By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – No disrespect to the Iowa football teams from the 2004, 2009 and 2015 seasons, but the best Iowa team under Kirk Ferentz turns 20 this fall.

The best Iowa team will also be honored during Saturday’s game between No. 4 Michigan and Iowa at Kinnick Stadium, and one of the best players from that team – 2002 Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback Brad Banks – will serve as Iowa’s honorary captain on Saturday.

It has been two decades since Banks and his cohorts shocked the nation by finishing 8-0 in the Big Ten and 11-2 overall.

You name it and the 2002 Iowa football team had it, including Banks’ dynamic skills as a dual-threat quarterback, a rock-solid offensive line and defensive line, a 1,000-yard rusher in Fred Russell, arguably the best kicker in the nation in Nate Kaeding, and of course, the great Bob Sanders terrorizing opponents as a bone-crushing safety.

“It’s super special that it’s a twenty-year reunion, and it feels like it was yesterday,” Banks said Friday at the Iowa football complex. “A lot of guys are in town. I’m hearing it’s like 120 with families. So, it’s going to being an exciting weekend.

“And also we’ve got a nice game tomorrow and we’re going to be cheering and rooting and seeing if we can get this dub. Yeah, it’s a special weekend, and I get to be honorary captain, which I’m truly honored to be. So, I’m looking forward to seeing everybody.”

Banks was among four members of the 2002 Iowa team that were made available to the media on Friday.

The others were former All-America offensive lineman Robert Gallery, who looks to be about 100 pounds lighter than his playing days, linebacker Grant Steen and defensive back Derek Pagel.

It seems fitting that it was two offensive players and two defensive players because the 2002 squad was so well-balanced and good in all three phases of the game.

The 2002 was also resilient because it had to be after losing in shocking fashion to Iowa State in the third game of the season.

Iowa State erased a 24-7 halftime deficit to win 36-31 at Kinnick Stadium.

Banks lost two fumbles in the third quarter that ultimately led to Iowa’s demise.

But instead of letting the loss linger, Banks and his teammates would go on to win the next nine games, including all eight conference games.

Iowa won its last four regular games against Michigan (34-9), Wisconsin (20-3), Northwestern (62-10) and Minnesota (45-21) by a combined score of 161-43.

“Any time you deal with a setback, you look for ways to better yourself and not let it happen again,” said Banks, who was joined at Friday’s press conference by his five-year old son, Brad Jr. “I know for me personally it was, hey, let’s fix those mistakes and just talking with the team and kind of sharing that stuff about how we were during that season and after that loss and how everybody was taking accountability and wanted to fix mistakes that we made and not let them happen again.”

Banks said he started thinking the 2002 team could be special after Iowa had a breakthrough season in 2001 when it finished 7-5, capped by a 19-16 victory over Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl.

Iowa hadn’t had a winning season since 1997.

“I think, for me, it was coming out of my junior season and realizing the type of team that we had, and knowing that we had lost some games so close,” Banks said. “I saw that in my junior season, I saw the shortcomings we had and said, hey, we can really win some games next season. We’ve got pretty much everybody coming back.

“And I remember in camp and everybody just saying we got it, and everybody kind of knew that. It was really just going out and playing.”

Iowa and Ohio State both finished undefeated in conference play in 2002, but the Buckeyes would go on to win the national title that season without having played Iowa, while Iowa lost to the University of Southern California 38-17 in the Orange Bowl.

It was a sad ending to an otherwise historical season.

“It’s twenty years later and there’s still a sour taste in your mouth,” Gallery said.

But the question still gets asked 20 years later; what would’ve happened if Iowa and Ohio State had played in a Big Ten championship game a week after the regular season?

“I think we could have beat Ohio State,” Pagel said. “Who knows? That’s twenty years ago. What do I know?

Steen said it would’ve been fun facing the Buckeyes with a Big Ten title on the line.

“I feel like we were at the peak of our game right then,” Steen said. “It would have been nice to have that opportunity like they do now.”

Gallery was on the verge of becoming one of the best offensive linemen in college football as a junior in 2002. He would go on to win the Outland Trophy in 2003 as the nation’s best collegiate offensive lineman and he was also picked second overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.

The 2002 team also had who many considered the best tight end in the country in Dallas Clark, who won the John Mackey Award that season.

But it all started with Banks on offense.

He passed for 2,573 yards and 26 touchdowns and rushed for 423 yards and five touchdowns in 2002.

Banks finished second in the voting for the 2002 Heisman Trophy behind USC quarterback Carson Palmer.

So, in just one year Banks had gone from being the backup quarterback in 2001 to the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2002. It was one of the greatest individual accomplishments in program history.

“Looking back now, and obviously, having Brad and what he can do with his feet, and all the other guys we had to,” Gallery said. “It was just a well put together team that jelled very well.

“And to have a guy like Brad at quarterback, it was obviously, very helpful what he could do. If we made a mistake, he could get us out of a sticky situation. There’s not too many Brad Banks’ around, either.”

The fact that Kirk Ferentz still is the Iowa head coach 20 years later hardly comes as a surprise to members of the 2002 team.

Ferentz was in his fourth season as the Iowa head in 2002, and he was just two years removed from a stretch in which he lost 18 of his fist 20 games as the Iowa head coach.

Ferentz also spent nine seasons as the Iowa offensive line coach under Hayden Fry from 1981-89.

“He’s the perfect coach for Iowa,” Steen said. “He’s never too high and never too low. Players always know what you can get from him.

“And I love that we’ve had so much consistency, not only coach Fry to coach Ferentz, but even in the administration. There hasn’t been a lot of turnover, and when you look around at events like this, it’s a special thing.”