the 2009 hawkeye football team got off to the best start in school history up to that point. narrow home victories over northern iowa and arkansas state coupled with double digit road wins over penn state and wisconsin fueled a 7–0 start. ferentz' 2009 hawks became the first iowa team to win eight games to start a season by winning at michigan state, 15–13, with a touchdown pass on the final play of the game. after defeating indiana to run their record to 9–0, the hawks lost quarterback ricky stanzi to injury in an upset loss to northwestern. iowa then lost the de facto big ten championship game at ohio state, 27–24, in overtime. the hawkeyes shut out minnesota, 12–0, to finish the regular season with a 10–2 record and were selected for their second bcs bowl game under ferentz by being invited to the 2010 orange bowl. iowa defeated georgia tech, 24–14, to earn the school's first bcs bowl win and their first victory in a bcs-level bowl since the 1959 rose bowl. iowa finished with an 11–2 record that tied the school record for victories in a season and the hawkeyes earned #7 rankings in both the ap poll and coaches poll, their highest finish since the 1960 season.