Former Comet, Hawkeye reflects on Rose Bowl

2015 ROSE BOWL

Former Comet, Hawkeye reflects on Rose Bowl

Charles City’s Sindlinger started at center for the 1985 Hawkeyes

When foot meets football tomorrow in the 102nd annual Rose Bowl, many Iowa fans might find themselves indulging in a few fleeting visions of donning the black and gold and taking the field on a warm Pasadena afternoon in one of college football’s most historic venues.

For one Charles City resident, similar thoughts will perhaps be best described as memories.

Mark Sindlinger might well experience a rush of nostalgia on New Year’s Day at around 4 p.m. and who could blame him? Exactly 30 years ago, the former three-sport Charles City High standout charged out onto the lush, manicured grass of the Rose Bowl as the starting center for the famed 1985 Hawkeye football team that booked its ticket to the 72nd edition against UCLA by winning an outright Big 10 championship.

College football has undergone radical changes since then. Traditional bowl alliances are all but a thing of the past, and the 2015 Hawkeyes will enter Friday’s tilt against the Stanford Cardinal as Big Ten West Divisional Champs and as a team that was one play away from earning a spot in the second year of the college football playoffs.

Sindlinger feels the “Granddaddy of Them All” hasn’t lost its luster despite the absence of any heavy, national championship fog that seemed to gather in the weeks before kickoff and hover over the major New Year’s Day bowl games of days gone by including the ’86 Rose Bowl.

“This is still the Rose Bowl,” he said. “It’s not the same as it was but when you’re in the top five bowls … they’re very special. All they’ll get to do and see and be a part of is something they’ll have forever.”

The ’85 Hawkeyes spent several weeks as the No. 1 team in the country earning a 12-10 win over No. 2 ranked Michigan and a thrilling 35-31 win over Michigan State along the way. They featured a high powered offense with a ground game led by Ronnie Harmon and a potent aerial attack guided by senior quarterback Chuck Long.

“We scored a lot of points that year,” Sindlinger said.

“But we did have a really good defense too.”

The offense hummed at a clip of 37 points a game and the defense only allowed 16 per contest and recorded 2 shutouts.

Only a 22-13 loss at No.

8 Ohio State prevented Iowa from capping a perfect regular season. The Hawkeyes took a No. 4 ranking into the Rose Bowl against the No. 13 ranked Pac-10 champion Bruins and had an outside shot of winning at least a share of a national title with No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Miami both losing their bowl games. But turnovers and miscues plagued Iowa and they fell to UCLA 45-28.

The 2015 Iowa team didn’t enter the season with any of the same billing or fanfare as their ’85 counterparts but relied on a hard-nosed defense that ranks in the top 20 in most categories to help record the program’s first ever 12-0 start.

Sindlinger cited a tight-knit cohesiveness as what he most liked at about the 2015 Hawkeyes and a major reason for this year’s success.

“They play and seem to get along together well. It seems like if someone’s breaking down, someone’s helping.”

That togetherness is perhaps most on display by the fact that the Hawkeyes are one of the least penalized teams in the country and also own one of the best turnover margins, statistics that Sindlinger feel are at least in part down to coaching.

“You bet it is (coaching),” he said. “You always know what you’re getting with Ferentz. Consistency.”

Head Coach Kirk Ferentz was Sindlinger’s offensive line coach.

As for tomorrow’s game, Sindlinger said he was just going to enjoy it and hope for a Hawkeye win.

“Iowa’s right there,” he said “I think their defense has shown they can play with anyone.”

By Zane Weston circ@charlescitypress.com