It wasn’t the prettiest win ever but in true Iowa fashion, the job got done as Mark Gronowski rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns and completed 10 of his 16 passing attempts for 68 yards. The defense stopped Penn State as needed and the Hawkeyes kept the Nittany Lion spiral in full effect with the 25-24 win.
Kamari Moulton added 99 yards on the ground and Kaden Wetjen had a rushing touchdown and led the team with 21 yards receiving.
With Iowa up 10-7 and driving towards the end of the half, the Hawkeyes opted for a 64 yard field goal attempt to end the half but Drew Stevens low kick was blocked and Penn State’s Eugene Washington scooped up the ball and ran it in for a stunning touchdown to end the half with the Nittany Lions leading 14-10.
Penn State then drove the field with Kaytron Allen punching it in from the eight yard line to widen the lead to 21-10. From that point on Gronowski took over the game leading the Hawkeyes to scores on their next three drives. After a Penn State FG made the score 24-19, Gronowski broke open a 67-yard rush on Iowa’s first play of its next possession and Wetjen finished the two-play scoring drive with an eight-yard rush with 3:54 remaining in the game. The two-point conversion was no good. The Iowa defense forced a 4th down incomplete pass to move to 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
Head Coach Kirk Ferentz was happy with his teams effort. “Very proud of our team, proud of the effort they gave out there, the way they competed. Certainly had to earn this win. They did an amazing job. Consistently played hard all game. There were ups and downs like any game between two really good teams. They played through those ups and downs. Certainly fought and competed. Never gave up on each other either. I thought that was critical in a game where you have these swings. That’s just part of football.
Something I told our players in the locker room, this is a feeling you can’t buy. You just can’t buy it. You have to earn it. You have to go out and fight and compete. They certainly did that. Just really proud of them. They did it against a team we knew was extremely talented. They came in here ready to go. Played an excellent game as well. Only variable I could see from across this aisle was going to be the quarterback. Thought he did a great job. They were creative how they used their quarterback. Nothing easy about that thing. Bottom line is it was a 60-minute game. You expect that certainly in conference play. Play a good team, that’s the way it’s going to be. Proud of our defense. They dug in, did some good things, came up with some big plays, picks, fourth down stops.”
