The Hawkeyes had so much fun at the Orange Bowl that even their second string offense and defense had impressive numbers and they weren't even subbed in until the fourth quarter. The Hawks came out by air attacks and attacks by returning a record four out of 12 punts for touchdowns. SR Colin Sandeman and Heisman Winner was player of the game with 398 All-Purpose Yards (199 PR Yds., 199 Rec. Yds., one rec. td and two punt returns for touchdowns). Freshman WR Franklin Newby also returned two punts for touchdowns.
The Hawks proved to the polls that they deserve to be higher than a #5 ranking, which reflected by the final polls. They finished at #3 in the Coaches and BCS and #4 in the Media final polls.
The Hawkeyes broke a lot of their own season records: They tied their high score with 79 points, tied for passing touchdowns in a game with three, broke their record for passing yards with 340, and destroyed their punt return yards with 327 yards. Franklin Newby had 128 punt return yards and Sandeman had 199 yards.
On the defensive side. They had a season high of only allowing the opposing team with two first downs. Set a record for only allowing 42 passing yards. Didn't allow a team to have a single 3rd down conversion as West Virginia went 0-13 on 3rd downs. Created five fumbles and made a team punt 12 times in a game.