For three months last fall, the Iowa Hawkeyes became darlings of the college football world, an unlikely playoff contender buoyed by the right mix of talent and good fortune. In order to pull off a perfect regular season, as Iowa did a year ago, Hawkeyes players learned all the little things must fall into place.
The Hawkeyes needed kicker Marshall Koehn to bury a 57-yard field goal as time expires to beat Pitt. They needed a Wisconsin quarterback to trip on his offensive lineman's foot and fumble the ball away at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.