IOWA CITY — The Iowa football team saw two weeks ago how wild and electrifying a nationally televised night game can be.
That was a white-out at Penn State. On Saturday, they’ll have their own black-out when they host Michigan at Kinnick Stadium.
“That was a great atmosphere,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said of the Penn State experience. “This is one we should enjoy. If we can do something on the field, maybe we can make it even better.”
It will be only the seventh night game in Kinnick history, and the first one held after September.
“It’s always been electric when we play at Kinnick at night …” offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga said.
“It’s going to be two good teams going at it on a national stage at night. It’ll be a great atmosphere.”
The six previous night games at Kinnick:
Sept. 5, 1992
Miami (Fla.) 24, Iowa 7
Gino Torretta, who would win the Heisman Trophy that season, set a Kinnick Stadium record with 433 yards passing as No. 1-ranked Miami handled the 23rd-ranked Hawkeyes in front of what was then the largest crowd (70,397) ever to see a game in the state of Iowa.
Iowa’s Jim Hartlieb completed 26 of 38 passes for 266 yards and flipped a 31-yard touchdown pass to Harold Jasper in the fourth quarter for Iowa’s only points.
Sept. 18, 1999
Iowa 24, Northern Illinois 0
Iowa snapped a seven-game losing streak and gave first-year coach Kirk Ferentz his first victory (his only win of his debut season).
Ladell Betts rushed for 174 yards for the Hawkeyes, who led by only a 3-0 score until quarterback Randy Reiners scored on 2-yard run early in the fourth quarter to cap a 99-yard drive.
Sept. 14, 2002
Iowa State 36, Iowa 31
Cyclones quarterback Seneca Wallace carved up the Iowa defense, passing for 361 yards to lead a huge Iowa State comeback and hand the Hawkeyes their only defeat of the regular season.
Iowa held a 24-7 lead at halftime before the Cyclones scored 29 unanswered points. Iowa quarterback Brad Banks, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, fumbled twice and was sacked for a safety in a nightmarish third quarter.
Sept. 20, 2003
Iowa 21, Arizona State 2
No. 14 Iowa shut down the powerful offense of the 16th-ranked Sun Devils, holding them to 24 yards rushing and 184 yards of total offense. Fred Russell rushed for 154 yards and Nathan Chandler threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Ramon Ochoa. Arizona State’s only points came on a first-quarter safety.
Sept. 30, 2006
Ohio State 38, Iowa 17
With the ESPN Game Day crew in town, No. 1-ranked Ohio State thoroughly dominated the No. 13 Hawkeyes. The Buckeyes rolled up 400 yards and had the ball for more than 40 minutes with Troy Smith throwing a pair of touchdown passes to Anthony Gonzalez. Drew Tate passed for 249 yards for the Hawkeyes, but he also threw three interceptions.
Sept. 8, 2007
Iowa 35, Syracuse 0
Iowa’s defense was at its best in Kirk Ferentz’s 100th game as the Hawkeyes’ head coach. It held Syracuse to just 1 yard of total offense in the first half and Iowa outgained the visitors 408-103 for the game. Tight end Tony Moeaki had the best game of his career, catching eight passes for 112 yards and three touchdown and Kenny Iwebema blocked two Syracuse field goal attempts.
Posted in Sports on Friday, October 9, 2009 12:00 am
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