Outback Bowl: Fans and Football

Dec. 28, 2005

The Bowl Game

More About Iowa Football

“They sometimes drive me crazy by causing gridlock on gameday and by screaming “Go Hawks” in my face,” writes Pat Harty in today’s editions of the Iowa City Press-Citizen in a salute to fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes, who square off against Florida on Jan. 2 in the 20th anniversary of the Outback Bowl.

The Hawkeyes are just one of four college football teams to have played in January bowl games in each of the last four seasons. This year’s game in Tampa follows on the heels of the 2005 Capital One Bowl, the 2004 Outback Bowl and the 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl. UI officials estimate more than 100,000 fans of the Hawkeyes have attended the previous three games.

“But we wouldn’t be here without them,” continued Harty.

“We wouldn’t be ushering in the New Year in Florida for the fourth year in a row without the presence and power of the Iowa football fans.

“Isn’t it funny how things need to change after Michigan supposedly gets a raw deal?”

“Perhaps this makes up for 1996 when the Outback Bowl picked Michigan over Iowa even though Iowa had a better overall record.”

Iowa City Press-Citizen

“They come in all shapes and sizes and they come from big cities and small towns and spacious farms, but the key is they come. They come on gameday to support their team and they come to bowl games to support the local economy.”

Click HERE to read Harty’s full story.