It's official: Iowa will head to Nashville, Tennessee to take on No. 19 Missouri in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. The game will be played at Nissan Stadium on December 30 at 1:30 p.m. CT. The Tigers finished the season 9-3 overall, with a 5-3 record in the SEC.
The two teams were supposed to face one another in the Music City Bowl in 2020, but the game was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are thrilled to accept an invitation to play in the 2024 Transperfect Music City Bowl against Missouri," said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz in a prepared statement. “I believe our fans will be excited about the chance to see this Hawkeye team play one more time at a venue not too far from Iowa. As a staff, we are looking forward to three more weeks together with this group of players. The Music City Bowl is a great opportunity for our team to compete one more time to cap off the 2024 season. We can’t wait to get there.”
Missouri, like Iowa, is coming off a bit of disappointing season, where their group had playoff aspirations. Instead, the Tigers finished 9-3 with losses to Texas A&M, Alabama and South Carolina. The losses to the Aggies and Crimson Tide came by a combined total of 65 points.
Graduate quarterback Brady Cook leads the way for the Missouri offense this season, completing 183-of-289 passes for 2,248 yards, nine passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Cook added 73 carries for 169 yards and five rushing touchdowns as well.
Second-string QB Drew Pyne played in six games for the Tigers as well, partially due to midseason ankle and wrist injuries to Cook. A fellow grad student, Pyne completed 49-of-82 passes for 391 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, though he is less of a scramble threat than Cook.
Defensively, Missouri's leading tackler on the season is Corey Flagg Jr., who has put together 76 total, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, a sack and an interception.
Kirk Ferentz will speak to the media about the game at 3:45 pm on Sunday.
Hawkeye Beacon will have a more detailed preview of the contest closer to the game.
Iowa's last matchup with Missouri came in the 2010 Insight Bowl, where the Hawkeyes defeated the Blaine Gabbert-led Tigers, 27-24.
Micah Hyde gave Iowa its win with a meandering 72-yard pick-six late in the fourth quarter, though it still took some clutch defense to keep the Tigers at bay. Then-freshman Marcus Coker also dealt out some damage to the Tiger defense, taking 33 carries for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
Iowa's only prior appearance in the Music City Bowl came on December 31, 2022, where the Hawkeyes defeated Kentucky, 21-0.
Both Cooper DeJean and Xavier Nwankpa finished with a pick-six in that game. Jack Campbell finished with ten tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a sack.
On offense, Joe Labas led the way in his only start as a Hawkeye that day, finishing the game 14-of-24 for 139 yards and a threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Luke Lachey.
