Keys to victory for No. 23 Iowa football against No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl

TAMPA — One final chance to make a statement.

No. 23 Iowa football plays its final game of the 2025 season on the final day of the calendar year, facing No. 14 Vanderbilt in a first-ever meeting in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

It’s an experience the two programs have relished in over the last week, but with less than 24 hours until kickoff, all eyes are on the Hawkeyes and Commodores.

“Any time you play in the season, first game, last game, respect the opportunity to compete and respect what it takes to be successful,” Iowa football head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Teams that understand that tend to do better. Certainly our opponent has done a great job of that.”

What will it take to hoist a bowl trophy? Here are Iowa’s keys to victory against Vanderbilt in Tampa, Fla.

3 keys to victory

Make Pavia uncomfortable

The Heisman runner-up has dominated the conversation leading up to Wednesday’s game, and for good reason. With 36 touchdowns scored this season — 27 through the air and nine on the ground — Diego Pavia has become a quintessential definition of a mobile, dual-threat quarterback.

“Pick your poison,” Ferentz said. “He's elusive, on the move. When he breaks the containment, those kind of things, typically bad things are going to happen. You try to be aggressive against the guy, but you also have to be careful.”

There aren’t a ton of teams who’ve made Pavia uncomfortable for 60 minutes, if any. That’s defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s task.

“It's going to have to take good pursuit, good awareness, good leverage, you know, try to contain them inside the pocket, if we can,” Parker said. “It's going to be a challenge for us, and we're looking forward to it.”

If Iowa’s defense can find ways to frustrate Pavia, that’ll be a win in and of itself. Which brings up the next point.

Get the stops early and often

Iowa football thrives off lengthy, time consuming drives — on offense. The Hawkeyes defense, on the other hand, needs to stay far away from that. Giving Pavia and the Vanderbilt offense more time on the field likely means the Iowa has to go toe-to-toe with a top 15 total offense program.

The Hawkeyes have faced a plethora of highly touted quarterbacks this year, including Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza from Indiana and Oregon’s Dante Moore. It’s put a lot of pressure on the Hawkeye defense, but Iowa has proven it can take top programs down to the wire.

Getting those early stops, however, and letting the black and gold offense eat up the clock bodes well to frustrate a hungry Pavia and give Iowa the wiggle room to make big-time plays.

Don’t be afraid to get creative

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea knows Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester well. The pair crossed paths at Syracuse a decade ago, so Lea knows how Lester’s mind works. Part of Iowa’s offensive success is Lester’s ability to get creative with play calling, and that could be a catalyst in the Hawkeyes’ game plan.

“What I see on film now has some of the creative aspects of what I knew him to be at Syracuse, but also you see a real emphasis on the stretch run game, some of those NFL kind of elements that have come to define that game,” Lea said. “This is a world class person and a really good football mind.”

Iowa’s shown how creative it can be — the Philly special remake against USC in November, the designed quarterback run to seal the deal against Penn State in October and the inclusion of tight end DJ Vonnahme as this year has developed, to name a few. It’s possible, and since the Hawkeyes have made it work before, why not open the playbook in the final game of the season?

Prediction

Could this be the game Iowa finally ends the ranked win drought? It’s possible. The Hawkeyes have been chipping at that rock for years, and one swing at the right time could break it in half inside Raymond James Stadium.

Iowa wins, 23-20.

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