The Hawkeyes nearly knocked off eventual Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza and Indiana in September.

Later this month, they have a second chance to defeat another Heisman finalist, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia. Pavia threw for more than 3,000 yards and 27 touchdowns. He has the Hawkeyes’ full attention.

“He’s a guy that can do a little bit of it all. He can run it, he can throw it. So that just adds more layers, more things you have to prepare for defensively, but I think we’ve seen little bit of elements, you know,” said Jayden Montgomery, an Iowa junior linebacker. “You get guys that can run, quarterbacks who are great passers. So you see elements of that throughout the season that you can kind of combine. It gives you an idea of kind of what we are going to face so.”

“(Pavia) really can make any throw, he can do anything with his feet. He’s real capable in both aspects, he really runs the offense really well and that whole team and coaching staff has a lot of trust in him,” said Xavier Nwankpa, an Iowa senior defensive back. “He has playmaking ability so we gotta go out there and try to limit him. He’s done a great job obviously going and being a Heisman finalist. You gotta do a good job to get that. He’s been a really good guy going around and makes plays, and makes that team better so we gotta try to limit him the best capability we can.”

“He’s got a good yards per carry on him, but where it really gets scary is if you chart the yards per carry on scrambles, it’s times two basically,” said Kirk Ferentz, Iowa football’s head coach. “I think that’s pretty telling. Somehow, some way, you’ve got to try to keep him contained. Easier said than done because what you don’t want to do is just start running in place up there, too. You still have to try to pressure the quarterback and disrupt him.”

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The Iowa Hawkeyes will take on Vanderbilt on December 31st at the ReliaQuest Bowl, and for the seniors on the team they talk about playing for Iowa one last time.

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