Iowa's Dominant Win Sets Stage for Week 8

From a morale-crumbling home loss to the Indiana Hoosiers (then ranked #11 nationally) to a bye week riddled with lineup murmurs and questionable injury reports, it was easy to see the Iowa Hawkeyes week 7 road matchup in Wisconsin against the Badgers as a breeding ground for a season-defining fallout.

Instead, on the shoulders of senior quarterback Mark Gronowski — who almost didn't play as a game-time decision due to a knee injury — the black and gold pounced on a helpless Badgers team, slashing the home team in a brutal 37-0 shutout.

Safe to say, not only is Gronowski playing mostly like himself, but the team was ready to recover from their own home defeat to the Hoosiers.

“I guess it was a little premeditated,” Gronowski said of the Hawkeyes' dominance. “We wanted to get on them early, and obviously we did that. We were just wanting to go out there and have some fun, and then ‘Jump Around’ came on, and saw their sideline, wasn’t doing that, so we were having some fun on our side.”

Whilst Gronowski sported a knee brace the entire way through, he led Iowa to arguably their most momentous win of the season, with much of that sentiment having to do with who comes knocking next.

Iowa Hawkeyes running back Kamari Moulton | Ross Harried-Imagn Images

Now 4-2 (2-1) the Hawkeyes will host the Penn State Nittany Lions in a definitive B1G battle next week.. The Nittany Lions, now 3-3 (0-3) after having lost three straight, are prowling into Iowa City with their tails between their legs.

On the other hand, the Hawkeyes, previously thought to be on the outskirts of conference competition, are now among the fray of teams fighting to take Penn State's usually occupied spot towards the top of the conference. The first rung in the ladder was a convincing win over Wisconsin; with that hill climbed, Iowa has the chance to keep the Nittany Lions on the ground and extend their B1G record to an impressive 3-1.

With their lone conference loss being to the top team in the standings, in Indiana, and sitting just one game back from a tie for third place (though currently in seventh) the Hawkeyes are in as prime a position as ever to make a push for B1G relevance once more.

For the first time in remotely recent history, Iowa vs. Penn State appears to be a matter of taking care of business for the former team. A (seemingly) renewed Mark Gronowski will have the off-week to fully reacclimatize with his offense ahead of, once again, a must-win matchup for a team vying for higher competitive ground.

Don't forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!