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The Hawks offensive woes continued in Brian Ferentz's last game as offensive coordinator, and the Volunteers were able to move the ball methodically against the tough Iowa defense.

Iowa had its best chance to score early in the game, but Deacon Hill threw an interception in the end zone. He also threw a pick-six TD in the 4th quarter to put the game out of reach. Marco Lainez entered the game with Iowa trailing 28-0 in the 4th quarter and drove the Hawks down the field with good use of his feet, rushing for a team high 51 yards on 6 rushes, but could not put any points on the board. Iowa had 3 turnovers compared to zero for Tennessee.

Tennessee's starting QB decided to sit out the game and declare for the NFL, so they started a freshman QB for the first time, Nico Iamaleava. He scored 3 rushing TDs on the day and passed for one TD.

The 35-point deficit was the worst bowl loss in the Ferentz era (lost by 29 points to Stanford in the 2016 Rose Bowl), and the worst bowl loss all-time (previous was a 37-3 loss to Cal in the 1993 Alamo Bowl). It was also the largest shutout in Citrus Bowl history (formerly the Tangerine Bowl).

The defense was led by Joe Evans, who had 4 sacks in his final game as a Hawkeye. Jay Higgins finished the game with 16 tackles (14 solo), followed by Nick Jackson with 11 tackles (9 solo). Higgins tied the school record for most tackles in a season with 171 set by Andre Jackson in 1972. Higgins stated he will return for one more season, while Jackson is undecided.

Tory Taylor broke the NCAA season record with 4,479 total yards punting in 2023, a record set back in 1938. He also set a NCAA season punting average record of 48.2 yards per punt (previously 47.8 yard average set in 2018). He also set a NCAA record by averaging 40 or more yards per punt in 43 career games, and the NCAA record for career punting average of 46.3 yards per punt (old record was 42.5). He finished 5th all-time for NCAA career punting yardage with 13,657.

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Iowa	0	0	0	0	0
Tennessee	0	14	7	14	35