The No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes (11-2) outlasted No. 9 Georgia Tech (11-3) in the FedEx Orange Bowl Tuesday night to win 24-14, as the stingy Iowa defense took control of the game to hold the Georgia Tech offense to only 156 total yards in the game. Iowa burst out of the gates with a 14-0 lead early on in the first half due to quarterback Ricky Stanzi throwing 2 phenomenal touchdown passes to Marvin McNutt and Colin Sandeman. Stanzi was a steady and positive influence for the Iowa offense, as he went 17 of 29 for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns, however, he did toss up a pick that was returned for touchdown at the end of the first quarter. The major factor in the Orange Bowl was the lack of a Georgia Tech offense, most notably the absolute disappearance of any type of passing game, and a rushing game that struggled mightily in the first half. However, Tech did get it together to keep the game close in the second half and pull it to 17-14 early in the 4th quarter. Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt threw only 9 times and completed 2 passes for a ridiculously low 13 yards. It was clear this night that the 11th ranked defense in the country (Iowa) completed dominated the 11th ranked offense in Georgia Tech (**Tech averaged 35 points per game but was held to only 14 points, 7 of which was a INT returned for a TD).
The Big Ten did well this bowl season to show that they have what it takes to stick with and take down some of the top programs in the other major conferences, as I'm sure this Orange Bowl result opened a lot of eyes...it sure did for mine. 
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