Three Takeaways From Iowa’s Comeback Win vs. Michigan State

In the Iowa Hawkeyes final home game of the year, the last thing they expected was to fight until the very end against Michigan State. Head coach Jonathan Smith's Spartans had lost seven straight games heading into Kinnick Stadium as they were winless in Big Ten play.

Iowa may have jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but it wasn't thanks to their offense. The offense remained nonexistent for most of the game as MSU took a 17-7 lead. What could've been a disaster turned into a walk-off field goal as Iowa snuck past Michigan State.

1. Mark Gronowski is Clutch (But Inconsistent)

No. 5 with the tuddy. @jacobagill1 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/PcYDKxY7uw
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 22, 2025

Ultimately, there's a reason not many teams were looking at fifth-year senior quarterback Mark Gronowski in the transfer portal. Iowa decided to take a chance on the two time FCS Champion, and upon doing so he became the all-time winningest QB in college football history.

Gronowski made plenty of mistakes, but when his team needed him the most, he stepped up. Gronowski delivered two absolute darts, one for a late touchdown and the other to set up a game winning field goal. He still loves to use his legs, but without those two throws, Iowa would've suffered their most disappointing loss in recent memory.

2. Iowa's Defense Remains Elite

Knowing Michigan State's quarterbacks were banged up coming into this game, Iowa didn't let them have anything easy. This was an extremely physical game, and most of that was due to the Hawkeyes constantly attacking freshman QB Alessio Milivojevic.

The Hawkeyes finished with a pair of sacks and an astonishing seven tackles for loss. After their defense failed to clutch up in the past two weeks, they did their part and forced a MSU punt on 4th and 2 with under a minute remaining. Smith's decision to punt came back to cost them, but nothing was coming easy against this Hawkeyes defense.

3. Kaden Wetjen Makes History

This is the 3rd punt return TD for Kaden Wetjen this season.

He also has a kick return TD.

Since at least 1977…

Wetjen is now the FIRST player in Big Ten history in a single season to record:

• 3 punt ret TD
• 1 kick ret TD

Historic Hawkeye. pic.twitter.com/0JM7y231qy
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) November 22, 2025

Wetjen will go down as one of the standouts of this 2025 season. Without him on special teams, who knows where this team would be. He became the first player in B1G history to have three punt return touchdowns and a kick return touchdown in a single season.

Not only that, but Wetjen broke Tim Dwight's school record with six career return touchdowns. His contributions on special teams don't go unnoticed, and if his touchdown wasn't enough, he was a huge part of setting up the game tying touchdown down the stretch.

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