4 thoughts on Iowa football's Music City Bowl loss: QB play matters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – There’s a reason the Iowa football program continues to search for a quarterback in the transfer portal.

Missouri had the quarterback advantage in Monday’s Music City Bowl. And as is the way in top football, the team with the better quarterback won the game.

Brady Cook thrived most of the afternoon in Iowa’s second round, delivering when it counted most, giving the Tigers a 27-24 victory over Iowa at Nissan Stadium.

More:Iowa football: Recap, highlights as Hawkeyes fall to Missouri in Music City Bowl

The Hawkeyes blew a double-digit lead for the third time this season and finished the season with a record of 8-5. Missouri enjoyed its second straight season of double-digit wins, finishing 10-3.

The Hawkeyes led 24-14 after Drew Stevens’ field goal 5:19 into the third quarter. Iowa’s Week 2 loss by one point to Iowa State resulted in the loss of a 13-point lead in the second half. The Hawkeyes also blew a 10-point lead to UCLA in the first half.

Blake Craig’s field goals of 52 and 56 yards in the fourth quarter gave Missouri a 27-24 lead with 4:36 left. Craig has been extremely inconsistent all season, but he has a strong leg and came through when it mattered most.

And like the last meeting between Iowa and Missouri, there was a big interception in the fourth quarter.

In a battle between two ball-control teams that value turnover margins, the Hawkeyes made their first big mistake. Quarterback Brendan Sullivan forced the ball down the Iowa sideline on a third-down pass. He tried to sneak a ball to Reece Vander Zee, but Missouri’s Toriano Pride intercepted the ball with 12:50 left.

Remember, it was a fourth-quarter interception by Iowa’s Micah Hyde of the 2010 Insight Bowl that turned the tables and led to a 27-24 win over Missouri.

Missouri got three points out of the deal after a very questionable personal foul on Quinn Schulte when Jamal Roberts went out of bounds, which would have led to a fourth-and-8 at the Missouri 48 and likely meant a punt. Instead, the flag led to a tying Tigers field goal.

So it was a 24-24 ball game. There’s still 10:10 a.m. left to win a Music City Bowl.

After retaking the lead, Iowa was stopped with 2:00 left. A failed Missouri punt gave Iowa possession at its own 45-yard line with 1:54 to play.

As a quarterback and as an offense, this is the scenario you want: keep the ball game in your hands. But Sullivan failed in that moment and took a sack that he couldn’t take with 1:45 left. He tried to get out of the pocket, having had much of the game, and stumbled to the ground, forcing Iowa to burn its final timeout and score a second-and-23 from the Iowa 32.

The moment got tense after Terrell Washington Jr. made a 19-yard screen pass for a third-and-4. But a quick pass to Jacob Gill wasn’t enough to win, and a botched quarterback sneak on fourth down ended the Hawkeyes’ brief comeback attempt.

More:Iowa football: The Hawkeyes take a second-half lead and finish 8-5 in the Music City Bowl

Sullivan finished the game 14 of 18 for 131 yards and a touchdown, hardly a bad record. But he led the Hawkeyes to just three points in the second half and none when it mattered most. And he made terrible sales.

Iowa’s last three drives after Sullivan’s interception: three plays, seven yards; three plays, eight yards; four plays, nine yards.

Cook, meanwhile, finished 18 of 32 for 287 yards and two touchdowns to go with 54 yards rushing in a game-MVP performance.

Fourth-and-2 from the Missouri 40-yard line: What to do?

The score was tied, 14-14, with just over 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Iowa’s offense had moved the ball effectively, and Missouri’s passing offense had been unstoppable. Kirk Ferentz could have gone for the first down; attempted a 58-yard field goal by Drew Stevens in perfect shooting conditions; or received a delay of game penalty and tripped.

No surprise to those who have watched Ferentz for 26 years: He chose option No. 3.

Rhys Dakin’s punt sent Missouri back to its 10-yard line. At the time, I would have voted for Ferentz to go for a first down, considering Iowa averaged 7.5 yards per play in the first half.

But there’s a reason Ferentz won more than 200 games as a head coach. His decision was right.

This is how it developed. Missouri immediately began moving the ball and reached midfield within seven plays (40 yards). But after reaching Iowa’s 48, Missouri faltered when Cook overthrew a receiver, had a dropped pass and then another overthrow. The Tigers hit back at the Hawkeyes, who started on their own with 4:39 left in the first half.

The way Ferentz thinks about it, if Missouri had taken the lead at its own 40 yards, it would have been a 42-yard gain in the Iowa red zone. Instead, it gave the Iowa defense time to make a stop — albeit fueled by Missouri errors — and win the ball back for their offense even though the score was still tied.

The Hawkeyes took advantage of this opportunity and capitalized on an impressive 11-play, 90-yard scoring drive that gave the game momentum. Sullivan’s pass to Kaden Wetjen for 9 yards on third-and-six was crucial. Kamari Moulton’s 38-yard burst brought Iowa to Missouri’s 3. After a bad snap by backup center Tyler Elsbury pushed Iowa back to the 10, Sullivan made a wild, spectacular scramble to move Iowa inside Missouri’s 1-yard line.

From there, Moulton plunged over the goal line with 49 seconds left in the first half for a touchdown that gave Iowa a 21-14 halftime lead.

Ferentz’s decisions are often gut feelings. And he usually leans towards the most conservative opinion. In this case, the cautious decision was the right one to give Iowa a chance.

Kaden Wetjen joins a select list in Hawkeye history

Wetjen’s pregame comments this week drew attention, saying he was “98%” certain he would return to Iowa in 2025 and that he doesn’t yet have a scholarship despite a first-team All-American year as a return specialist.

Asked Sunday about Wetjen’s status among the 85 scholarship recipients, Ferentz replied, “We’re still thinking about it.”

More:WATCH: Kaden Wetjen completes a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown in the Music City Bowl

Well, in case there was any confusion on this topic: Wetjen will certainly receive a scholarship in January. The senior stormed from his own end zone into Missouri’s and officially scored a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown to break a 7-7 tie in the first quarter. LeVar Woods’ special teams players masterfully blocked the rebound on the left side, and from then on Wetjen’s speed took over. Zach Lutmer’s hustle downfield ensured that Wetjen wasn’t touched on the final drive toward the end zone.

The Williamsburg native and fastest player on the team officially hit paydirt for the second time this year, adding an 85-yard punt return TD he had against Northwestern. Wetjen also had a punt return for a score against Illinois State.

His electric play puts him on a short list of players with kickoff return touchdowns in a bowl game for Iowa. The others? CJ Jones in the 2003 Orange Bowl (in the opener) and Ihmir Smith-Marsette in the 2019 Holiday Bowl.

Xavier Nwankpa is having an eventful return to Nashville

Nwankpa was excited to return to Nissan Stadium, considering he made his first career start two years ago as a true freshman, hitting a 54-yard pick-six in Iowa’s 21-0 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl -Score scored.

On Monday, Nwankpa found himself in the spotlight for mostly the wrong reasons. He was hit for Missouri’s first touchdown of the day by Theo Wease on a third-down throw from the Iowa 13. He committed a personal foul penalty on a Brady Cook slide (a late hit was ruled, although Nwankpa could hardly be blamed). This here). By the second quarter, he had subbed in for Lutmer at strong safety.

However, Nwankpa returned to Iowa’s dime package and returned to the spotlight after he was whistled for targeting Wease on a third-and-15. The replay officer overturned the goal call, meaning Nwankpa could remain in the game.

Nwankpa wasn’t alone in his struggles in pass defense. From the start, the Hawkeyes looked just as bad in the second round as they did in the humiliating 32-20 loss to Michigan State. Sebastian Castro and Quinn Schulte were beaten because of the big winnings. Marquis Johnson stood behind a confused Iowa defense for Missouri’s second score, as there appeared to be a mixup in coverage by TJ Hall or Deshaun Lee.

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