Daily Iowan Pregame — 12.17.25 by Student Publications, Inc.

PREGAME

Reminiscing and reloading

The Hawkeyes are preparing for both the ReliaQuest Bowl and the future

5 things to watch

Prior to quarterback

Diego Pavia’s arrival in 2024, Vanderbilt football was in a state of disarray. The Commodores were fresh off a fifth consecutive losing season, and most of their home games were filled with visiting fans.

Pavia is one of the best stories in recent college football history, having begun his collegiate career at a junior college before playing at New Mexico State for two seasons. He guided Vanderbilt to its first winning season in 12 years during his first campaign, and convinced the NCAA to allow him to return to Nashville for one more s eason of eligibility.

Pavia has responded by leading the Commodores to a school-record 10 victories, while becoming the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy along the way. Iowa has played some elite quarterbacks, including Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, but Pavia could present the toughest challenge the Hawkeye defense has faced all season.

Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski has averaged 127 passing yards per game, but this feels like a good spot for him to finally eclipse the 200-yard passing mark. Vanderbilt has a strong defense, but Gronowski knows this is his final college football game. He’s been a consistent winner throughout his career – winning two FCS national championships with South Dakota State – and you know he’s looking to end his illustrious college career on a high note.

Injuries and inconsistent play have slowed down Iowa’s usually-dominant tight ends over the last couple of seasons, but one man broke out near the end of the regular season – DJ Vonnahme. The freshman began the season on the bottom of the depth chart, but injuries to Addison Ostrenga and Zach Ortwerth thrust him into a prominent role.

Vonnahme’s best performance came in the Hawkeyes’ season finale against Nebraska on Nov. 28. Vonnahme recorded three catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, which gave Iowa the lead for good. He will look to continue his superb campaign with a big showing in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Gronowski save his best game of the season for the last.

Iowa has a loaded senior class, and it would only make sense for one of them to make a big play during this game. An aforementioned big game from Gronkowski wouldn’t be surprising, but this feels like a game where one of the Hawkeye seniors not only fills up the statsheet, but makes a key play late in this game.

Iowa has so many playmakers, but a fitting fairytale outcome could fall on Xavier Nwankpa’s shoulders. A former fivestar recruit, Nwankpa has stayed loyal to the Hawkeyes during his entire career, and he’s rewarded Iowa with a stellar campaign of 47 tackles, two forced fumbles, and an interception.

What else does Nwankpa have in store for this New Year’s Eve clash?

Though bowl games are now considered irrelevant by some, don’t tell that to Iowa and Vanderbilt fans. Hawkeye fans always travel well for bowl games, especially when they are played in a warm climate, and the Commodores have rarely been on this stage. Expect a healthy dose of black and gold –the colors of both schools — in Tampa.

Laying the foundation for future success

Close losses defined 2025, but could be a sign for a future breakthrough season.

A highly anticipated football season has already steered its way toward the ﬁnish line. For Iowa, this season was both a mix of familiarity and new beginnings. Iowa ﬁnished the regular season at 8-4 for the seventh time under long-time head coach Kirk Ferentz, but unlike some of those previous seasons, there is optimism.

“These guys have been an exceptional group to work with, the leadership has been strong, and the way they work together has been really good,” Ferentz said at a news conference on ec. .

Though the expanded College Football layoﬀ and NI have lowered the prestige of bowl games, the Hawkeyes have the chance to secure a nine-win season with a win over No. 4 Vanderbilt in the elia uest Bowl on New Year’s Eve, something that has occurred just 19 times in Iowa’s -year football history.

“This team deserves to be at least an eightwin team, and I’ll be really surprised if they don’t try like hell to win nine,” Ferentz said after Iowa’s 4 - win over Nebraska on Nov. 2 .

While the bulk of the attention remains on preparing for Vanderbilt, the Hawkeyes are also focused on building their future toward 2 2 and beyond. Ferentz, age , already announced his intention to return next year, his 2 th season as head coach, and it doesn’t appear he has any desire to retire anytime soon. od, I hope so. I mean, unless you know something I don’t know,” Ferentz said when asked if he was returning next season. I feel good physically. I’ve got permission from my wife to keep doing this. nd it’s what I like doing. I really en oy doing it. ... I don’t envision stopping anytime in the near future.

The Hawkeyes could easily be playing in the ollege Football layoﬀ this season if ust a couple of those four losses had gone their way. All of the defeats were against ranked foes, a common theme in recent Iowa history.

Hawkeyes trailed by 10 points in the second quarter, rallied to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but lost - in heartbreaking fashion when Kyle Konrardy drilled a 4-yard ﬁeld goal in the ﬁnal minutes.

regon at Kinnick. Iowa trailed for much of the game, but quarterback Mark Gronowski orchestrated a 2-play, 9 -yard touchdown drive to take a one-point lead with under two minutes remaining.

ith Ferentz likely conﬁrmed for another season as head coach, the next chapter of Iowa football is clear — win the ReliaQuest Bowl, attack the transfer portal, and build for 2 2 .

The Hawkeyes are currently on a -game losing streak against ranked teams, a streak that dates back to 2 2 . Iowa was barely competitive in most of those games, including shutout losses to Penn State and Tennessee in 2 2 and a 2 -point loss at hio State in 2 24. But all of that changed this season. While the results remained the same, the Hawkeyes proved the headlines of getting beaten down by ranked teams were well in the past.

Iowa entered its annual rivalry clash with Iowa State as a rare underdog, but held its own against the then-No. yclones. The

The loss was devastating for Iowa — which has lost three of four against Iowa State — and was the beginning of this season’s string of gutwrenching defeats against ranked teams.

The Hawkeyes’ next opportunity for a win was then-No. Indiana at Kinnick Stadium. It marked the ﬁrst time Iowa hosted a ranked foe at home since 2 22, but like the Iowa State game, the Hawkeyes fell in heartbreaking fashion. Iowa had the ball with a chance to take the lead late, but an unfortunate ﬁeld goal miss by Drew Stevens turned the tide back in the Hoosiers’ favor, and Indiana won, 2 -

A three-game winning streak followed, vaulting Iowa into the initial F rankings. The -2 Hawkeyes had an extra week of preparation for a showdown with then-No. 9

But the Ducks ripped the hearts out of Hawkeye fans yet again by responding with a scoring drive of their own that ended with a game-winning ﬁeld goal in the waning seconds. The - loss would carry over to the following week’s game against then-No. S in os Angeles, as Iowa blew an 11-point halftime lead and lost, 2 -2 .

Had the Hawkeyes turned two of those losses into wins to ﬁnish -2, they could have heard their name called during the CFP Selection Show. Instead, Iowa fans are left to wonder what could’ve been.

While the close defeats have formed a dark cloud over what has otherwise been a very successful season, it could also be a sign the Hawkeyes are closer to taking the next step

and making a run to the layoﬀ.

“We came up short a couple times, but it wasn’t for lack of eﬀort or paying attention to detail, all those kinds of things, Ferentz said. “The teams that we lost to were really good teams, and sometimes that’s the way that goes.

It’s far too early to gauge how good Iowa and its 2026 opponents will be, but the Hawkeyes will again have plenty of opportunities to make a statement next season. National powerhouse hio State will make its ﬁrst visit to Kinnick Stadium since 2017, and Iowa also will play Michigan on the road.

Iowa’s losing streak to ranked teams began in 2021, which coincided with a historically inept period of oﬀensive failure in Iowa ity. The Hawkeyes were a below-average unit that season, but failed to muster 20 points per game in both 2 22 and 2 2 .

ﬀensive coordinator Brian Ferentz was dismissed after that 2023 campaign, leading to a nationwide search for his replacement. The search yielded reen Bay ackers senior analyst Tim Lester, a coaching veteran with 23 seasons of college and professional coaching experience, including six seasons as Western Michigan’s head coach.

Despite featuring a revolving door of quarterbacks in his first season ade McNamara, Brendan Sullivan, and ackson Stratton ester improved Iowa’s oﬀense in points per game from 132nd in 2023 to 72nd in 2 24. primary factor in the upgrade was the emergence of star running back Kaleb ohnson, but Lester’s presence clearly played a role in the improvement.

Flash-forward to this season, and any previous concerns about the Hawkeye oﬀense are over. hile he battled in uries and

inconsistency throughout much of the season, ronowski showed ashes of what ester’s oﬀense can be.

While Iowa finished with the 17th-best passing oﬀense in the Big Ten, anyone who watched the games could clearly see the notable improvement. The passing offense was in disarray after the ﬁrst two games, but ester settled ronowski down after that. ronowski averaged ust 2 .4 passing yards per game, but did manage to record .2 yards per pass nearly identical to Iowa’s . yards per completion in 2 24.

In the season before Lester’s arrival, the Hawkeyes averaged 4. yards per pass. hile Iowa remains a step behind some of the Big Ten’s passing uggernauts like Indiana and Ohio State — each averaging over nine yards per pass — all signs point to the needle continuing to move in 2 2 .

The Hawkeyes will lose many key contributors next season, but one of the most signiﬁcant talking points throughout the entire offseason will be the quarterback position. Gronowski has easily provided Iowa’s best quarterback play since Nate Stanley in 2 9, but the elia uest Bowl will mark his ﬁnal game as a Hawkeye.

uburn transfer Hank Brown entered the season as the No. 2 option, but a new backup has quickly emerged in eremy Hecklinski. The redshirt freshman transferred from Wake Forest University before the season and has quickly earned the coaching staﬀ’s trust.

Hecklinski has played in ust two games this season, scoring a rushing touchdown against Minnesota on ct. 2 . , but the three-star recruit built a strong reputation during his prep career in Marietta, eorgia, with ndrew Ivins of 24 Sports calling him “a new-age gunslinger with some moxie.

startingquarterback from the transfer portal before, but general manager Tyler Barnes hinted Iowa will likely lean toward developing one of its in-house quarterbacks for 2026, which could be Hecklinski.

“Unless there’s some type of movement in our room, we feel good about where we’re at, and we plan to roll with the guys we’ve got in there,” Barnes said.

While Iowa may not be on the hunt for a quarterback in the transfer portal, Ferentz and his staﬀ plan to attack the portal for some of their other needs.

“We’re always looking to help our football team,” Ferentz said at a news conference on ec. . It is interesting, whatever the window is, it’s pretty quick in anuary. e may be playing cards and watching soap operas here for the next couple of weeks, but I know what we’ll be doing in early anuary. e’ll be very active in that.

Quarterback should not be a portal need this year, but the Hawkeyes still have other pressing needs to address. There are talented underclassmen beneath the graduating seniors, but Iowa could seek additional veteran help on both lines of scrimmage and at linebacker.

The Hawkeyes have always thrived in the trenches, but one area that has been a struggle is the wide receiver room. No Iowa pass-catcher has eclipsed yards this season. Its leading receiver is tight end Vonnahme. acob ill, Sam hillips, and Kaden et en will all graduate after the season, leaving sophomores eece Vander ee and ayton Howard as the only experienced wideouts left in the room. Both are great building pieces for ester’s oﬀense, but adding more experience could help Iowa take the next step in 2 2 .

Ferentz said. I think we addressed the things we were trying to address, and we feel good about that. Then we’ll continue to look around and see what we can do to keep supplementing the roster, but I feel good about that.

The class features seven four-star prospects, highlighted by defensive back arion ones and quarterback Tradon Bessinger.

Both could be star players down the road for Iowa, but fans were especially excited by Bessinger, who Barnes said has a whippy arm. The Kaysville, tah native was initially committed to Boise State in May, but the Hawkeyes managed to ip him in November.

The Hawkeyes have recruited a new

When asked further about the transfer portal, Ferentz referenced the addition of Gill and the impact he has made in Iowa ity in ust two years.

“[He’s] been with us for two years, and doesn’t have franchise numbers, if you will, putting it in those terms, but the value he’s added, I’m talking about the leadership on our football team, he’s a big part of that, Ferentz said. He embodies everything you want in a football player.

While some of the top-tier programs in college football attempt to heavily build their rosters via the transfer portal, the Hawkeyes’ identity hasn’t wilted. s long as Ferentz is on the sidelines in Iowa ity, he will maintain Iowa’s status as a developmental program.

That strategy has continued to pay oﬀ for the Hawkeyes. Though Ferentz is now in his s, his recruiting has improved with age. 24 Sports ranked Iowa’s 2 2 class at No. 2 , which slots in above other notable programs like Indiana and Missouri.

“We feel good about the group overall,”

Other notable names in the class are two Iowa ity est players linebacker ulian Manson and oﬀensive lineman olin hitters and uke Brewer, a three-star tight end from Norwalk, Iowa.

While early enrollment is a common requirement at some high-ma or programs, Ferentz doesn’t force his recruits to do it; instead, he encourages them to participate in their winter and spring sports. Nonetheless, Iowa still anticipates 14 recruits to arrive on campus in anuary, which Ferentz said will be the “biggest” number of players they’ve ever welcomed early.

espite the class’s lofty prestige, Barnes and Ferentz were utterly unaware of it until asked by reporters, and the Hawkeyes are content with keeping it that way.

t Iowa, recruits aren’t assessed by their stars or rankings, they are udged by their character.

“You have to dig into who the kid is, and at some point you’re going to ﬁgure out if their values match ours, Barnes said. Now more than ever, you can ﬁgure out real quick if their values don’t match ours. If the money and the numbers are the most important thing, that’s not who we are.

Game Guide

Though the Hawkeyes are gearing up for their seventh ReliaQuest Bowl under head coach Kirk Ferentz, the New Year’s Eve showdown will mark Iowa’s ﬁrst visit to Tampa since 2019, where the bowl was still under its iconic Outback Bowl sponsorship.

The 2018 season was a frustrating one for the Hawkeyes. Iowa began the year on a tear with a 6-1 start, but a three-game losing streak knocked it out of contention for the Big Ten West division championship. The Hawkeyes’ consolation prize was a trip to the Outback Bowl against No. 18 Mississippi State. Like the upcoming matchup between Iowa and Vanderbilt, this was the Hawkeyes’ ﬁrst ever football game against the Bulldogs.

The matchup didn’t disappoint. It was a back-and-forth aﬀair throughout, but it looked like the Bulldogs would seize control midway through the fourth quarter. With Iowa leading, 24-22, Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald ﬁred a pass to a wide-open receiver in the end zone, but the catch was bobbled right into the arms of Hawkeye safety Jake Gervase, who returned it 28 yards for a game-changing interception.

Iowa would tack on a crucial ﬁeld goal on its ensuing possession to extend the lead to 27-22, and came through with a late defensive stand to secure a second-consecutive bowl victory and ﬁnish 9-4.

On The Line

The Daily Iowan sta shares their thoughts on this week’s upcoming games

Weekly Wager

ReliaQuest Bowl Fan Guide

Tampa provides a wide range for food and entertainment close to the stadium.

Iowa football is set to make its 38th bowl game appearance and its seventh appearance in the ReliaQuest Bowl, formerly known as the Outback Bowl, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 31.

Here are some of the top places for fans to visit while in the Sunshine State:

Cuban cuisine has a large presence in Tampa, Florida, and one of the top Cuban restaurants sits just 15 minutes away from Raymond James Stadium. Located at 801 Water Street –off the Garrison Channel — is Columbia Cafe. The waterfront cafe was established in 1905 and offers classic Cuban dishes such as the Cuban Sandwich, a Tampa treasure. The Columbia Cafe also offers a selection of soups, salads, tapas, and desserts.

Just up the road from Columbia Cafe is the Naked Farmer, located at 1001 Water St. Naked Farmer offers a large selection of seafood, steak, and chicken dishes with sides of rice, broccoli, mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes. Naked Farmer gets its ingredients from local farmers, ensuring the freshest ingredients for each of their dishes. The restaurant presents family-friendly conditions with plenty of seating and a quiet environment.

If you’re looking for a more laid-back, pub-style place to hang out with friends and family, Miller’s Ale House is the place to be. Located at 3860 W Columbus Dr. — just a 20-minute walk from Raymond James Stadium — Miller’s Ale House presents a classic sports bar feel, with over 60 TVs to catch any game you’d like while enjoying a selection of 35 beers on tap and classic American pub dishes like burgers, wings, or seafood. From beer to signature cocktails, Miller’s Ale House can fill all of your drinking desires.

Listed as the No. 1 thing to do in Tampa by TripAdvisor is Busch Gardens. Just 25 minutes away from Raymond James Stadium, the theme park combines thrilling rides and over 12,000 animals for the ultimate family adventure. From live events, restaurants, and shopping, Busch Gardens offers a multitude of activities for the entire family.

The park is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, until 10 p.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

If you plan on arriving in Tampa early, the Tampa Bay Lightning will have a home game against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, Dec. 28, at 5 p.m. The Lightning are regarded as one of the best teams in the NHL, and tickets for Sunday’s game are as low as $100 per ticket. The Lightning play at the Benchmark International Arena, located at 401 Channelside Dr., a 15-minute drive from Raymond James Stadium.

One option for experiencing the best of Tampa is the Ybor City Food Tours. This three-hour walking tour offers an opportunity to learn history and taste food from the four cultures that shaped the city — Germany, Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For a price of around $81 per person, you can visit four to five restaurants and use the different cuisines to learn about the history of each culture. The meeting place for the tours is located at 1600 E 7th Ave. in the Ybor City Historic District, just a 15-minute drive from Raymond James Stadium.