Video: Hank Brown on being thrown into action after Mark Gronowski injury
Hank Brown meets with media after Iowa’s loss to Indiana.
IOWA CITY — The recipe for an Iowa football upset special against No. 12 Indiana was about to become reality.
And then … the Hawkeyes threw the game away.
All Iowa needed was a 5-yard completion to all but seal a victory at Kinnick Stadium. But backup quarterback Hank Brown flipped a screen pass wide left, Drew Stevens’ subsequent field-goal attempt also went wide left, and the Hoosiers took advantage by marching their way to a 20-15 victory before 69,250 disappointed fans at Kinnick Stadium on Sept. 27.
Elijah Sarratt’s 49-yard touchdown catch on third-and-10 with 1 minute, 28 seconds left was the difference. Sarratt beat one-on-one coverage from Deshaun Lee, and quarterback Fernando Mendoza delivered a strike over the middle to break a 13-13 tie, sending the Hawkeyes into their first of two bye weeks with a 3-2 record.
Indiana took an intentional safety on the game’s odd final play.
It was a crushing finish for the Hawkeyes.
Just a few minutes earlier, they had the game fully in their hands.
Iowa was facing third-and-5 from Indiana’s 24-yard line with 2:07 remaining. Indiana was out of timeouts. A first down, and the Hawkeyes would’ve been able to wind the clock to zero while setting up Stevens for a shorter game-winning option.
The screen-pass call to Kamari Moulton had a chance. Maybe he springs free for a first down. Moulton had two blockers and one Indiana defender in front of him. Maybe he reaches the 19-yard line for a first down, maybe not. But Brown never gave him a chance.
“I feel like if, if it had been completed, it definitely could have (been) the difference in the game,” Moulton said.
Video: Kamari Moulton rushes for 75 yards in Iowa’s loss to Indiana
Kamari Moulton meets with media after Iowa’s loss to Indiana.
And then Stevens’ 42-yard field-goal try was equally errant, giving Indiana the ball with 2:01 left.
Brown finished 5-for-13 for 48 yards with the one pick in his relief stint of Gronowski. He completed an 11-yarder to Dayton Howard to put Iowa at the Indiana 49 with just over 30 seconds to go, but four incompletions followed before the intentional safety.
“It’s tough, but it’s football,” Brown said. “Those are opportunities you dream of. I wish I could’ve executed better.”
Curt Cignetti and the 5-0 Hoosiers didn’t miss their chance when Iowa faltered.
“That was a really hard-fought football game,” Cignetti said. “I give Iowa a lot of credit, they’re a good football team. They laid it on the line. I give our players and coaches a ton of credit. We made the play when we needed to.”
Some odd moments put Brown into the spotlight.
The vibes at Kinnick Stadium couldn’t have been stranger than when Iowa took a three-point fourth-quarter lead on a 54-yard Stevens field goal while star quarterback Mark Gronowski hobbled to the injury tent after a third-down scramble. Gronowski would not return.
And so, with 9:47 left in this Big Ten Conference slugfest, Iowa’s chances suddenly were on the right shoulder of Brown — the Auburn transfer who promptly was intercepted on his third pass attempt.
“Disappointed,” Brown said. “I definitely left some stuff out there.”
After the Brown pick, the Hawkeyes needed some weirdness against Mendoza and the high-powered Hoosiers.
Right on cue, Zach Lutmer was there for the crazy moment that Iowa needed.
Lutmer’s interception of Mendoza and 38-yard runback with 2:50 remaining turned what looked like an Indiana game-winning drive into the Hawkeyes being in control.
Lutmer said he felt like he was a high school quarterback again, with the ball in his hands and a chance to make a winning play.
“Just try to get as many yards for the offense, try to get in field-goal range, try to maybe even score,” Lutmer said. “Just do whatever I can do to help the team.”
But instead of owning the moment, Iowa squandered it. Moulton gained five yards on first down but was stuffed on second down, setting up the ill-fated third-and-5. The call looked smart from offensive coordinator Tim Lester.
“Tim called a really good game,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “No fault with our strategy; just execution has to be a little bit better.”
And with that, Iowa extended its losing streak against ranked opponents to 11 games.
“That’s tough,” Iowa center Logan Jones said. “That just comes down to finishing, how you operate and doing the little things right. We needed to step up, and today we didn’t do that.”
Up next: Oct. 11 at Wisconsin.
Zach Lutmer on his big interception and Iowa’s loss to Indiana
The cash defender had a big play in the fourth quarter that turned into zero points.The defense overall played solidly against the Hoosiers.
Tough to swallow: Iowa (probably) wins this game with Gronowski
Mark Gronowski’s first big-game home start at Iowa couldn’t have begun worse. On his first drop-back of the game, Iowa’s second snap, unblocked linebacker Isaiah Jones penetrated and tipped his quick pass, which was intercepted by Amare Farrell at Iowa’s 24-yard line.
Two plays later, Indiana had jumped to a 7-0 lead.
But Gronowski settled in after that. With no run game to speak of early, Gronowski took what the Indiana defense offered, which was a bevy of short passes.
Gronowski completed 13 of his next 16 pass attempts. With his first attempt of the fourth quarter, he set a new Iowa season-high for attempts, exemplifying the reliance on his play in the game. He also scored the Hawkeyes’ lone touchdown, his fifth straight game with a rushing touchdown.
For the game, Gronowski was an efficient 19-for-25 for 144 yards, with a long of 21 yards to Sam Phillips (five catches, 64 yards). Gronowski even made a smart scramble of 4 yards to set up Stevens’ go-ahead field goal. Unfortunately, that’s when he got hurt with what appeared to be a leg injury.
Iowa’s Logan Jones: ‘We’ve got fighters on this team’ after loss to Indiana
The Hawkeyes center talks about a run game that generated 92 yards against Indiana in a 20-15 loss.
If there was good news, it’s that Ferentz said afterward that the initial feedback was encouraging.
“Didn’t feel like he could decelerate. That was the issue,” Ferentz said. “Some positive feedback, but we’ll get testing (Sunday), and see where it’s at and we’ll know more.”
Gronowski emerged from the injury tent and warmed up as if he was trying to go back in. But he couldn’t do it. If Gronowski is at the helm when Iowa takes over with first-and-10 at Indiana’s 29, he probably grinds out a first down with his legs … as he did at Rutgers last week on his way to a clinching touchdown. Or he makes that screen pass accurately to Moulton.
And then we’re having a totally different conversation about a potential walk-off Hawkeye win, a season-changing moment for the program and everything still on the table for the 2025 Hawkeyes.
Video: Kirk Ferentz says talks Iowa football’s 20-15 loss to Indiana
Head coach Kirk Ferentz meets with media following Iowa football’s 20-15 loss to Indiana.
With one crucial decision, Ferentz revealed his game plan
The Hawkeyes had weathered an early onslaught and trailed, 7-3, with a little over 11 minutes to go in the first half. Facing fourth-and-11 from Indiana’s 40, the aggressive and perhaps greedy decision would’ve been to attempt a 58-yard Stevens field goal. Going that direction, with the wind helping from the south, Stevens had connected from 65-plus in warmups. Ferentz had to know that every point would matter.
Ferentz seemed to agonize about the decision and finally sent the punt team out. The snap came just as the play clock hit 00, and Rhys Dakin’s high punt was fair caught (for some reason) at the 3-yard line with Indiana’s back to the deafening north end zone.
That was what Iowa wanted, to rattle Indiana and play field-position ball like it did with Tory Taylor’s deft punting accuracy on Oct. 9, 2021, in the 23-20 win over then-No. 4 Penn State.
But Indiana quickly got out of trouble, making this particular decision seem moot initially. But two big defensive tackles — by Lutmer on third-and-1 and Koen Entringer on fourth-and-1 — turned a 10-play, 70-yard Indiana drive into zero points.
Iowa took over at its own 27-yard line and bled most of the rest of the first half, delivering its best offense of the game during an 11-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that consumed 5:31 of game clock. The Hawkeyes converted a key third-and-4 to start the drive on a 7-yard flip from Gronowski to Nathan McNeil.
Then, credit to Ferentz again for a smart (albeit obvious) decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from Indiana’s 30. Gronowski surged ahead for a 2-yard sneak, Moulton went for 22 yards on the next play, and Gronowski finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown plunge with just 22 seconds left in the first half for a 10-7 Iowa lead.
So, to sum up: One punt decision gave each team one 70-yard possession, but only the Hawkeyes got (seven) points.
That revealed how Ferentz wanted to play this game. Iowa ran 34 plays in the first half to Indiana’s 23, consuming 18:09 of clock despite getting outgained, 152-149. To Ferentz, field position always matters in big games.
Disappointing first-half finish, tackling from the Iowa defense
Cignetti seemed content to let the half run out, even with two timeouts. A handoff to Roman Hemby at first seemed to be stacked up, but sloppy Iowa tackling allowed Hemby to spring free for a 16-yard gain to the Indiana 41. Then Mendoza found Sarratt for 16 yards, and that play turned into 31 when Kenneth Merrieweather was tagged for a 15-yard roughing-the-passer call (it was a soft flag, but it was still a silly play by the redshirt sophomore defensive end).
Indiana, thus, got to try a 46-yard field goal to end the half, and Nicolas Radicic’s kick knuckled through the south uprights to make it 10-10 at half.
“The receivers are good, and we just weren’t good enough on that drive,” Lutmer said.
For all the talk of Indiana’s high-powered offense coming into this one, the Hawkeyes gift-wrapped all 10 Hoosiers’ points in the first half. Gronowski’s first pass attempt was intercepted off a deflection, setting Indiana up for a two-play, 24-yard drive on a pair of 12-yard passes from Mendoza to Omar Cooper Jr.
Those were seven easy points given by the Iowa offense; then another three from a careless defensive possession.
“Live and learn from that. Hate to give up an easy three points,” Ferentz said. ” Thought we had a chance to shut the door at the start of that whole possession.”
All these points added up in what was a disappointing team loss with failures on offense, defense and special teams.
Koen Entringer looks at himself after Iowa’s 20-15 loss to Indiana
The Iowa safety had two key fourth-down stops himself, but the Hawkeyes also had some mistakes in a close loss.
The offense: Two turnovers and missed opportunties when it mattered most. Iowa rushed for a season-low 92 yards. A performance “not up to our standard,” Jones said.
“We needed to perform better,” he said, “especially in the run game.””
The special teams: a major field-goal miss (Stevens’ third straight game with a miss) and another punt that was blocked (though at least it rolled forward for 29 yards).
The defense: Though it played well overall, sloppy tackling was costly throughout. Indiana had 133 receiving yards after the catch and several run plays that looked stacked up but turned into big, positive gains.
“We have to get better at tackling,” Ferentz said. “I’ve got to see the tape from today, but it seems to me like a lot of it is more the inexperienced guys, guys who haven’t had as much game competition.
“You just open the door for some bad things (with poor tackling). That’s one thing we knew coming in this game. Indiana had a lot of yards after catch last week against (Illinois). It’s one thing to give up a completion. That will happen. You can’t make the bleeding worse.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.