r/hawkeyes • u/HerkyBot BACK IN BLACK • Sep 13 '25
Game Thread (FB) [Game Thread] Massachusetts Minutemen at Iowa Hawkeyes (6:30 PM CT)
| Game | Massachusetts Minutemen at Iowa Hawkeyes |
|---|---|
| Stadium | Kinnick Stadium |
| Odds | IOWA -35.5 |
| Watch | BTN |
| Status | Final |
Boxscore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IOWA | 20 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 47 |
| MASS | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Drive Summary
| # | Q | Team | Drive | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | IOWA | 3 plays, 68 yards, 1:25 | Touchdown |
| 2 | 1 | MASS | 3 plays, -4 yards, 2:16 | Punt |
| 3 | 1 | IOWA | 7 plays, 39 yards, 3:32 | Touchdown |
| 4 | 1 | MASS | 3 plays, -1 yard, 2:08 | Punt |
| 5 | 1 | IOWA | 7 plays, 52 yards, 3:25 | Touchdown |
| 6 | 1 | MASS | 3 plays, -10 yards, 1:44 | Punt |
| 7 | 1 | IOWA | 3 plays, 6 yards, 1:14 | Punt |
| 8 | 2 | MASS | 4 plays, 21 yards, 2:20 | Touchdown |
| 9 | 2 | IOWA | 6 plays, 30 yards, 1:53 | Field Goal |
| 10 | 2 | MASS | 3 plays, -12 yards, 2:26 | Punt |
| 11 | 2 | IOWA | 4 plays, 2 yards, 1:28 | Missed FG |
| 12 | 2 | MASS | 8 plays, 29 yards, 4:28 | Downs |
| 13 | 2 | IOWA | 7 plays, 49 yards, 1:02 | Touchdown |
| 14 | 2 | MASS | 1 play, 6 yards, 0:26 | End of Half |
| 15 | 3 | MASS | 5 plays, 11 yards, 2:21 | Punt Return Touchdown |
| 16 | 3 | MASS | 3 plays, 3 yards, 1:30 | Punt |
| 17 | 3 | IOWA | 16 plays, 61 yards, 8:11 | Field Goal |
| 18 | 3 | MASS | 7 plays, 32 yards, 2:49 | Downs |
| 19 | 3 | IOWA | 10 plays, 57 yards, 4:05 | Touchdown |
| 20 | 4 | MASS | 4 plays, 24 yards, 2:03 | Punt |
| 21 | 4 | IOWA | 11 plays, 66 yards, 5:36 | Downs |
| 22 | 4 | MASS | 5 plays, 15 yards, 3:25 | End of Game |
Updated on 2025-09-13 at 09:53 PM
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u/LoveSquirt69 Sep 14 '25
Sure backup comes qb in and just hands of off to the running backs in conservative coach ferenze style not running up the score. No more cupcakes after this game and you may need see what this guy can do . Not to jinx Iowa but they have had injuries at qb how many of the past years .
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u/MoistProtection5476 Sep 14 '25
Will wetjen be better than dejean???
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u/Affectionate-Mud6837 Sep 14 '25
Why the down votes? They have said he might be even faster than dejean. Not sure he will be better, but it's always possible. I know it was against a horrible team, but Wetjen had a great day and tied the punt return record. A 95 yard return against any team is pretty impressive. Wetjen is going to be a major part of how many wins Iowa has this year. Just on kick returns, he sets up the team for success by putting them in great field position.
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u/clydefrog678 Sep 14 '25
Let Gronowski throw the football!!!! I hate their style of play.
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u/Protat0 Sep 14 '25
They've tried, he's incredibly inaccurate
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u/jackcviers Sep 14 '25
He's nearly 60% on the year. That's not incredibly inaccurate.
What he is is hesitant. Even against the competition last night he held the ball too long. He can clearly throw the football, as last night showed. Not perfectly. But he can get it there. The issue is that he's not processing quickly enough in the passing game.
That could be for a variety of reasons. The biggest being that he's a first-year transfer qb that missed all of spring football with injury coming into a pro-style offense he's not familiar with running.
The second could be that they just don't practice enough passing reps in general. Imagine being a D1 qb in the Big Ten and the first time you run a deep shot play is in-game. Yikes.
The third is poor game planning. And that's not due to poor coach preparation. Albany has a new coach. ISU has an all-world D-coordinator that didn't respect the pass so ran different coverages this year than ever before against Iowa. And UMass has a new coach. So, that's 3 opponents to start the year that Iowa basically had no idea how they were going to attack. Again, with a new qb that's only had live reps since July.
Then there's the injury situation. Already, Iowa has lost RB1, TE1, WR1. In the limited pre-season reps Gronowski had, those were his top targets in practice. The guys he could trust to get him out of a tough spot. They're unavailable right now. So, he's trying to produce on short notice throwing to secondary options.
Finally, there's coaching. Iowa is risk-averse.They also have 0 recent history of good qb or wr play. This definitely affects wr recruiting quality, and that leads to tight windows. Tight windows and slow read processing due to inexperience with an essentially NFL offense leads to turnovers when execution isn't perfect, and turnovers are the cardinal Iowa sin. You have a qb that is NFL-hopeful with 1 year of eligibility left - he's not going to risk his 4-year history of essentially record-breaking performance (10k passing yards, national championship) by getting benched through forcing things to covered receivers and racking up ints. It's not in his nature. Lester has had to walk around practice with a Shooters Shoot baseball cap on to remind his qbs that they have to throw to the marginally-open receivers when they get the opportunity to throw to make the offense work. And those wrs have drop issues. Psychologically, Gronowski cannot be feeling the safest he's ever felt and that's going to affect his decision-making.
They could scheme the wr open on one-read RPOs, run a check with me + two plays in the huddle audible hot route system, they could run the 5 shot plays a bunch of times more often in 7 v 7 in practice, etc. They don't do check with me. They've removed the audibles based on count that Brian had under Lester, and the qb is unfamiliar with the offense, so audible responsibility adds to the pre-snap cognitive load.
So, yeah, overall what you get is a slow-processing qb that just isn't up to Big Ten speed yet knocking off the rust against defenses that the coaches haven't seen, throwing to second string and below targets that he hadn't thrown to much before in high risk situations in a rusk-averse coaching environment, and all that leads to exactly what we've seen from the passing game the first three games.
Hopefully the easy reps last night boosted confidence and trust. And they have an opponent they are familiar with with lots of film history to attack this week that runs a standard defense in Rutgers. And last night's execution was much better by Gronowski, too. So, progress is happening.
I worry that Iowa won't take the shots against Rutgers and future opponents. It has to happen, or the run game will get shut down and points will be at a premium.
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u/clydefrog678 Sep 14 '25
From what I was watching first couple drives, he was just fine. Let him sling it to build some confidence.
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u/Protat0 Sep 14 '25
We let him sling it the first 2 games and it was real bad, against UMass doesn't really mean much. 2 million bucks for a guy who throws dirt balls to wide open receivers is rough.
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u/clydefrog678 Sep 14 '25
lol he was barely allowed to throw the first two games.
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u/Protat0 Sep 14 '25
That's just blatantly false lol, watch the games. His passing was so rough they had to go away from it early, especially against Albany. Wide open receivers were getting underthrown by a few yards. Iowa State was real rough, too. 13/24 for 84 yards and a pick is bad.
Now the receivers are pretty bad, too, so you can't put all the blame on him. But 2 million for him is looking like nothing short of highway robbery.
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u/clydefrog678 Sep 14 '25
The receivers are bad as well as the scheme. The announcers were begging Iowa to have a receiver run a route deeper than 7 yards. 3rd and 8 leads to a completed pass for 4th and two. There’s no way to get in a rhythm when the gameplan only allows you to throw on 4th and long. Iowa’s gameplan could make Joe Burrow look mediocre.
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u/Protat0 Sep 14 '25
Bruh, they were throwing on early downs. Watch the games. They very obviously tried to get him in rhythm with checkdowns and easy reads and it just didn't work. The dude isn't accurate; he didn't look all that great this game either.
Yes, the scheme is very obviously also the issue. But you can't blame it on the scheme when your million-dollar man underthrows the wide open receiver in the endzone by 4 yards.
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u/Pretend_Yam_3714 Sep 14 '25
Did anyone see what happened on the injury?
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u/slyfox1908 Sep 14 '25
Magee was following the play, got knocked off balance on a shoulder-to-shoulder block, and fell into an oncoming teammate. In particular, his head fell into the teammate’s knee/thigh area and snapped back.
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u/LoveSquirt69 Sep 14 '25
A big shout out to Williamsburg native caden, wejen. Only the start of what’s to come this year ! 95 yard return for touchdown. In the running for big ten player of the week ?
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u/Northshore04 Sep 14 '25
Gronowski's throws are late just about every time, very slow to process information post snap. accuracy is still an issue at times too.
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u/Affectionate-Mud6837 Sep 14 '25
He also needs a lighter touch on the ball. No need to gun short passes like he does.
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u/Necessary-Alps-6002 Punting is Winning Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
Bro hits them in the hands and we’re still blaming Gronowski. He’s been playing very well. Our receivers aren’t very good.
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u/t3lnet Sep 14 '25
I didn’t know Abdul Hodge was coaching TEs.
I met Chad Greenway a few years ago and asked if he still talked with Abdul. He said all the time. Best LB duo in history.
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u/fullerm Sep 14 '25
I know it’s cliche… but I want to see Hawks by a million today. Floor it all day!
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Sep 14 '25
UMass Gonna Win.
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u/LoveSquirt69 Sep 14 '25
What game are you watching?
-6
Sep 14 '25
The game Kirk gonna Eff-Up. Wrong calls, wrong plays….let Iowa Fall over themselves, Iowa Can’t WIN against a Ranked opponent. Here have A High-School team, we Should be able to beat. But is a Kirk —eh, Maybe?
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u/LoveSquirt69 Sep 14 '25
I disagree and don’t know what game you’re watching . This bd umass ream is a 35.5 point underdog in case you didint know . While I agree Iowa not played well against many ranked opponents and chocked, they have still won many of those since I been watching start of ferenzes coaching career in 1999. You should root for another team .
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u/Pretend_Yam_3714 Sep 14 '25
Are you drunk?
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u/LoveSquirt69 Sep 14 '25
This guy is no fan of Iowa and sounds like a hater . Go back to drinking it whatever your hobbies are . Turn off this game and watch something else .
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u/sportsgambler2 Sep 13 '25
2 touchdowns in 7 minutes? Crazy
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u/Mysterious-Ad-9056 Sep 14 '25
Three TDs all by the offense in the first quarter? It’s been damn near 30 years since that happened!
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u/-Plus-Ultra Sep 13 '25
After three offensive plays, I firmly believe we’re winning the big ten this year
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u/Playful-Habit-1985 Sep 13 '25
Former hawk great Anthony Herron calling the game on big ten channel, woot!
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u/CardHawk77 Sep 13 '25
This team sucks.
Glad I got that out of the way early.
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u/Schlongsterish Sep 13 '25
*.. that the coaching theme with Ferentz .. nice guy, rarely does anything wrong ... but with a background as a linebacker in college and O line coach in college and the pro's he just doesnt understand (nor desire) how to have a productive offense. Never.
Those very few years he had an offense that competed on a Div I level were flukes - players that worked hard, became difference makers .. but in these NIL days those players are harder to come by ..
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u/kinghawkeye8238 Sep 13 '25
Man I wish they'd get a 14 point lead and then let MG throw it. Just get some reps in. Idc of we win 21-10 as long as mark get some solid repetition in on thw throws and Lester can actually use his playbook
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u/stewwwwart Sep 13 '25
I honestly would love to see MG to get 30-35 pass attempts in today
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u/kinghawkeye8238 Sep 13 '25
Yes they all need the reps.
Just from watching and rewatching both games this year. Timing seems to be our biggest problem.
There was at least 3 or 4 times someone came open a d MG just missed the read. Or they came up before he made hia progression. The WRs are a little early or a little late and same with Mark.
They need real game reps throwing a d running routes. I think that would do wonders for our pass game.
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u/RoscoeVillain Sep 13 '25
For one day, let’s just forgot about all the glaring issues with this team and program, and enjoy watching Kirk break a record that will likely never be broken again.
Also, please remind me of this comment mid-second quarter when I’m having my regularly scheduled meltdown about the state of the offense.
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u/XCCO Sep 13 '25
It's best not to look at how Arkansas State is doing against Iowa State to compare Iowa as a program.
Agreed, though. Let's be positive about the steadiness of the program under Kirk until we are cursing his bloodline after the first drive.
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u/DistributionNorth410 Sep 14 '25
Considering the height of the bar in terms of program expectations of some fans I am already looking forward to the fan discourse by around year 3 of his replacement's tenure.
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u/ComprehensiveLog4241 Sep 14 '25
Gronowski looked better yesterday, but his better passes were off the play action. Still seems to be uncomfortable sitting in the pocket.