Game 655:  Iowa defense outscores its offense to take away Music City over Kentucky

Posted on by

Nashville, TN – Anticipated to be a low scoring “offensive” struggle, collegefootballfan.com witnessed what we expected.  “No-offense”  Iowa (8-5) shut out the Kentucky Wildcats (7-6,) 21-0, without QB Will Levis and RB Chris Rodriguez. Both opted out to save their bodies.  Despite predicting the low-scoring Music City affair, to everyone’s surprise, the Hawkeyes’ defense outscored its own offense. 

Rare Music City highlights

     Iowa put up 21 points, all in the second period.  The quarter featured the four main highlights of the entire game.  After a futile first period with the Wildcats punting four times and the Hawkeyes punting twice and turning the ball over on downs, Iowa put together a scoring drive. Frosh QB Joe Labas, making his first start, connected on two consecutive passes.  The first went 27 yards with TE Sam LaPorta fighting his way through several tacklers.  The next came on a 15-yard TD pass to TE Luke Lachey who dove in for the score.

At the end of Q1, Hawkeye players participate in a game day tradition waving back to patients at Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City from Music City Bowl on TV.
At the end of Q1, Hawkeye players participate in a game day tradition waving back to patients at Iowa Children’s Hospital in Iowa City from Music City Bowl on TV.

   Kentucky frosh QB Destin Wade tried to go long on the next series.  However, DB Xavier Nwankpa picked it and returned the ball 52 yards for a TD to increase the Hawkeye lead, 14-0.  Late in the second, Destin tossed another pass picked off by DB Cooper Dejean who promptly returned it 14 yards for another pick-six.   The Hawkeyes led at the half, 21-0.  The second half wallowed in futility. Neither team generated any scoring threats for the balance of this contest.

Xavier Nwankpa (1) starts celebration in end zone after returning INT 52 yards for 14-0 Hawkeye lead in 2nd quarter of Music City Bowl.
DB Xavier Nwankpa (1) starts celebration in end zone after returning INT 52 yards for 14-0 Hawkeye lead in 2nd quarter of Music City Bowl.

Futile 2022 finale followed our “Big Bang”

  To put things into perspective, Iowa’s return yardage on the interceptions totaled 66 yards. Iowa’s offense rushed for 67 yards.  Kentucky rushed for 68.  QB Joe Labas debuted passing for 14 receptions for 139 yards and a TD.  Destin and fellow U of K QB Deuce Hogan combined for 22 of 37 passing for 117 yards.  The combined offensive production for the two teams combined for 396 yards. On Wednesday at the Liberty Bowl we attended, Arkansas and Kansas combined for 1,274 yards in the Razorback’s 55-53 OT win.

    Iowa punted eight times, Kentucky ten. Both teams turned over the ball on downs twice.  This game was not a defensive battle. On the contrary, the Music City opponents displayed offensive ineptitude.  The two DBs who scored for the Hawkeyes made eight and seven tackles respectively.  Dejean won Music City Bowl MVP honors.  Attending our seventh Music City Bowl, attendance dwindled by far.  We bought our tickets in advance. We had hoped to see a decent matchup preceding the two CFP semis to be televised after. 

Music City Bowl MVP and DB Cooper DeJean (3) makes one of his eight stops. He also returned a pick six for the Hawkeyes' third and final score of the second period and of the game.
Music City Bowl MVP Cooper DeJean (3) makes one of his eight stops. He also returned a pick six for the Hawkeyes’ third and final score of the second period and of the game

Looking ahead in the Music City

    The Music City Bowl got short-changed with thee two participants after last year’s 48-45 win by Purdue over Tennessee.  With a potential, multi-billion dollar, enclosed stadium to be built in place of Nissan Stadium, Nashville expects to be hosting the eventual national championship game here in the future.  Hope we’ll be around to see it, or at least rent out our home for a weekend.  Super Bowls and Final Fours figure into Nashville’s plan as well, we hear.

Next Up!

    On September 2, 2023, the Hawkeyes will host Utah State in their opener, and Kentucky will host Ball State.  We’ll be a week ahead of them when Vanderbilt hosts Hawaii on Week 0 on Saturday, August 26.   On September 2, we will attend Tennessee’s season opener at Nissan Stadium versus Virginia.  However, between now and then, check us out here for our 2022 Season Summary, our NFL pre- draft analysis of players we’ve seen, 2023 schedule building updates, and for other offseason college football happenings.

The second half was a game played between the 25-yard lines as shown here as Iowa stops Kentucky WR Tayvion Robinson (9) for short gain.
The second half was a game played between the 25-yard lines as shown here. Iowa stops Kentucky WR Tayvion Robinson (9) for short gain.

Please check out our book deal below!

Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all!  If you like our stories, read all our tales when we saw all 120 FBS teams (at the time of publication) play for the first time. We now offer at two for one deal.

     For the purchase of one copy of my book online and a submittal of your review of it to Amazon.com, I will send you a personally autographed soft-covered copy for free, postage included (for US residents only).

     Please go to my book’s Amazon page linked here: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Tailgate-whos…/dp/1463416865 This will be limited to 40 new submittals that can be monitored on my Amazon page. Currently, there are 24 reviews in total. When you submit a review, please email your shipping address to sjk_cff@hotmail.com. Also, please let me know who you want any message addressed to and who your or their favorite college football team might be so a message can be presented it to your particular liking (ex: “Go Navy!”).

     I appreciate your support. Please submit just a few sentences, and please be honest with your reviews. I will learn from all comments as I am considering writing another college football anthology in the future. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy this one. Thanks.

Happy New Year!

Iowa cheerleaders enjoyed their team's eighth victory of the season in Nashville, The Music City!
Iowa cheerleaders enjoyed their team’s eighth victory of the season in Nashville, The Music City!

Comments are closed.