247Sports shares 2024 bowl projection for Iowa football featuring familiar foe

247Sports shared its college football bowl game preseason predictions and College Football Playoff picks on Monday.

Brad Crawford predicts that Iowa will see a familiar shade of orange. Crawford projects that Iowa will meet the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

The ReliaQuest Bowl will kick off at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024 on ESPN.

It’s an interesting matchup thanks to the contrast of styles. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and the Volunteers are known for what they can do offensively. There’s so much excitement surrounding what former five-star signee Nico Iamaleava can accomplish in a season where he gets to take over the Vols’ offensive keys on a full-time basis.

Pair that against Phil Parker’s defense and an Iowa offense that hopes to be figuring some things out under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester and fans get an intriguing Big Ten vs. SEC matchup.

There’s only one problem. Fans saw this matchup a season ago when Tennessee blanked Iowa, 35-0, in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

It was Iamaleava’s first career start and he performed admirably against the Hawkeyes, passing for 151 yards and a score on 12-of-19 attempts. Iamaleava also rushed for 27 yards and three scores.

If this matchup came to fruition, it would mark four straight bowl matchups against the SEC for the Hawkeyes. It would also represent Iowa meeting the same foe in back-to-back bowl games just like they did against Kentucky in its previous two bowl games to cap the 2021 and 2022 college football seasons.

Iowa ended the 2021 season with a 20-17 loss against Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl before exacting revenge on the Wildcats in the Music City Bowl with a 21-0 victory.

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