By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – For the seventh time in a little over two decades, the Iowa football team will finish its season by playing in a bowl game in Tampa, Florida.

It was announced on Sunday that No. 23 Iowa (8-4) will face No. 14 Vanderbilt (10-2) in the ReliaQuest Bowl, which was previously called the Outback Bowl.

The game will be played on Dec. 31 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

“We are excited about the opportunity to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said in a release. “This allows our players one last chance to play together in a city and Bowl that is a Hawkeye favorite for its hospitality and game day experience. We look forward to heading south and competing hard to finish the 2025 season.”

Ferentz said Sunday in a zoom that he expects a full roster to participate in the bowl game.

“Every indication is that our entire roster is ready to roll,” Ferentz said.

Iowa made its first appearance in the Outback Bowl following the 2003 season, defeating Florida 37-17, while Iowa’s most recent appearance in Tampa came after the 2018 season when the Hawkeyes defeated Mississippi State, 27-22.

The matchup against Vanderbilt certainly looks intriguing on paper as the Commodores are led by one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country in Diego Pavia, while the Iowa defense is led by long-time coordinator Phil Parker.

The 6-foot, 207-pound Pavia passed for 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns in the regular season, and also rushed for 826 yards and nine scores.

That’s an incredible amount of productivity and it shows why Pavia is considered one of the top candidates to win the Heisman Trophy.

The fact that he has accumulated those statistics while playing in the Southeastern Conference is even more impressive.

Iowa has its own dual-threat quarterback in 6-2, 235-pound graduate Mark Gronowski. However, his passing and rushing statistics pale in comparison to Pavia’s statistics.

Parker will have three weeks to plan and prepare for Vanderbilt’s explosive offense, while Pavia and his cohorts will have three weeks to prepare for Parker’s defense, which held playoff-bound Indiana (20) and Oregon (18) to a season low in points.

This will be Iowa’s 22nd bowl appearance under Kirk Ferentz and the 38th bowl game in program history.

The Hawkeyes are 3-3 all-time in the Reliaquest Bowl. In addition to win the over Mississippi State in 2019,  other Hawkeye wins occurred in 2004 (37-17 over Florida) and 2009 (31-10 over South Carolina). Iowa fell to Florida in 2006 (31-24) and 2017 (30-3), and LSU in 2014 (21-14).

The Hawkeyes have won four of their last seven bowl games. Iowa is 18-18-1 all-time in bowl contests.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Rea, meanwhile, was hoping for a spot in the 12-team playoff, but his team fell short of that goal despite winning 10 games for the time in program history.

Rea has orchestrated an impressive rise for a program that faces some tough obstacles, including high academic standards, much like the situation at Northwestern.

He also faces the challenge of getting his players to overcome the disappointment of not making the playoff and to embrace playing in a good, but not an elite bowl game.

Lea confirmed on Sunday that Pavia will play in the bowl game, so both teams should be at close to full strength, assuming no setbacks occur with either side during bowl preparation.

Iowa has known for a while that its playoff hopes were over. So the players have had time to adjust to and come to terms with the new reality.

Iowa also has strong veteran leadership and that always helps when preparing for a bowl game, and with the distractions that come with it.