The good, bad and ugly key moments in Iowa football’s shut out win over Wisconsin

MADISON, WI — “Fire Fickell” chants rained down on Camp Randall Stadium Saturday night as the Hawkeyes walked off the field with the Heartland Trophy.

The 37-0 win over Wisconsin was the statement the Hawkeyes wanted after a bye week.

The excitement of that statement lasted all of 14 hours.

Then the news that Penn State head coach James Franklin was fired broke midday Saturday, instantly changing the Hawkeyes’ matchup against the Nittany Lions this coming weekend. Suddenly Iowa is facing a team that’s dealt with a massive implosion in the span of three weeks, and is desperate for its first Big Ten win of the season with an interim coach at the helm.

Iowa football held meetings Sunday afternoons to watch film and effectively end head coach Kirk Ferentz’s 24-hour rule. The Franklin firing delivered a sucker-punch to the Big Ten.

There were lots of positives in Iowa’s win over Wisconsin, but a few nitpicky things that could be an impact next week, too.

The good

Big boy interceptions

What’s better than one d-line interception? Two.

Back-to-back Wisconsin drives had the Hawkeyes big men up front create two turnovers. At this point in the season, Iowa is now plus-two in the turnover margin, with more turnovers from positions called defensive backs than from that specific group.

“I don't think I've ever seen a game where both were by d-linemen,” cornerback TJ Hall said. “Now we're just joking around. It might be the new Doughboyz. Since, you know, they’ve got more picks than us.”

The first turnover came from a tipped ball by Brian Allen, then was caught by Bryce Hawthorne. It was a first interception for the South Dakota State transfer, both from his high school and his collegiate careers.

Then Aaron Graves caught a ball thrown almost directly at him and returned it for 35 yards. Though the Hawkeyes thought he earned the pick six, he was ruled out of bonds just short and quarterback Mark Gronowski scored on the next play.

“I just went into autopilot,” Hawthorne said. “As soon as I saw it up there, I was just like, ‘I have to go get it.’”

The Hawkeyes got a third turnover in the game in the second quarter, when linebacker Zach Lutmer recovered a fumble from a backward pass. Iowa scored points in all three of its drives following the turnovers, including two touchdowns and a field goal.

The bad...sort of

Getting 100 perccent again

The reality is that Iowa played an extremely cohesive game, so it’s hard to pick something specific. Keeping the theme of this category being a quick fix, getting Gronowski back to his usual, mobile self would fix the best here this week.

He admitted postgame he’d felt the best he had against the Badgers, but that he wanted to keep getting healthy moving forward. For most of the week, the Hawkeyes didn’t know who the starting QB would be.

“I felt confident going into this game with my abilities,” Gronwoski said. “And right now, it's just continuing to lower the pain tolerance, and keep progressing and getting healthier every single day.”

Gronowski still had over 100 passing yards and a rushing touchdown, but he did throw an interception — his third this season. He’s had picks in back-to-back games, and hasn’t moved as swiftly out of pocket — but he was rarely under any Badgers defensive pressure.

The determination to get back on the field, however, was an impressive effort to begin with. Ferentz had confidence Gronowski would be able to play, and he did — and the process to get back to that shifty side of Gronowski continues to evolve.

The ugly

End of half clock management

Iowa’s drive at the end of the first half could’ve simply been a miscommunication, but the Hawkeyes left points on the table with their staggering 23-0 lead. The Hawkeyes got the ball back with 1:40 to play in the second half and were driving the entire length with ease at first.

The Badgers’ defense halted them just past midfield, Iowa used two of its timeouts and the clock started ticking away. Then, as Gronowski was yelling out a play, there was a pause and the playclock went all the way down the six seconds.

Whether it was a miscommunication or not, the Hawkeyes ended up pulling a few extra seconds off the clock that would’ve been used for Gronowski to try and take a shot downfield or get Drew Stevens closer in field goal range.

But the kicker still made the 49-yard kick, so in the end, it was no harm, no foul.

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