Heroes Trophy stays home: Iowa football downs Nebraska in final road game of regular season

LINCOLN — Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski waved Nebraska fans farewell before the third quarter ended. Tight end DJ Vonnahme hushed the crowd in the first half.

Up three scores over the Cornhuskers, the graduate signal caller made it clear he’s all in on the Iowa-Nebraska rivalry. Even for a program with an NCAA record of consecutive sellouts, he watched as thousands of Big Red fans left for the exits early.

The Pioneer Heroes Trophy never needed to leave its travel case. For the seventh straight time on the road at Memorial Stadium, Iowa beat Nebraska, forcing the Cornhuskers to yield in a 40-16 win to secure the Hawkeyes an eight-win regular season.

The Iowa-Nebraska rivalry seems to always have something up its sleeve. The last two years have been strung together with the Hawkeyes kicking game-winning field goals, both ending with neither team scoring 14 points.

The Cornhuskers opted for the ball in the first half; it was the first time all season Iowa didn’t have first possession of the game.

Iowa had five possessions in the first half, scoring points on four of them. There were a combined 40 points scored in 30 minutes, and it was the most points Iowa scored against Nebraska since the Hawkeyes delivered a 56-point win in front of Cornhusker fans in 2017. Who had that as the game plan this year?

This was no Big Ten shootout, however. When the Hawkeyes did score, it was touchdowns — not the field goals the Cornhuskers were held to.

The Cornhuskers had one touchdown on the board: a 1-yard rushing touchdown by running back Emmett Johnson. Johnson set up the play with a season-long 70-yard rush, and had 172 rushing yards in the first half.

He was Iowa’s primary task defensively. At first, it was a tall ask, and Johnson recorded 126 rushing yards in the first 15 minutes. By the second quarter, Iowa held him to less than 30 rushing yards.

Meanwhile, Vonnahme caught a season-long 35-yard touchdown pass from Gronowski. Vonnahme’s score — the second touchdown of his career — was Iowa’s lone passing touchdown against the Cornhuskers and Gronowski’s 21st score in an Iowa uniform.

Drew Stevens’ services were needed for a field goal just once — a 41-yarder in the first quarter. Every other appearance was in Hawkeye PATs.

Linebacker Karson Sharar added on a safety in the third quarterback after a fumbled punt trickled into the end zone. Sharar finished the game with five tackles, including the solo hit that knocked the ball loose.

The Hawkeyes scored twice more before halftime. One was running back Kamari Moulton’s 3-yard score, and the other was Gronowski via a “tush-push.” Gronowski finished the game throwing 9-for-16 with 166 yards and the Vonnahme touchdown. He recorded his second and third rushing touchdowns of the game — good for fourth-most rushing scores in the country — in the second half.

Memorial Stadium was silent. Johnson had been stunned. He was still keeping Nebraska’s offense moving, but never far enough to reach the end zone again. Johnson finished the game with 217 rushing yards and his lone score.

Brian Allen forced another turnover with less than seven minutes to play, leading to a touchback just as Nebraska finally reached the red zone for the first time in the second half.

With Iowa securing its win, the Hawkeyes will now wait to hear their bowl game selection on Dec. 7, during the College Football Playoff Selection show on ESPN.

Comments: madison.hricik@thegazette.com

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