Hawkeyes tailback Fred Russell (2) rushed for 150 yards against the Gators and won this race against defensive back Darryl Dixon.
Familiar Bowl Foes: Florida vs Iowa, Part 2 - 2004 Outback Bowl
Monday, December 26, 2016 | Football, Chris Harry
The Gators went to the Outback each of Coach Ron Zook's first two seasons ... with similar results, unfortunately.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Before delving into more Florida Gators history, allow me to dish some just plain Florida sports history. Before there was the Outback Bowl, there was the Hall of Fame Bowl and it was first played in Tampa on Jan. 1, 1987, after being moved from Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. Those were the glory days for behind-the-scene bowl-game deals and the 1986 Gators were ticketed to play in the first-ever Tampa Hall of Fame Bowl until a catastrophic loss at Kentucky in November did them in.
It wasn't until 1995 that Outback took over title sponsorship of the game. And it wasn't until Jan. 1, 2003 that the in-state game finally got the Gators. So what took so long? Simple. The Gators were too good. From 1991-2001, their seasons ended at the Sugar Bowl five times, the Orange and Citrus bowl twice and the Fiesta national-championship game once. The lone hiccup was the Gator Bowl in '92, when UF lost four games.
When Outback took over, the bowl became the unofficial third-place game for Southeastern Conference teams and quickly ascended to one of the most enjoyable bowls — with the the beaches and Busch Gardens — of them all.
It wasn't until the end of the 2002 season, UF's first under Ron Zook following Steve Spurrier's venture to the NFL's Washington Redskins, that the Gators became Outback fodder. UF, despite '01 Heisman Trophy runner-up Rex Grossman returning to school, went 8-5 that year. The season ended with a 38-30 loss to No. 12 Michigan in the Outback, a defeat that featured one of the most bizarre calls in school history.
With 1:10 to go and Florida down by eight, UF went with a double-reverse that ended in the hands of wideout Vernell Brown Jr., who with two Wolverines in his face and some 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage chucked a blind, floating pass down the left sideline intended for — get this — Grossman.
Intercepted.
Gators lose.
One year later, Jan. 1, 2004, Florida was back in the Outback Bowl. With another 8-4 record. Facing another Big Ten opponent.
To the time machine we go.
IN THE HEADLINES
* American troops in North Irag fired mortars and missiles to welcome the New Year as celebrating Iraqis in Baghdad sent tracer bullets flashing across city's skyline. But even as 2004 was met by a festive mood at U.S. bases, many American soldiers patrolled cities on high alert amid fears that insurgents were planning attacks similar to those staged Christmas Day in Baghdad.
* A car bomb ripped through a crowded restaurant holding a New Year's eve party in an upscale Mosul neighborhood, killing five Iraqis and wounding 35 others, including at least one American and two Britons.
* The University of Florida was set to swear in a new president, with the outgoing Charles Young passing the baton to Bernie Machen, by way of the University of Utah.
* Jennifer Lopez topped the 2003 "Hot List" of celebrities compiled by syndicated TV show "Entertainment Tonight." The list was composed of celebrities who'd received the most mention on the show during 2003. The top 10: Jennifer Anniston, Michael Jackson, Ben Affleck, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Britney Spears and Demi Moore.
* "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" — Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen
* "The Last Samurai" — Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe
* "Cold Mountain" — Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger
* "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" — starring William Petersen and Marge Helgenberger
* "American Idol (Season One)" — starring Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson,
* "The Apprentice" — starring … well, you know.
(Billboard's Top 3 songs of 2003)
* "In da Club" — 50 Cent
* "Ignition (Remix)" — R. Kelly
* Crazy in Love" — by Beyonce (featuring Jay-Z)
THE SETUP
For the Gators, the game was all about atoning for the loss of the season before and, just as importantly, winning a ninth game to show tangible improvement in Year 2 under Zook.
From the start of the season, Zook declared the team would be better than in '02, but with a caveat.
"I just didn't know if it would show up in the record," he said bowl week.
That logic trickled down to the players.
"We know we're a better team than last year," UF cornerback Darryl Dixon said. "It just didn't work out. We're not an 8-4 team. I just wish people could understand that."
The Gators, led by sophomore quarterback Chris Leak, had chances to be better than an 8-4, but lost fourth-quarter leads in frustrating defeats against Miami, Ole Miss, both at home, and at Florida State.
Now came Iowa, which like Florida was on a mission of its own. The Hawkeyes were massacred the year before by USC when they went to the Orange Bowl ranked third in the nation and left 38-17 losers. Iowa, in fact, had not won a January bowl game since defeating California in the 1959 Rose Bowl.
This trip to the state was led by tailback Fred Russell, a 1,200-yard rusher, and an offensive line keyed by tackle Robert Gallery, who was five months from being the No. 2 overall player in the NFL Draft.
UF, meanwhile, was hit with some off-field adversity during bowl week when a pair of starting defensive backs, Keiwan Ratliff and Guss Scott missed curfew. Their punishment was a suspension from the game's first quarter.
THE GAME
Instead of avenging the Outback nightmare of the season before, the Gators relived it. The headline in The Gainesville Sun summed things up.
"BLOOMIN' BLOWOUT "
Russell rushed 21 times for 150 yards and a touchdown and the Hawkeyes claimed that elusive January bowl victory — their first in 45 years — with a 37-17 rout of the Gators.
Iowan quarterback Nathan Chandler passed for one touchdown and rush for another, while Nate Kaeding kicked three field goals. The Hawkeyes also scored on a blocked punt for the third time in the season and won their 10th game.
Leak's 70-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Kight was the highlight of the day for the Gators, who trailed 20-7 at the half and saw any hopes for a comeback fade when an offensive pass interference penalty wiped out a TD that would have cut Iowa's lead to 27-17. Instead, Florida punted two plays later and Chandler led an 80-yard drive that Russell capped with a 34-yard TD burst to make it 34-10 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter.
As if the final score wasn't embarrassing enough, Zook sent both Ratliff and Scott into the game with 21 seconds to go in the first quarter, as the Hawkeyes threatened to score. A low point, to be sure.
It was an all-around bad day in Tampa (another one) for the Gators.
And a very good one for the Hawkeyes.
THE QUOTES
* "I apologize to the Gator fans. It's my responsibility to get this football team ready to play and we weren't ready to play."— Zook
* "This is very gratifying and very rewarding. This is one more hurdle for us to climb. None of us had a good taste in our mouths after the game last January. It stuck with us." — Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who posted double-digit wins for a second straight year after going 11-24 his first three seasons.
* "Even in my worst nightmare I could not have imagined anything like this." — UF offensive tackle Max Starks
* "I just don't think we were focused. We weren't executing. It didn't seem like a whole lot of people were." — Gators offensive guard Shannon Snell
* "They had a good game plan. They came out and doubled me and I couldn't do anything I needed to do to break free. I think we kind of took them lightly." — UF tight end Ben Troupe, who entered the game as UF's leading receiver and was held without a catch for the first time all season.
* "There was a lot of talking coming from their side, more trash talk than we had from anyone this season. But we knew talking wasn't going to win the game. We did our talking with our pads. I guess some people just like to run their mouths. Yeah, they've got a bunch of great athletes and great recruits and we're just a bunch of hicks from Iowa." — Gallery
EPILOGUE
The Gators finished the season 8-5. UF's final place in the Associated Press poll was No. 25. Iowa ended the season at 10-2 and ranked No. 8.
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