Iowa Defense Dominates Music City Bowl

BOX SCORE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mark Stoops had a fitting description to Iowa’s 21-0 win over his Kentucky team in Saturday’s TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

“I think Iowa won today by being Iowa,” the Wildcats’ coach said, and really, there was no better way to say it.

Iowa’s defense tossed a shutout, the first in the bowl’s history.

Two of the Hawkeyes’ touchdowns came on second-quarter interception returns — a 52-yarder by Xavier Nwankpa and a 14-yarder by Cooper DeJean.

Kentucky’s average starting field position was its own 21-yard line. The Wildcats ran seven plays in Iowa territory the entire game, and only started one possession on the Hawkeyes’ side of the 50. Iowa punter Tory Taylor landed six of his eight punts inside the Kentucky 20, four of those inside the Wildcats’ 10.

Iowa never turned the ball over, even with quarterback Joe Labas making its first start. The Hawkeyes were 0-of-11 on third-down conversions, and had just 206 yards of offense, yet stayed in control.

Iowa being Iowa? Absolutely.

“I say that as a compliment,” Stoops said.

It was the perfect end for Iowa’s disjointed season, an 8-5 year where so many opportunities were wasted.

Nothing was wasted, and everything was celebrated, in this one.

It was clean, fundamental football. The Hawkeyes got ahead, and once 21 points were on the scoreboard they knew the Wildcats (7-6) weren’t going to be able to rally.

“All those little things that aren't very interesting to people make a big difference in games, and then if you have a good defense, it gives you a chance,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Iowa’s defense, so good all season, was great at the end. The shutout that they crave looked quite possible in the first half, definite in the second half.

The Hawkeyes held Kentucky to 185 yards of offense. The Wildcats ran 69 plays compared to 48 for Iowa, but every one seemed punishing.

“Our plan is to not let anyone score any game, but through the third quarter we were really, like, focused on keeping that shutout,” said Nwankpa, a freshman making his first start.

Both teams were without key players for various reasons. Both were starting inexperienced quarterbacks, but while Labas was steady and mistake-free, Kentucky’s Destin Wade was under pressure all game. The two interceptions were devastating for the Wildcats, and four sacks by the Hawkeyes just added to the harassment.

Labas completed his first three passes to calm his nerves, and he finished the day 14-of-24 passing for 139 yards and one touchdown.

“Ultimately my focus was on getting the win,” Labas said. “That was it. Going out there, everything was kind of my first rodeo obviously, so I was just kind of focused on getting the win. That's pretty much it, and we got the win.”

“For us playing clean football offensively is a starting point,” Ferentz said. “I was confident Joe could do some things and get some things going.”

It had been a shaky beginning to bowl preparation for Labas, who had no game experience but was pressed into the role because of the season-ending injury to Spencer Petras and the transfer of backup Alex Padilla.

“If you saw him two weeks ago, whoa,” Ferentz said. “The first couple of weeks were really bumpy, but last week he settled down a little bit.”

Labas dropped a snap on the first play of pre-game workouts, something Ferentz had to laugh about later.

“I don't know how close you watched pre-game, but we had a center/quarterback exchange, of course, on the first play,” he said. “That stuff isn't really reassuring sometimes. (Labas) played with poise out there, and he has a little juice to him too, so that's fun to see.”

The second half was about not making Labas have to force anything, and the 21-point margin was relaxing.

DeJean, who was named the game’s most valuable player, finished with seven tackles.

“Yeah, I think winning MVP, I think it's more of a team award, you know, because without these guys on the defense I couldn't do what I was able to do,” DeJean said. “You know, getting that pick, those guys were pressuring the quarterback all game. Same with Xavier's pick. A lot of credit to the guys up front and everybody else on the defense.”

The credit could be spread around everywhere. Nothing spectacular, just steady and clean.

Iowa being Iowa needed to work.

“If we could have written the script today,” Ferentz said, “it was perfect.”