One Thing Oregon Must Do To Beat the Iowa Hawkeyes

With four games left in their regular season, the Oregon Ducks must take on the Iowa Hawkeyes for a tough road game. Facing a run-heavy offense led by quarterback Mark Gronowski, there's a lot to learn.

iowa hawkeyes oregon ducks football kinnick stadium dan lanning kirk ferentz big ten conference dante moore Mark Gronowski | Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As the No. 6 Oregon Ducks face the later half of their regular season, coach Dan Lanning and crew must face the College Football Playoff dark-horse No. 20 Iowa Hawkeyes after a week ten bye.

The first visit to Kinnick Stadium for Oregon since 1989, there's a lot of questions surrounding how the Ducks will contain Iowa's historically run-heavy offense, including their current starting quarterback Mark Gronowski, who holds the second most rushing yards for the team on the season.

Looking over Gronowski's statistics and focusing on how he operates during a game, here's what the Ducks defense can expect taking on the Hawkeyes' leading man. Oregon must contain Gronowski to get the win.

Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) skips into the endzone for a touchdown against the Minnesota Golden Gophers Oct. 25, 2025 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What Oregon Coach Dan Lanning Said About Gronowski

"They run the ball really well and they have a quarterback that is dynamic with the ball in his hands," Lanning said about Gronowski during his weekly pregame media availability. "If everything is covered, he can take off with it. He carries it in critical situations. He's obviously been a winner in the past and is operating really well for them."

Lanning's observations about Gronowski continues to hit back on Iowa's main strength: their run game. Currently on the season, the South Dakota State transfer holds 11 rushing touchdowns compared to his four passing touchdowns.

MARK GRONOWSKI HUGE RUN pic.twitter.com/i0tQJwHYEg

— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) October 19, 2025

Gronowski also boasts 313 rushing yards so far this year, and typically put up 400 yards or more throughout each season of his prior college years running the rock and being under center. Right now, Gronowski also holds 946 passing yards on the season, an unusually low number for D1 Power Four conference quarterbacks.

The Hawkeye also set the program record for quarterback single-game rushing yard record with 130 rushing yards against Penn State at home this season.

Oct 25, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) looks to throw a pass during the first quarter against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Gronowski's Record Setting Year

Another unique detail about the Hawkeyes' starting quarterback is how frequently he scores. According to Iowa's game notes shared by Iowa Hawkeyes insider for CBS and 247 Sports David Eickholt, Gronowski is the only player in college football to score a touchdown in every game this season. He also holds the longest touchdown streak by a Big Ten quarterback in history.

His highest touchdowns of the season came against Massachusetts (two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown) and Rutgers (three rushing touchdowns).

What's interesting is Gronowski relied on his passing game to pick up three touchdowns vs the Minutemen, and mostly relied on his legs against the Scarlet Knights, showing a bit of versatility in the senior.

Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) carries the ball down field during a college football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions Oct. 18, 2025 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Gronowski Getting a Head Start

Another advantage to Gronowski's game is the coaching staff doing early scouting on their opponents. Offensive coordinator Tim Lester admitted that his position coaches, including quarterbacks coach Warren Ruggerio keep the team "two or three days ahead" including Gronowski.

"It's huge. Especially when we're on like a Sunday or Monday at the beginning of the week, maybe coach [offensive coordinator Tim Lester] hasn't watched enough - hasn't watched that much film yet about the next team because he was more worried about the last game we were playing," said Gronowski, explaining the process.

"He sometimes lets coach [quarterbacks coach Warren Ruggerio] lead some of our meetings and then he can really dissect and know everything we're facing and by the end of the week, obviously Lester has watched enough film for the game," Gronowski added.

With a sold out Kinnick Stadium for Oregon's game against the Hawkeyes, it will be interesting to see how Ducks' defense, which is currently No. 125 in the nation for opponents' rushing the ball (58.22 percent), can contain a rushing quarterback that can find gaps like Gronowski.