Iowa vs. Tennessee: Score and Twitter Reaction for 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl

While the SEC West has had a bowl season to forget, the Eastern Division has been rolling against Big Ten competition. Tennessee picked apart Iowa early and often in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl, cruising to a 45-28 win on Friday that looks closer than it was because of two garbage-time scores for the Hawkeyes. 

Volunteers head coach Butch Jones isn't going to run through Knoxville screaming about finishing with a 7-6 record, but the win is a positive step for the program. Tennessee hadn't played in a bowl game since 2010 and hadn't won a bowl game since the Outback Bowl seven years ago. 

Everything Tennessee was doing worked against Iowa. The Volunteers had a 21-0 lead after the first quarter and were ahead 35-7 at the end of the first half. Sophomore quarterback Joshua Dobbs finished 16-of-21 for 129 yards and added 76 yards on 13 carries with three total touchdowns (two rushing) and one interception. 

Dobbs has been tremendous for Jones' offense since taking over the starting duties on October 25. He had at least two touchdown passes in each of his first three starts and entered the game with a completion percentage of 61.5. His ability to run added a wrinkle that was lacking with Justin Worley. 

Freshman running back Jalen Hurd was also instrumental in Tennessee's offensive dominance, running for 122 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. His performance in the first quarter was better than most running backs have had in entire games this bowl season, via Rocky Top Insider:

Zac Ellis of Sports Illustrated noted that Hurd's future with the Vols is looking exceptionally bright, while Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee seconded that opinion with one caveat:

The much-maligned Tennessee offensive line had no such issues on Friday, which is a step in the right direction for this program. That has to carry over into 2015 for the Volunteers to become serious players in the SEC East. 

On the losing side, Iowa's season ends with a whimper for the fourth straight season. The Hawkeyes (7-6) have lost their last three bowl appearances and had a 4-8 season in 2012. This also marks the fifth consecutive year they have won fewer than 10 games,

Kirk Ferentz has been the head coach at Iowa for 16 years now and is on the verge of a big bonus at the end of January, per ESPN's Darren Rovell:

Even though Ferentz has been a popular figure in Iowa, it's hard to justify what he's getting paid given the mediocre results in recent years. The Hawkeyes had two wins against bowl-eligible teams this season— Pittsburgh and Illinois, both of which finished 6-7 following losses in their bowl games. 

Despite the struggles in games, Ferentz said prior to the TaxSlayer Bowl that his program is built on a foundation of loyalty and commitment, via Chad Leistikow of The Des Moines Register:

"

To me, that's the beauty of college football. That's the beauty of sports, I think, when they're done right.  We have 16 seniors on our team. Every year I say this, but I have such respect for guys that run the whole race, stay their entire four or five years of their career, earn their degrees. Our guys have done a great job of that, first and foremost.

I don't care how good a player they may be, none of them are going to be playing when they're 40.

"

No one denies that Ferentz does things the right way, but at some point the results have to start showing up. They haven't been there for a long time, as illustrated by quarterback C.J. Beathard. The sophomore played decent in limited action during the regular season, but he was a mess on Friday. 

Even when the game was out of hand in the third quarter, Beathard couldn't get out of his own way, via Sports Illustrated's College Football:

It was that kind of day for Iowa from the opening kickoff. Beathard finished with 145 yards and two touchdowns on 13-of-23 passing with 82 rushing yards on eight attempts, though a lot of those yards came on the final two drives when Tennessee was playing prevent defense. 

USA TODAY Sports

Iowa's future continues to look murky. Ferentz keeps taking backward steps with the program, and the result is like what happened against Tennessee. The offense has been flat all year, and the defense gets exhausted because it's asked to compensate. 

There's still work to be done for the Volunteers, but Jones has them heading in the right direction. They won their seventh game for the first time since 2009 and appear to have found a capable quarterback-tailback combination in Dobbs and Hurd.

Tennessee will still experience some growing pains in 2015, but some of those close losses against teams like Georgia, Florida and Missouri will start turning into victories. The Volunteers are on their way back in the SEC. 

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