Inside The Hawkeyes

Way Too Early Iowa vs. Vanderbilt ReliaQuest Bowl Predictions

With one football game remaining, it's time to predict the outcome of the Iowa Hawkeyes bowl game.
Jordon Lawrenz|
Dec 31, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; a general view of the stadium before the ReliaQuest Bowl between the Michigan Wolverines and Alabama Crimson Tide at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Dec 31, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; a general view of the stadium before the ReliaQuest Bowl between the Michigan Wolverines and Alabama Crimson Tide at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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Iowa Hawkeyes

Seeing as the Iowa Hawkeyes don't play until December 31, this is about as early of a prediction as one could make. No. 23 Iowa prepares for a Top 25 showdown against No. 14 Vanderbilt, a team who had a case for making the College Football Playoffs.

Ultimately, it's the ReliaQuest Bowl that proved to be their destination. Led by a Heisman candidate quarterback, the Commodores will put their 10-2 record to the test against an 8-4 Hawkeyes squad.

Will Diego Pavia Opt Out?

For Iowa, their starting quarterback is also a big question mark. Even though head coach Kirk Ferentz said everyone is good to go, he knows that could change in the coming weeks. While it would be great to see Mark Gronowski on the field one last time, Iowa may be better off getting a look at Jeremy Hecklinski who could be their starter next year.

Iowa's defense could have a few opt outs, so the status of Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia will be extremely telling. It's not like defenders are only going to play if he does, but his status will give everyone a better expectation as to how this game could play out.

The senior threw for a career high 3,192 yards this season with 27 touchdowns to just eight interceptions. If that wasn't impressive enough, he added 826 rushing yards with nine touchdowns. In total, Pavia accounted for 4,018 yards and had 36 touchdowns.

Iowa Enters As The Underdog

To no surprise, ESPN Analytics is giving the Commodores the slight edge. They play in what many people believe to be a tougher conference, even though the B1G produced the top two seeds in this year's CFP. Regardless, Iowa is no stranger to playing ranked teams.

The Hawkeyes four losses this year are by a combined 15 points, and they all came to ranked teams. Sure, Iowa State didn't finish the year ranked, but when they lost to them they were still the No. 16 team in the country. Iowa's other losses came to No. 11 Indiana (who is now the No. 1 seed in the CFP), No. 8 Oregon (No. 5 seed in CFP) and No. 17 USC (playing in the Valero Alamo Bowl against TCU).

At the end of the day, no matter who plays, this is going to be an extremely entertaining game. The ReliaQuest Bowl has produced a pair of stellar games these last two seasons, and this year should be no different.

Prediction: Vanderbilt 30, Iowa 21

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Jordon Lawrenz
JORDON LAWRENZ

Jordon Lawrenz serves as the Eastern United States College Recruiting beat writer On SI. Jordon is an accomplished writer covering the NFL, MLB, and college football/basketball. He has contributed to PFSN’s and Heavy’s NFL coverage. Having graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay with a Sports Communication and Journalism degree, Jordon fully embraced the sports writing lifestyle upon his relocation to Florida.

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