Ferentz got the key to Florida city at Beach Day, but Iowa fans already dried the town out.

[iowajerms]

The Outback Bowl held its annual beach day at Clearwater Beach on Sunday and Hawkeye fans turned out in massive numbers.

It’s fair to say that Iowa fans outnumbered Mississippi State at least 5-to-1, if not more. Fans at beach day got to enjoy live music, pie-eating contests, performances from both school’s bands, speeches from Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and Bulldog head coach Joe Moorhead, and of course, a tug of war between the cheerleaders.

Moorhead addressed the Mississippi State fans and also received a key to the city along with a cowbell. Moorhead wasn’t shy about his enthusiasm for the cowbell and encouraged his fans to ring them loud, often and proud.

Ferentz took the stage and thanked fans for attending beach day and assured them that the team has had a great week of practice and that they are looking forward to the challenge of playing Mississippi State.

“I want to say on behalf of everybody in our program, I appreciate all you guys being out here, supporting the team. Hope you have a good time and don’t break curfew.”

Clearwater mayor George Cretekos took the stage and thanked for Ferentz for coming back to Tampa and presented him with a key to the city. He mentioned that he loves Iowa’s wave tradition and told the crowd to “we don’t have a hospital right here, but we have lots of fans in Iowa who would love to be out here where it’s 81 degrees instead of 27 degrees and snowing.”

Around 2:30, the day’s most anticipated event took place. Each team’s spirit squad faced off in a tug of war. The Hawkeye women grabbed the rope after a few pep-talks, cheers, and the crowd chanting “Let’s go Hawks”.

The Hawkeye women struggled at first and were inches away from defeat, but thanks to the crowd, their male counterparts, and “corn-fed” background, they were able to pull it together and come away with a win as Mississippi State dropped the rope.


It was the men's turn to try and live up to the standard that the women set. The men grabbed the rope and made quick work of the Bulldog spirit squad. The second match only lasted about 35 seconds and the Hawkeyes ended their tug-of-war season 2-0.

The pie-eating contest included a fan from each team and they had two-minutes to eat as many mini-pies as possible. An Iowa-native stepped up to the challenge and demolished the Mississippi State fan 10 pies to 3. The announcer joked afterwards and said “Boy, I wouldn’t want to take this woman out to eat.”

T.J Hockenson, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Migeul Recinos, Dallas Craddieth, Brandon Smith and Devonte Young were among the Hawkeyes in attendance. 2019 Iowa offensive lineman signee Ezra Miller was also in attendance. It was also rumored that the Outback Bowl Beach day was sold out of beer.

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Iowa and Mississippi State will face-off on New Year’s Day at 11:00 a.m. CT in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

 

[JuiceTheGator]

I was in Clearwater TODAY and didn't even notice anything going on. Went to lunch on Sand Key and it looked like the usual bunch of crowded, annoying midwesterners stinking up an otherwise decent place...including my brother and his wife I was visiting.