Winners and Losers from Michigan Football's Stunning Loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes

If you just look at the box score, you’d think Michigan won Saturday’s tilt with Iowa by three scores. Michigan gained 429 yards to Iowa’s 285. They held Iowa’s rushing game to 58 total yards. They ran more plays.

Instead, the Wolverines invited Iowa to play their own game, and Iowa is better at that game than anyone else in the country.

The Wolverines were penalized eight times, including a costly personal foul on Iowa’s final possession. They turned the ball over in the red zone once, and missed on a fourth down conversion deep in Iowa territory.

They allowed a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and two tipped passes resulted in explosive plays for Iowa’s offense.

Add it all up, and a game that should have been a dominant, statement victory for the Michigan Wolverines came down to one play.

The final play was a back shoulder fade from Hank Brown to Reece Vander Zee for his second touchdown of the day, and Iowa stunned Michigan 20-19.

On a day where this list should be littered with winners, we lead off with those on the other side.

Loser: Zeke Berry

Discipline is supposed to be a hallmark of Kyle Whittingham’s program. More on that later. Regardless of who the head coach is, you expect maturity from your upperclassmen.

Through four games this season, it’s been Michigan’s seniors who have been making the deadliest of mistakes.

Two weeks ago against Oklahoma Jyaire Hill had a silly personal foul penalty that gave Oklahoma’s offense breathing room.

Hill would make up for that blunder later in the game with an interception that essentially won the game for the Wolverines.

On Iowa’s final possession of the game, Hill had a pass breakup that should have set Iowa up with a fourth-and-12 with little time left on the clock.

A fourth and long against Michigan’s pass rush would have spelled death to Iowa’s comeback hopes.

Instead, Zeke Berry, a fifth year senior who was on the national title team in 2023, gave Iowa CPR.

This was not the case of a personal foul penalty that was the softening of football. It was not questionable.

It was boneheaded. There’s no other way to word it. Berry took two steps and shoved Hawkeye wide receiver Tony Diaz well after the ball had landed out of bounds.

The game likely would have ended on the next play. Instead, Iowa got a second chance at life. If you want to beat yourself against Iowa, the Hawkeyes are more than happy to oblige you.

A loss is never on one player, but there is little question who the goat of this game is.

Loser: Kyle Whittingham

When the game ended, Whittingham was asked about the penalties his team has had, including the costly ones that ended up losing the game for his team today.

His response, lacked accountability and ownership of the problem.

“Well, I have to watch the film, first of all,” Whittingham said before getting to the problematic part of his statement.

“And, I've had people tell me that, you know, like, should've been or shouldn't. But bottom line is we were penalized too much again today. I think before they, we were like someone in the middle of the country in penalties around 50th or 60th or something like that.”

We were penalized too much, instead of saying we committed too many penalties may seem like something small.

The language, however, matters. Michigan wasn’t given a bogus whistle on the personal foul penalty on Zeke Berry on the final possession of the game. They weren’t given a tough call on Trey Pierce’s hands-to-the-face penalty that kept an Iowa drive alive.

They weren’t given a tough whistle on an alignment penalty, which they’ve gotten every single week this season because their offense cannot get lined up properly.

They are committing the penalties. They are making the mistakes. In the case of the personal foul penalties, they’re killing their own team in the process.

Whittingham needs to get this problem figured out, but first he has to acknowledge this is his team’s problem.

Loser: Jason Beck

I’m not much for criticizing play-calling because I think there are so many things that go into why each call is made throughout the course of the game.

There are two calls, however, that I feel I can gripe about.

On fourth-and-1 in the first half, Michigan called a quarterback sneak for what was really a long yard to gain.

Iowa’s defense is tough and disciplined, and Michigan’s offensive line is not what it used to be.

Condensing the entire formation into a phone booth and having Underwood try to jump over the top was an easy first guess in the moment. That’s especially true with the way Michigan’s ground game was moving out of a spread formation. Underwood and one of the running backs in the shotgun is much more deceptive in a situation like that.

Bryce Underwood with a dart to JJ Buchanan 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TGGbfbZ0rO
— uofmcoverage (@uofmcoverage) September 26, 2026

The next gripe comes at the end of the game. Michigan is trying to get one first down to essentially run the clock out. They’re facing a third-and-5. Underwood has played his best game as a Wolverine to that point.

Beck turtled and called a dive play that gave Iowa the ball with a chance to win the game.

I understand being conservative if Underwood was playing poorly. He wasn’t. Michigan had a chance to go for the throat. They didn’t, and that’s a big reasons they’re saddled with a loss instead of a win.

Loser: Smith Snowden

Snowden is a tough-luck loser in this game because he was largely excellent for most of the day. After a week of smack talk, he limited Tony Diaz to three catches for 46 yards. He was, however, charged with the 32-yard reception in the third quarter for an explosive play.

He was also the man in coverage on Vander Zee’s touchdown that won the game for the Hawkeyes. If he makes the play, Michigan wins. He didn’t, so they didn’t.

Loser: Special Teams

You make this list by default if you give up a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown. The rest of the special teams were pretty solid for most of the day, but that return is one of the biggest reasons Iowa was able to tread water in the first half before eventually stealing the game in the second.

Winner: Bryce Underwood/Passing Game

There is certainly a silver lining in Michigan’s 20-19 loss, and that is the play of their passing game. Saturday’s performance was Bryce Underwood’s best game as a Michigan Wolverine. He had gotten better through the first three games, and that continued on Saturday against the Hawkeyes.

Underwood finished 17-28 for 276 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The interception was bad, but looked like a case of a quarterback and receiver seeing different things as opposed to a poor decision.

Bryce Underwood making things happen! pic.twitter.com/PSGvaCaXxk
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) September 26, 2026

His best play as a Wolverine came on his second touchdown of the game. With Michigan trailing 14-13 and needing an answer, Underwood was under pressure. He escaped that pressure and maneuvered the pocket before escaping to his right. Underwood was calm, kept his eyes down field, and fired a strike to a wide open JJ Buchanan for a 46-yard touchdown to put Michigan back in front.

Buchanan and Marsh were excellent as well. Both went over 100 yards receiving, and delivered the promise from fall camp into the regular season.

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