm Parker (defensive coordinator) is as good as it comes when it comes to defense.”

Parker – and the Hawkeyes defenders – proved that Tuesday.

Nobody had really stopped Georgia Tech this season until Iowa did. They entered the Orange Bowl with the second best rushing attack in the nation and an offense that averaged well over 400 yards per game.

They spent the majority of their 60 minutes lined up against the Hawkeyes befuddled, frustrated and undisciplined.

“Our defense played tremendous. They’re the heart and soul of this team,” said Hawkeyes quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who finished 17-for-29 for 231 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception in his return from injury. “They always have been, all season long. We were able to feed off their momentum and energy and we were able to get some points on the board.”

Iowa held Georgia Tech to a 20-year low of 32 yards in the first half. The explosive, fast-starting, ball-controlling Yellow Jackets barely saw the field in the first half and found themselves in a 14-0 hole before 11 minutes had expired.

Georgia Tech was usually the team that jumped out ahead this season. Because of their heavy reliance on the run, getting them down early was a key for the Hawkeyes.

“It was huge,” Iowa linebacker A.J. Edds said of the quick start. “Especially with this kind of offense, we knew if we got them down a little bit and got them in a hole, it would give us a good chance.”

Georgia Tech was also a team who relied on the big play all year long. Iowa gave up nothing longer than 16 yards.

The biggest play the Yellow Jackets had was a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown near the end of the first quarter. As always, the Hawkeyes and their quarterback remained unfazed and kept their composure, making their own big plays in the second half; an Edds interception and a Brandon Wegher 32 yard TD run.

“I don’t know what our biggest play was tonight, but we didn’t have a big play, and normally we’ve had several big plays either off the runs or play action or something,” said Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson. “They just did a better job of executing than we did.”

When Georgia Tech was forced to rely on the pass, they looked lost. Quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who ran for 46 yards on 20 carries, completed just 2-of-9 passes for 12 yards. He was sacked three times and intercepted once.

It didn’t help his cause that Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn – the Orange Bowl MVP – sacked Nesbitt twice, had two other tackles for a loss and nine total tackles.

“The fact that Adrian won the MVP in a BCS Bowl, it doesn’t happen too often when a defensive lineman dominates the way he did,” said Ferentz.

In the end, Iowa did just about everything better than the Yellow Jackets. They outgained them 403 to 155, out-rushed them 172 to 143, and out-passed them 203 yards to 12 as Georgia Tech set several marks for futility in the history of the Orange Bowl.

The biggest thing they did is beat the Yellow Jackets at their own game. The Hawkeyes held the ball for five minutes longer than Georgia Tech, and they ran 19 more offensive plays than their opponent. And they forced a team that hadn’t punted in two months to punt a season-high seven times.

The thing that stung the Yellow Jackets the most was nothing more than simplicity.

“I think we only ran three different plays out there,” said Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer. “That’s kind of what we usually do. We put in all these kinds of play going into the game, stressing everybody out, and then we end up going out there and only running three plays.”

Those three plays held up against everything Georgia Tech threw against them, and the Iowa Hawkeyes are the 2010 Orange Bowl champions because of it.

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