Iowa manhandles Georgia Tech

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MIAMI -- Georgia Tech's spread-option offense couldn't solve Iowa's big, physical defense in the Orange Bowl on Tuesday.

As a result, the No. 9 Yellow Jackets lost to Iowa 24-14 because their offense was held to more than 280 yards below its season average. Tech's last three drives, when it had to a chance to take the lead, featured an interception and an 11-yard loss on a run that almost resulted in a safety.

The loss dropped Tech to 11-3, kept it from reaching 12 wins for the first time since 1952, and extended its losing streak in bowl games to five. It also will knock the Yellow Jackets out of the top 10 in the final AP poll.

"You know, we're going to keep working to try to get there," Tech coach Paul Johnson. "You're disappointed when you lose, and you should be because if it means anything, it ought to hurt. But you can't let that game take away from the season that they had."

Tech players said they had wanted to win the Orange Bowl to cap a historic season as well as to begin the process of elevating the program to a national power. They also wanted to erase the memories of last season's 38-3 loss to LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. That defeat had seemed to hang over the program until the Jackets defeated No. 4 Virginia Tech, 28-23 on Oct. 17 and legitimized their chances of playing for the ACC championship.

From there, Tech rolled through the rest of the ACC, with only a temporarily deflating 30-24 defeat to rival Georgia stopping the momentum. The Jackets bounced back the next week to defeat Clemson 39-34 in one of the most exciting ACC championship games in its short history.

Tech entered Tuesday's game full of confidence that the long layoff wasn't going to affect the timing of the offense and that the defense was ready to rebound from two poor performances against the Bulldogs and Tigers.

And they had a chance. Trailing 17-14 with 8 minutes, 52 seconds remaining, Tech took over at its 10-yard line. But on the first play, Josh Nesbitt dropped back and tried hit to Embry Peeples on a crossing route. But Iowa linebacker A.J. Edds cut in front and made the interception.

The Yellow Jackets' defense didn't break though, and stopped a fake field-goal attempt on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line.

But on the Tech's first play, Dwyer took the handoff and was immediately cut off by two Iowa defenders. He tried to reverse field, only to see more Hawkeyes pursuing. After running into the end zone he was able to muscle his way back to the 1-yard line. But, it set up second-and-21 for an offense that wasn't able to consistently move the ball. Tech punted two plays later.

The first half wasn't much better.

Six consecutive punts. One first down. Thirty-two total yards. Six penalties. Two far-too-easy touchdowns for offensively challenged Iowa.

"We just couldn't seem to get anything going or couldn't hit a pass play to get a jump start or just couldn't hit a big play," Johnson said.

Despite the issues, Tech was only behind 14-7 at halftime, with the points coming on Jerrard Tarrant's 40-yard interception return for a touchdown.

But, as he has done throughout the season, Johnson tinkered at halftime, and the Yellow Jackets started to move the ball. The first drive of the second half resulted in a missed field goal by Scott Blair. The second drive, however, saw Tech cut Iowa's lead to 17-14 with an 71-yard play march that ended with Anthony Allen diving in on third-and-inches.

It was a far cry from the first half when Tech had a difficult time blocking Iowa's vaunted defensive line, with end Adrian Clayborn throwing around whoever was in front of him and then rumbling for eight tackles and two sacks.

Iowa's big offensive line, featuring two NFL-caliber tackles according to draft experts, opened holes in Tech's defense and kept Derrick Morgan mostly away from quarterback Ricky Stanzi.

"We fought and fought," Morgan said. "We just came up short."

Tech's players said the Hawkeyes did what they thought they were going to do, but the difference was Iowa's size and speed.

"You watch them on film and kind of get a feel for them, but it's nothing like standing next to them," linebacker Steven Sylvester said.

The Hawkeyes fumbled the ball on their first possession but bounced back to pick on Tarrant for two touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead.

But Tarrant got his revenge when Morgan broke through the line and forced Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi to hesitate before attempting to hit Derrell Johnson-Koulianos on a curl route. Tarrant intercepted the pass to cut the Hawkeyes' lead to a touchdown and give the Yellow Jackets new life.

But Tech couldn't take advantage.

Because of penalties and an inability to generate any momentum on offense, Tech couldn't move the ball when it needed to.

"You work so hard to get to this point and you put all your effort into the last game of the season, try to leave a mark and represent your school,"  Dwyer said. "I'm a competitor, and I hate losing. Us coming up short with an opportunity that I thought we had, I just hate losing."