Iowa football will square off with the Boston College Eagles for the first time ever when they face off in the Pinstripe Bowl on December 27.
The Pinstripe Bowl will kick off its eighth edition with two schools that have never faced each other on the gridiron. Iowa (7-5, 4-5 Big Ten) is also playing in the New York City based bowl for the first time whereas Boston College (7-5, 4-4 ACC) has made one other appearance, a one point loss to Penn State in 2014.
This will the be Hawkeyes 15th bowl appearance in head coach Kirk Ferentz’s 19 seasons, going 6-8 in bowls. They have not won a post season appearance since a 27-24 victory over Missouri in the 2010 Insight Bowl, now called the Cactus Bowl.
It was an up and down year for the Hawkeyes. The highlight of the season was their 31 point shellacking of Ohio State, which ultimately cost the Buckeyes a playoff spot. However, they lost three games by seven points or less and could not develop consistency on the offensive side of the ball.
Boston College is entering the game on a roll, having won five out of their last six games. The only trip up in the span was a three-point loss against NC State. This will be the Eagles fourth bowl in five years under Steve Addazio. Last season, they won the Quick Lane Bowl against Maryland for Addazio’s first post season victory with the Eagles.
Considering these two teams have never met, it does add some intrigue to a match-up between 7-5 schools. The bowl itself has delivered exciting games recently. The last three contests have been decided by seven points or less and two of those went to overtime.
Here’s how to watch Wednesday’s Pinstripe Bowl between Iowa and Boston College.
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 27
Time: 5:15 p.m. ET
Location: Bronx, New York
Venue: Yankee Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Keys to Victory
For a slow and boring offense like Iowa’s, the key will be getting running back Akrum Wadley going early. Wadley finished 5th in the Big Ten in rushing yards with 1,021 and scored nine touchdowns. It will also be his final game as a Hawkeye so expect the coaching staff to feed him the ball a ton.
For Iowa on defense, it will be to stop the run. The Eagles have one of the least efficient passing attacks in the nation so the solid Hawkeye secondary should not have a problem here. Big Ten Linebacker of the Year Josey Jewell is a stud and must lead the Hawkeye defense is stopping dynamic freshman running back AJ Dillion, who 1,432 yards this season and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. It should worry the Hawkeyes that they could not stop Penn State’s Saquon Barkley or Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor. Dillion can certainly gash them.
As stated, Boston College will rely heavily on Dillion to carry the offense. The Eagles have a very dependable defense and against this mediocre Iowa offense, they could look even better. The Eagles allowed 22.5 points per game this season, ranking in the top 40.
Prediction
Iowa has been bad in recent bowl games and been kind of meh all season outside of their surprising beat down of Ohio State. Boston College is red hot coming into this game after starting 2-4. All in all though, the teams appear evenly matched on paper.
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Should be a low scoring game with the offenses being kept in check for the most part by the superior defenses. The game could go either way, but AJ Dillion will do enough with a pair of touchdowns and the Eagles march their way on the last drive of the game to set up the game winning field goal.
Final Score: Boston College 20, Iowa 17