The Iowa Hawkeye football team, ranked No. 9 in preseason, struggled to finish 6-4-3.
The most ties Iowa ever had in a season.
IOWA BASKETBALL 1988
The Hawkeye men’s basketball team, coached by Tom Davis, finished 23-10, 10-8 in the Big Ten, fourth in the conference.
The starting lineup included Ed Horton (18.3 points per game), Ray Thompson (11.5), Les Jepsen (4.2), Roy Marble (20.5) and B.J. Armstrong (18.6).
The bench included Matt Bullard (9.1), James Moses (5.4) and Wade Lookingbill (3.0).
The Hawks beat Drake, Iowa State, UNI and won their first game in the
NCAA Tournament, beating Rutgers.
The Hawks were knocked out by North Carolina State, 102-96, in double-overtime.
Ed Horton scored 32 and Roy Marble 24 in the loss.
Marble was a first-round draft pick by Atlanta, in 1989, and held the scoring record at Iowa for 32 years. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 48.
Armstrong was a first-round pick by the Chicago Bulls and won three NBA championships.
Ed Horton was a second-round pick by the Washington Bullets.
The Iowa women, coached by Vivian Stringer, went 27-5, 16-2 in the Big Ten, tying for the Big Ten championship. The women were knocked out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Stanford.
HAWKEYE FOOTBALL 1988
Iowa started the season 4-2-2, beating Kansas State, Iowa State, Wisconsin and Purdue. The Hawks lost to Hawaii and Colorado. They tied Michigan State and Michigan.
Indiana 45, Iowa 34
The Hoosiers built a 35-3 lead as Anthony Thompson ran for three touchdowns. Indiana scored 21 points while Iowa ran only one play, thanks to two Iowa fumbles and a short punt.
Then Chuck Hartlieb put on a show unmatched by an Iowa football player since, but he came up a little short.
Hartlieb completed a touchdown pass right before the half and then led Iowa drives that cut the deficit to 35-26 and 42-34 before Indiana kicked a game-clinching field goal for a final, 45-34.
Hartlieb set four Iowa records, most yards gained passing in a game (558) and most attempts (60), most completions (44) and most yards total offense (516).
Sophomore fullback Nick Bell, who had one catch coming into the game, caught a school record 13 passes. Al Bream (1967) and Keith Chappelle (1980) held the old record with 12.
Deven Harberts had 233 yards in receiving, the second most in Iowa history.
Deven and Marv Cook each had 11 receptions.
Linebacker Mike Reilly totaled 21 tackles, while Merton Hanks had 16.
“Our players certainly showed remarkable courage coming back from 35-3,” said coach Fry. “How many teams would have rolled over and played dead.”
Iowa 35, Northwestern 10
This time the Hawks rolled to a 35-3 lead.
Richard Bass scored three touchdowns in the first half and Iowa led, 21-0, at halftime.
Hartlieb was 18-26 for 224 yards and one touchdown.
Tony Stewart ran for 98 yards and had 983 yards for the season.
Iowa 24, Ohio State 24
Another tie…
Jeff Skillet, who missed two field goals on a cold rainy day at Kinnick Stadium, kicked a 40-yard field goal with 16 seconds left to tie the game, 24-24.
Iowa tried an onside kick that failed and the Hawks had the third tie of the season.
Some of the fans were upset thinking Iowa should have gone for the win.
“We were trying to win the game,” said Hayden. “The fans paid their 16 bucks. They can react anyway they want to.”
Tony Stewart gained 53 yards before being injured to become only the fourth back in Iowa history to run for over 1,000 yards with 1,036.
Hartlieb passed for 360 becoming the first Iowa quarterback to pass for over 3,000 yards.
Only two other Big Ten quarterback ever threw for over 3,000 yards, Tony Eason, of Illinois, and Jim Everett, of Purdue.
Marv Cook, leading the Big Ten in receptions, caught seven passes for 115 yards.
Defensive end Joe Mott broke Andre Tippet’s school record of 20 tackles for a loss with 21.
Iowa 31, Minnesota 22
The Hawks kept the pig for the fourth straight year, winning at the Metrodome.
Iowa led, 12-3, before the Gophers came back to take a 22-18 lead then the Hawks finished them off.
George Murphy replaced Jeff Skillet, who muffed an extra point and a field goal, and made two late-game field goals.
Mike Saunders, replacing an injured Tony Stewart, ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns, all one-yard runs.
Iowa out gained Minnesota, 526-239.
Chuck Hartlieb hit 23 of 33 passes for 279 yards, wiping out two season records by Chuck Long… 409 attempts and 3,310 passing yards.
“It’s remarkable that we played as well as we had,” said Coach Fry.
“We had 13 knee operations. I’ve never had more than five in my 37 years of coaching.”
Both Marv Cook and Dave Haight were named First-Team All-American.
Chuck Hartlieb was named All-Big Ten quarterback for the second year in a row.
It was the fifth time in six years the Hawks had an All-Big Ten QB.
The Hawks had seven All-Big Ten picks, including Bob Kratch, Joe Mott, Brad Quast and Deven Harberts.
The only bad news was Bill Snyder, offensive coordinator for 13 years, took the head coaching job at Kansas State. Del Miller also went to K-State with Snyder.
The Hawks accepted a bowl bid to play North Carolina State in the Peach Bowl.
NC State 28, Iowa 23
A rainy day didn’t help as Chet Davis fumbled the opening kickoff and State recovered on the Iowa three and scored on the one-foot line on fourth down.
George Murphy kicked a 30-yard field goal and Iowa trailed, 7-3.
The Wolfpack scored three touchdowns in four minutes and 15 seconds and led, 28-3.
Chuck Hartlieb, playing on an injured leg, threw three touchdown passes, two to Deven Harberts, the last one with eight seconds left, but too little, too late as the Hawks ended up 6-4-3.
Chuck Hartlieb threw 460 passes, completing 288 for 3,738 yards.
All three of the figures broke Chuck Long’s records.
Marv Cook moved into second place in all-time career receptions with 126.
Ronnie Harmon was the leader at that time with 146.
SEASON WRAP UP
With all the preseason hype, I would have to call it a disappointing season. Injuries devastated the Hawkeyes, and I, for one, am glad the games don’t end in ties anymore.
Thanks again to Al Grady and his book “25 Years With the Fighting Hawkeyes.”