A streak of sunny and rather warm days in early November ended with a depressing gray and chilly downpour, making it an uncomfortable environment to play in. Later, that would clearly become a key factor. The Hawkeyes got off to an extremely slow start on all fronts, quarterback Mark Gronowski anchoring down the offense in some poor passes and decisions. Oregon soon drew first blood when a long snap on Iowa’s second punt of the evening went soaring over the head of Rhys Dakin. Dakin sprinted back and did some quick thinking, batting the ball in the endzone and then booting it out to surrender two points. Although the yellow laundry was thrown, they’d rather two points than dish out a free touchdown to the Ducks.

The defense for Iowa looked strong in the first quarter, with Oregon’s opening offensive drive seeing three balls hit the turf from the arm of star quarterback Dante Moore. Later on, Iowa defensive back Deshaun Lee hawked and intercepted a pass on a crucial defensive stop. Following the takeaway from the Hawkeyes, the Ducks ran the football for majority of the game, wanting to sway away from passing to a banged up wide receiver room. The rushing attack dominated for the Ducks, as they put up a whopping 261 yards on the ground. Four different players rushed for over 40 yards. Senior Noah Whittington led the way with 118 yards and averaged 6.9 yards per carry. The Ducks lone touchdown came on an outside run from Dierre Hill Jr. who found his way into the endzone for a 19-yard score. 

Iowa found life in their responding drive, as Gronowski dropped a deep ball right into the hands of Jacob Gill for a 38-yard gain, taking them inside Oregon’s 5-yard line. On the next play, Gronowski hit a wide open D.J. Vonnahme, the Hawkeyes leading receiver, for a touchdown. This scoring drive would spark life into Mark Gronowski, as he would shake off his previous mistakes. We had a ball game in Kinnick. 

On their first offensive drive of the second half, Iowa marched into the red zone. A touchdown would be monumental with them trailing 12-7. But a fumble from Kaden Wetjen, recovered by Oregon, swept the breath out of the Hawkeye faithful. It was dead silent in the sold out crowd. The Ducks found three points on the ensuing drive, thanks to a Dante Moore 49-yard rush that set them up for a field goal. 15-7.

Early in the 4th, the Hawkeyes ran into a 4th & 5 from the Oregon 40. Expecting Rhys Dakin to trot onto the field, fans were surprised to see Drew Stevens come out, and a little uneasy remembering the last time Kirk Ferentz sent out his field goal unit for a long try. But Stevens put ease into Kinnick. He nailed a career long, and program best, 58-yard field goal, making it a 15-10 game. Iowa wasn’t going away easily.

Derailed by penalties, Oregon struggled to find life on their next drive. Forced to punt, they pinned Iowa on their own seven yard line. A 93-yard drive was needed out of Iowa, which for a Kirk Ferentz led offense, felt like a distant and unattainable dream. But dreams can come true. Served with great protection, Gronowski found his earlier touchdown scorer, Vonnahme, for a long 40-yard gain putting Iowa already into Ducks territory. The crowd, soaked from pouring rain, was going berserk. 

Iowa continued to chug. They converted a 4th & 3 on a pass over the middle pass to Reece Vander Zee. Heart attacks were inevitable in Kinnick. On the next play, Iowa’s leading rusher Kamari Moulton bowled down to the Oregon 10 yard line. Oregon stood tall, all the way until 4th & goal at the 3-yard line. For Iowa, it was now or never. For Gronowski specifically, it was now. Out of a five-wide package, on a designed draw, he quickly stepped away from pressure and cruised into the endzone untouched for the touchdown. Against all odds and an incredible 93-yard scoring drive, the Hawks had the lead. 

The crowd, lively for a moment, dulled again after a miraculous two point conversion catch made by Kamari Moulton was called back. Leading by one, the pressure was on Phil Parker and his defense. While Dante Moore had handed the ball off the majority of the game, he wasn’t afraid to sling it. Moore would dart a ball to Malik Benson, covered tightly by TJ Hall up the right sideline. Benson would haul it in on a beautifully placed ball from his quarterback to put Oregon in field goal range. The remaining seconds ticked away as the Ducks chipped closer and closer. Ducks kicker Atticus Sappington trotted out for a 39-yard game-winning attempt. A dream scenario for any kicker. Sappington was perfect on the night, and needed just one more. On a miraculously clean snap and hold amidst pouring rain and a crazed Kinnick, his kick pierced through the goalposts. He remained perfect, and the Ducks came away with the victory, 18-16. 

Not all stories can have happy endings. Mark Gronowski has brought some unthinkable life into the team, especially the offense. There was genuine hope this team would find a playoff spot. But in a win or die situation, the Hawkeyes fell just short to Oregon, postseason play now completely out of the equation. Iowa, already bowl-eligible, looks to finish out the year strong. They’ll fly to California to take on a ranked USC team on Saturday.

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Gronowski finished just 8-of-15 for 44 yards, with his longest completion going for 13. His most glaring miss came on Iowa’s opening drive, when he spiked a wide-open touchdown chance to Sam Phillips into the turf, forcing a field goal. The Hawkeyes leaned on his arm through the first quarter, but three straight incompletions late in the frame summed up the struggles.

Albany briefly took the lead with a 7-3 drive against Iowa’s defense, but that would be their only highlight. From there, the Hawkeyes abandoned the pass and turned to their ground game — and dominated.

Redshirt freshman Xavier Williams stole the show, rushing for 122 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries. Terrell Washington Jr. added 69 yards on 15 attempts, while Gronowski reminded defenses of his dual-threat ability with 39 rushing yards and a touchdown on designed runs. Iowa piled up more than 300 rushing yards overall, averaging 5.8 yards per carry despite losing Kamari Moulton to an early arm injury.

Defensively, Iowa was as sharp as expected. The Hawkeyes allowed just 177 total yards, forced seven punts, and held Albany to 2-of-11 on third downs. Quarterback Jack Shields was limited to 30 rushing yards, while the Great Danes were shut out in the second half.

Gronowski exited in the third quarter with leg cramps, making way for sophomore transfer Hank Brown to finish the night. Gronowski is expected to be ready next week.

The win marked Kirk Ferentz’s 205th at Iowa, tying him with Woody Hayes for the most in Big Ten history. Ferentz, who took over in 1999, now sits at 205-124 with the Hawkeyes.

With an opener in the books and history on the horizon, Iowa turns to its first major test: a trip to Ames for the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series against ranked Iowa State. The rivalry showdown will serve as an early measuring stick for where the Hawkeyes truly stand.

The post Iowa Football Kicks Off Season With 34-7 Win vs. UAlbany, Mark Gronowski’s Debut appeared first on KRUI Radio.

They fought valiantly in their Big Ten opener, but unfortunately they fell short to Wisconsin (3-1, 1-0 in Big Ten) 28-17.

Ultimately, it was two big special team blunders and a long Badger drive that cost Iowa (3-1, 0-1 in Big Ten).

Both were fumbles, the first one was knocked out of Kyle Groeneweg’s hands the second came courtesy of Shaun Beyer’s foot inadvertently grazing the ball before being recovered by the Badgers.

It was the latter one that stung the most for the Hawkeyes as it set the Wisconsin offense up in the red zone and they capitalized with a touchdown.

“We made some critical errors,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “If you’re going to win in the Big Ten you’ve got to play cleaner football than what we did tonight.”

The game started in the typical rough-and-tumble play that is to be expected when these two teams meet.

Both teams scored touchdowns in the second quarter, Wisconsin on a 6-yard pass and Iowa on a 20-yard pass from Nate Stanley to Noah Fant to make it a 7-7 tie going into half time.

It was Iowa who came out strong to start the second half, kicking a field goal on their first drive, then after Wisconsin put up 7, the offense rallied again once again on a Stanley to Fant connection that made it 17-14 heading into the fourth.

All game long the Hawkeye offense seemed to be grooving to the tune of the Kinnick faithful.

Stanley put up 256 yards with two touchdowns and only one pick, Ivory Kelly-Martin returned after missing the previous two games with 79 yards on 14 attempts, and T. J. Hockenson had a big night catching three passes for 125 yards.

But the grooving stopped I the fourth.

The same Iowa offense that had put up 332 yard in the first three quarters, managed just 72 in the fourth, 27 of those yards came on a meaningless last-second play.

Perhaps the most disappointing blunder for the Hawkeye offense came on their first drive of the fourth quarter, when Stanley missed a wide open  Hockenson on first down.

“I just missed that throw,” Stanley said. “I think that would’ve set the tone for a good drive because he would’ve caught it a ran for a while. That’s definitely one I want back.”

Instead of the drive starting out with a big gain, the Hawkeyes were forced into second and long, then a three-and-out.

That made way for the Badgers to do their damage, and they did just that.

With 5:40 to go Wisconsin got the ball on their own 12 and put together a steady drive which took them all the way down the field and ended with a 17-yard pass from Alex Hornibrook to A. J. Taylor to put Wisconsin up 21-17 with 57 seconds to go.

A Stanley interception and 33-yard touchdown run by Alec Ingold officially sealed Iowa’s fate.

“It hurts,” Safety Jake Gervase said of the loss. “When you play as hard as you can for sixty minutes it hurts. We got to play better. Credit to Wisconsin they played better tonight in all three phases.”

As always, Ferentz will allow the players 24-hours to get over this game and then its on to the next.

Iowa has a bye week next weekend, but they will travel to Minnesota on the 6th of October at TCF Bank Stadium.

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