1990 Iowa Hawkeyes football team The 1990 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1990 NCAA Division I - A football season . Game notes . Cincinnati . Kicking off the start of the 1990 Iowa Hawkeye season , the Hawks welcomed in the Cincinnati Bearcats . The Bearcats finished out the ' 89 season at 1 – 9 – 1 as the Hawks finished out at 5 – 6 . In a game that ended up in a blowout , the Hawks cruised to a 63 – 10 win . Iowa managed to set records as well as they pummeled the Cincinnati defense . After Cincinnati built a 7 – 0 lead after an interception and a 1 - yard touchdown run from Joe Abrams , the Hawks took command for the afternoon . After a scoreless first quarter , quarterback Matt Rodgers led the Hawks to 28 unanswered points , following two touchdowns from Rodgers , and one each from running backs Nick Bell and Tony Stewart . Cincinnati scored its last points of the game with a late field goal and ended the half with Iowa up 28 – 10 . After halftime , Iowa went on cruise control . Iowa went on to score 21 points in the 3rd and 14 in the 4th to win the contest 63 – 10 . Rodgers ended the game going 15 – 27 on passes with 191 yards . Hawkeye offense racked up 662 yards with 455 yards rushing . The defense was excellent as well . The Bearcats were allowed only 4 first downs and 69 yards rushing . The other two games in the non - conference schedule were both high - scoring affairs , which included their eighth in a series of fifteen straight wins over in - state rival Iowa State , and a loss to the mighty Miami Hurricanes . Even in showing some competitiveness at the game in Miami , FL , few Hawk fans could have guessed what was going to follow , esp . following the 5 – 6 debacle of the previous season , which represented the first season Iowa had not gone to a bowl since 1980 . But starting the next week , Iowa started what ended up being their third Rose Bowl run in ten seasons . What set this conference season apart from others was that the Hawkeyes played most of their best football on the road . In weeks 1 , 3 & 5 , Iowa upset what ended up being the other three teams that tied for the Big 10 championship that season , all at their home venue . First was a wind - blown , defensive struggle at East Lansing , with Iowa holding onto a 12 – 7 victory . Hayden Fry admitted after the game that every pass he had Matt Rodgers throw was with the wind , which was blowing at a diagonal across Spartan stadium . After a win over ( what ended up being cellar - dweller ) Wisconsin at home , Iowa traveled to the Big House in Ann Arbor . The Wolverines were still smarting after a tight , tough loss the previous week against Michigan State and it was Homecoming week . But Iowa kept it close throughout . Following a botched two - point conversion by the Wolverines after they had taken a 20 – 10 lead , the Hawkeyes went to work . Following one Hawkeye touchdown countered by a Michigan field goal , the Hawkeyes put together a drive for the ages , never facing a third - down . Tony Stewart grabbed the last of a series of key passes from Matt Rodgers with one hand , giving the Hawkeyes the ball at the Michigan 1 - yard - line . Paul Kujawa ran it in from there , and with the extra point , the Hawks took the lead by the eventual final score of 24 – 23 . A sack by Moses Santos and an interception by linebacker John Derby sealed the stunner . But the Hawks key road triumphs weren ' t finished . Two weeks later in Champaign , Illinois , against an Illinois team that had the inside track to the Rose Bowl , Iowa put together one of their best offensive games in the Fry era , especially for a key road game . The Hawkeyes used an early fumble by the Illini to begin an exhibition by RB Nick Bell , the likes of which had rarely been seen in the Big 10 between two undefeated teams ( in conference play ) . Bell literally ran over the Illini , scampering for over 100 yards just in the 1st quarter . By the end of the quarter , the Hawks led by an amazing 28 – 0 , and they stretched it to 41 – 7 by the end of the half , and 48 – 7 by the end of the 3rd quarter , before settling for a 54 – 28 final . It was most likely from the efforts of that game that Nick Bell was named by the media as the Big 10 player of the year . The Hawkeye bubble burst the next week in Iowa City with a last - second loss to Ohio State . They bounced back the next week with what proved to be a Big - 10 clinching win at home against Purdue . Then knowing that they were Rose Bowl - bound before they even took the field , the Hawkeyes dropped their final road game at Minnesota , 31 – 24 . In that game , Tony Stewart became ( at least at that time ) the Hawkeyes all - time leading rusher , though he lost a key fumble on that play . The Rose Bowl placed an over - matched Iowa against one of the best teams in the country that season , the Washington Huskies . The Hawkeyes trailed badly at the half before making the game close by the end , but lost in Pasadena again , 46 – 34 . It was Hayden Fry ' s last trip to Pasadena , and he ended up 0 – 3 in those games .