Iowa QB Mark Gronowski getting set for 68th and final college game
The Hawkeyes quarterback is excited for a “matchup” with Diego Pavia and hasn’t worn his knee brace in bowl-prep practices.
TAMPA, Fla. — For all the deserved attention that Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia is getting ahead of the ReliaQuest Bowl, this Dec. 31 matchup between Iowa and Vanderbilt has another legendary quarterback saying goodbye to the college game.
Iowa’s Mark Gronowski understandably is getting second billing to Pavia, who had a sensational year in leading Vanderbilt to its best season ever at 10-2.
But Gronowski is set to make his 68th college start. He is 57-10 as a starter, after going 49-6 over four seasons with South Dakota State and now 8-4 with Iowa. (And don’t forget, Gronowski started but didn’t finish two of those 10 losses because of injury.)
This is a talented and gritty individual, who still has more to prove as he straps on the helmet for perhaps the final time in a meaningful football game.
Given multiple chances to talk about his personal motivations after Iowa’s Dec. 27 practice at the Berkeley Prep School, Gronowski kept circling back to the team and how excited he was that Iowa had no opt-outs for the final game of the Hawkeyes’ 2025 season.
“One of the biggest reasons why I came here is just because of that culture and what coach (Kirk) Ferentz has built here over the past 20-plus years,” Gronowski said. “You’ve got a bunch of guys in the Midwest that just love playing football. … We just want to go out there and play and play our best football.”
That’s Gronowski, all about the team. He arrives in Tampa with a chance to put his stamp on a fabulous college career, which has been defined by winning. Gronowski’s heroics to help Iowa rally past Penn State and Michigan State was the stuff of legends. He also rallied Iowa to the lead in the final seconds against Oregon, before the Ducks’ last-gasp drive foiled that upset bid. And Gronowski is coming off his best game as a Hawkeye, with 166 passing yards and 64 rushing in a 40-16 plastering of Nebraska.
And now … Gronowski should theoretically be at his best yet with the Hawkeyes. That midseason knee injury is massively improved. He is far more comfortable now than he was in September, following offseason shoulder surgery, with Tim Lester’s offense. Gronowski is no longer practicing with a knee brace, though he plans to wear one in the game for precautionary reasons.
“Knee’s feeling good. Body’s feeling good,” Gronowski said. “It was great to have a couple weeks off and not playing any games, so just let the body rest and get back to some good physical health.”
With one touchdown, Gronowski (currently at 16, including 15 rushing) would move into fourth-place all-time for any Hawkeye in a season — trailing only Kaleb Johnson’s 23 (in 2024), Shonn Greene’s 20 (in 2008) and Tavian Banks’ 19 (in 1997). He enters his final game with staggering career totals of 11,837 yards passing with 101 touchdowns; 2,258 yards rushing with 52 more touchdowns; and 71 yards and three touchdowns receiving.
His career has been one of one. And he has a chance to finish it with an unforgettable stamp, against the Heisman runner-up.
Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker preps for Vandy QB Diego Pavia
How will the Hawkeyes defend the Heisman runner-up? Parker weighs in on that and other bowl-prep topics after Iowa practice.
Who outside of Diego Pavia is Vanderbilt’s greatest threat?
A great question, which has plenty of answers. After all, Pavia’s 3,192 passing yards have to go somewhere, right?
Vanderbilt is a big-play offense, for sure, and Mackey Award-winning tight end Eli Stowers opting out of the game is obviously beneficial to the Hawkeyes. Stowers’ 62 catches and 769 receiving yards are both team-highs. He has been a clutch third-down target, too, for Pavia.
Still, there are four other names worth highlighting, and their jersey number is included here so you can keep an eye on them in person or on the ESPN broadcast (which starts at 11 a.m. CT).
- Running back Sedrick Alexander (No. 28) — He is the main running back who can generate big plays. He keeps defenses honest. Alexander (5-foot-9, 207 pounds) had 15 touchdowns this season to lead the team. He had a 65-yard touchdown run in a loss to Alabama and finished the season with 115 yards and three scores against Tennessee.
- Wide receiver Tre Richardson (No. 6) — At 5-10, 175, Richardson had 40 catches for 679 yards, a clip of 17.0 yards per grab. But what’s really impressive is how he finished the season — 124 yards on just three catches vs. Auburn; 159 yards on six catches vs. Kentucky; and 75 yards on six catches at Tennessee. The Commodores scored 45 points in each of those games, so no doubt Pavia will look to him vs. Iowa.
- Wide receiver Junior Sherrill (No. 0) — Like Richardson, he’s come alive with at least 75 receiving yards in all four November games. For the season, Sherrill (5-11, 203) has 46 catches for 661 yards and a team-high seven receiving TDs.
- Kicker Brock Taylor (No. 88) — Included Taylor here because Vandy comes into this game close to equal at kicker, where Iowa typically has an advantage with Drew Stevens. Taylor in two years is 29-for-33 on field goals (including 11-of-12 this season) with a booming leg, with a 6-for-7 mark all-time from 50-plus yards with a long of 57.
Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s approach to slow down Vanderbilt’s offense, which ranks No. 8 in the country at 39.4 points per game: “Give me good effort, toughness and make sure you have no mental errors.”
Logan Jones’ reaction to Iowa offensive line winning Joe Moore Award
The Rimington Trophy award-winning center speaks after a Dec. 27 practice in Tampa ahead of Iowa’s game against Vanderbilt.
Is SEC bias real, or is Vanderbilt a legit team that could crush Iowa like Tennessee did?
The question refers to the 2023 season, when the Volunteers thumped Iowa 35-0 in the Citrus Bowl.
Short answer to the latter part of the question: It’s highly unlikely that Iowa gets steamrolled. That 2023 Iowa team was embarrassing offensively, gift-wrapping 14 of those points on a Deacon Hill fumble at his own 2-yard line and a 52-yard pick-six. Iowa barely had 100 yards of offense entering the fourth quarter.
This Iowa offense has much more firepower, behind an offensive line that recently won the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s best. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 40-point outing at Nebraska, which has a far better defense than Vanderbilt’s. Their last five games against ranked opponents have been decided by margins of 3, 3, 5, 2 and 5 points.
But in reference to the first part of the question, let’s give respect to what Vandy has done. This spread offense is fun to watch and explosive as heck, with Pavia’s magical ability to create off-script plays being a central piece of what the Commodores do best. This is a team that lost only to bluebloods Alabama and Texas. It has four wins over (at the time) top-20 foes in No. 11 South Carolina (road), No. 10 LSU (home), No. 15 Missouri (home) and No. 18 Tennessee (road). Were those four teams overrated? Sure, considering none of the four is among the latest top 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Iowa comes into this game at No. 23 and hungry for a ninth win and to end a streak of 14 straight losses to ranked opponents.
“It’s going to be fun anytime you get to play an SEC school,” Iowa center Logan Jones said. “You live for games like these. … And I think it’s gonna be an awesome, really fun game.”
Agreed.
Evaluating the film, this is a really solid and dangerous Vanderbilt team that I think would beat Michigan and have a really good battle with USC, both of which tied for fourth in the Big Ten (just ahead of Iowa, in sixth). But the Commodores’ defense doesn’t measure up to a playoff-caliber unit, and that’s where Iowa has a chance to capitalize on Wednesday.
Tim Lester discusses Hecklinski, Brown, future of QB position at Iowa
The Hawkeyes’ second-year offensive coordinator spoke ahead of the ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Vanderbilt, and quarterbacks were a big topic.
How many points will Iowa need to score to beat a good offensive Vanderbilt team?
Before the season, offensive coordinator Tim Lester told the Register in a summer podcast that his goal for Year 2 was to average 30 points per game.
The Hawkeyes enter their 2025 finale at 28.9 points … and would need to score 43 against Vanderbilt to reach 30 for the season. While I don’t think it’d take 43, I also don’t think 43 is off the table if Iowa can outmuscle Vanderbilt’s front six or seven with the offensive line. That is where Iowa should have its biggest advantage in this game.
I’ll set the number that Iowa needs to reach at 31 points. The Hawkeyes should replicate their USC mindset, in which they scored 21 points in the game’s first two quarters behind a good run-pass mix. But they were shut out in the second half of that 26-21 loss in Los Angeles. In that game, against a high-powered passing offense led by the nation’s top wide receiver in Makai Lemon, Iowa lost three offensive linemen to injury and still nearly pulled off the win.
The 26 points Iowa allowed in that game was a season high. The Hawkeyes probably can’t hold Pavia and the Commodores under 20, but it’s realistic to think that they can keep them to between 24 and 30 points. Vanderbilt is favored by 4½ points with an over/under at 47½, so the oddsmakers are expecting a final score in the 26-21 range.
Thus, go score 31 and take your chances. I think that’s doable against a Vanderbilt defense that ranks No. 56 in the country and played only one offense that finished in the top 25 nationally in points (Tennessee), whereas Iowa faced three that finished in the top 15.
Heck, might as well get to 43 points and celebrate getting to that 30.0 goal, too.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 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.
