Leistikow's 5 thoughts from Iowa football's crushing loss vs Oregon

IOWA CITY — Fourth quarter, Kinnick Stadium at night, and Iowa football has a chance.

That’s really all that Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes and their fans could ask for when facing a top-10 opponent with immense talent.

They entered the fourth quarter down eight points.

They amazingly took the lead. They had a chance.

But with a final 39-yard kick (in the pants) from Oregon’s Atticus Sappington with 3 seconds left, the No. 20 Hawkeyes went down, 18-16, to the ninth-ranked Ducks before 69,250 rain-soaked fans at Kinnick on Nov. 8.

"This is the kind of game we were hoping it would be," said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who fell to 5-2 in home November games against top-10 teams ... the only two losses being this one and a 20-17 loss to Ohio State in 2010. "We just couldn't quite get it done."

Oh, so close.

Oh, so painful.

Iowa dropped to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in Big Ten Conference play and is now out of the running for the College Football Playoff. Oregon (8-1, 5-1), meanwhile, is very much in it.

The shame of this was that Iowa’s offense did everything it had to do in clutch moments to pull out the victory.

Let's set the stage.

The Hawkeyes had the ball at their own 7-yard line, down five, with 8:36 left.

A chance.

On third-and-7, Mark Gronowski inexplicably found DJ Vonnahme behind the Oregon secondary for a 40-yard connection, just as the rain began to drive down a little harder. The nation's No. 1 pass defense in Oregon let Iowa hit a big one. Game on.

“I think the safety just misread his keys," Vonnahme said. "I don’t think I should’ve been that open.”

On fourth-and-3 from Oregon’s 41, Gronowski coolly found Reece Vander Zee for 15 yards in the middle of the field.

On the next play, Kamari Moulton blasted off the left side for Iowa’s longest run of the game, 16 yards, to reach the Oregon 10-yard line. First-and-goal as the clock wound toward the 3-minute mark.

Then, fourth-and-goal from the 3. Empty backfield. Five-wide. The call? Quarterback draw.

Gronowski faked up the middle and ran around the right end of the line, skpping into the end zone for an unthinkable 16-15 Iowa lead with 1:51 to go.

"Split everyone out wide. Get five guys in the box," Gronowski said. "We have the best five linemen in the country. Go block their five and try to give a little bit of decoy signals out there to the other guys. And just made a play there.”

After the two-point try was no good (Moulton’s conversion was correctly wiped out after a video review, as his foot was out of bounds when he made the catch), this game was put squarely on the defense that had struggled to stop the Oregon run all game long.

Defensive coordinator Phil Parker's message?

“Someone has to step up and make a play. It was down to us defensively," Iowa safety Xavier Nwankpa said. "We like being in that position."

But Oregon efficiently moved the ball downfield, the key pass being a 24-yarder to Malik Benson against incredibly tight coverage by TJ Hall up the right sideline to reach field-goal range, at Iowa’s 27, with under 30 seconds to go.

And then, Sappington's kick from the left hash deflated and silenced a Kinnick crowd that had roared through the cold, steady rain for more than three straight hours.

In a low-scoring game, it was actually Iowa’s defense that failed to deliver. The Hawkeyes yielded 261 yards on the ground and 7.3 per carry and then gave up too much free ground on the final 10-play, 54-yard drive that ultimately decided the outcome.

“They had three timeouts. They could really do whatever they wanted," Nwankpa said. "We were just trying to try to stop the run. They end up throwing the ball. They made a couple plays.

“We had the opportunity to go out there and win the game, it just didn’t happen.”

And for the third time this year, Iowa lost a close game to a really good opponent. First Iowa State by three; then Indiana by five; then Oregon by two. In all three, the opponent took the lead in the final two minutes.

So close, again.

"I'm proud of how those guys competed to end that game," said Gronowski, who set an Iowa record for a quarterback with his 12th rushing touchdown of 2025. "We put our team in a good position there, but obviously it just didn't turn out the way we wanted.”

There are plenty of pain points for Iowa. The early safety on a bad snap (more on that in a moment). The missed two-point conversion. And then in the middle of all that, maybe the key swing play on Saturday occurred when Iowa had the ball on second-and-9 from Oregon’s 16, freshly in the red zone after a sensational catch by Sam Phillips with a 15-yard penalty tacked on. Iowa was down, 12-7, on its first drive of the second half and seemed poise to either take the lead or cut it to two.

But Kaden Wetjen took an inside flip from Gronowski and fumbled as he spun forward, officially losing the ball after a video review.

Oregon turned that miscue into a nine-play march of six minutes that resulted in a field goal and 15-7 lead, putting Iowa in serious comeback mode for the fourth quarter. That was a huge swing in a comeback that still happened for Iowa ... but a comeback win that didn't.

"All the coaches are really proud of the effort that everybody put into it and the way we responded several times in the football game," Ferentz said. "We still have a good team, and we've got plenty of football in front of us."

Iowa goes 3-for-3 in disastrous starts against top opponents at Kinnick

For the third straight game against a big-time opponent at home, the Hawkeyes committed a key first-quarter gaffe to dig an early hole.

Against Indiana, it was a tipped interception on the game’s second play that turned into a short-field touchdown.

Against Penn State, another deflected interception on the game’s third play resulted in an interception and (you guessed it) short-field touchdown.

This time, special teams triggered a self-inflicted wound. Long snapper Bryant Worrell’s wild snap air-mailed Iowa punter Rhys Dakin, who alertly booted the ball out of the back of the South end zone to escape with only a 2-0 hole at the 9:55 mark of the first quarter. Three Oregon defenders had the loose football surrounded but Dakin’s left foot connected (barely) with the ball to nudge it through the back of the end zone to save some points.

Dakin previously saved a high snap on Iowa's first drive with a jumping grab, followed by a desperation 27-yard punt that was nearly blocked as he recovered from the catch.

“It could be 14-nothing, and it’s 2-nothing,” CBS announcer Gary Danielson said.

Ferentz thought the wet conditions were the biggest factor in the mishaps. Thinking back to a rainy game in 2018 at Penn State, the Nittany Lions had a few wild early-game snaps as well.

"We haven't had that issue really in a long, long time," Ferentz said. "The first one, the ball took off on him. ... It had to be (the wet ball), but fortunately, we settled down and did better after that. But it was certainly a factor."

Iowa escaped further damage after the safety, with Deshaun Lee deftly leaving his many to undercut a Dante Moore throw into the end zone for an interception and touchback.

Iowa as a program prides itself in avoiding self-inflicted mistakes. The Hawkeyes overcame them to take a fourth-quarter lead on Indiana (in a 20-15 loss) and to beat Penn State (25-24). This time, they were playing from behind all game against Oregon. And those two points REALLY mattered in the end.

Against the ropes, Iowa offense shows resilience again

Response drives have been a calling card for offensive coordinator Tim Lester all season. And the Hawkeyes delivered another one midway through the second quarter to keep this one within reach.

Down 9-0, the Hawkeyes’ offense woke up with a 10-play, 75-yard march that finished with Vonnahme’s first career touchdown, a 3-yard catch on first-and-goal, to chop Oregon’s lead to 9-7 with 5:43 left in the first half.

There were a couple clutch moments on that drive. On fourth-and-short from Iowa’s own 47, Kirk Ferentz opted to go for it with a quarterback sneak. Mark Gronowski mishandled the snap initially but burrowed forward to get a 1-yard gain and first down.

Three plays later, Iowa’s passing game got going. To that point, Gronowski was 1-for-5 for 3 yards. But a fake-action right to Kaden Wetjen bought Gronowski time in a clean pocket, and he delivered a 38-yard strike to Jacob Gill to set up Vonnahme’s TD one play later. The ball was thrown perfectly behind single coverage and gave Kinnick Stadium the jolt it needed in the rain.

Facing tenuous deficits, Iowa had been excellent all season when long drives were needed. Of course, the game-winning TD drive to beat Penn State is high on the list, but some of others of note:

A 16-play, 85 drive at Iowa State immediately after falling into a 13-3 first-half hole. Gronowski rushed in a score to make that a game in Ames.

A seven-play, 80-yard drive after falling behind, 28-24, at Rutgers in the fourth quarter. Gronowski’s long strike to Dayton Howard keyed a go-ahead TD in the final minutes of a 38-28 win.

An eight-play, 74-yard march right after Penn State took a 21-10 third-quarter lead. Gronowski’s third-and-goal keeper finished that clutch drive.

Iowa’s resilience on offense has been impressive this season, and it’s one of the reasons the Hawkeyes came into this game with such hope ... and, ultimately, why it almost swiped a late-game victory from the mighty Ducks.

A school-record field goal from Drew Stevens

Another fourth-down decision that gave Iowa a chance was Ferentz’s choice on fourth-and-5 from Oregon’s 40 to try a 58-yard field goal in less-than-ideal kicking conditions.

Down 15-7 at the time, Ferentz’s calculated gamble paid off. Drew Stevens delivered a low-flying bullet into the South end zone that split the uprights for three points. The kick tied the school record of 58 set by Tim Douglas at Illinois in 1998 and tied the Kinnick Stadium record of Michigan State’s Jonathan Kim in 2023.

The 58-yard boot sent a jolt into Kinnick Stadium, cutting the Oregon lead to five with 12:39 to go. Ferentz’s decision was important because it brought back memories of trying a 66-yard field goal to end the first half on Oct. 18 vs. Penn State. That backfired, resulting in a blocked field-goal return touchdown. Ferentz apologized to his team for that decision. There was no apology needed for this one.

"It wasn't an ideal situation to kick a field goal, but at that point I thought that was abetter risk than fourth-and-(5)," Ferentz said. "So we went with it and Drew delivered, and that was a huge play in the game, and that allowed us at least to have that opportunity to have one last drive where we could maybe get ahead."

What’s next for Iowa isn’t easy, either

Up next is a 2:30 p.m. matchup at USC (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten), which easily handled Northwestern, 38-17, on Friday night in Los Angeles. The biggest challenge for Iowa will be to pick up its players after a crushing loss.

“Tomorrow (Sunday), let it suck," Nwankpa said. "Watch the tape, try and learn some things. Monday, we’ve got to turn the page and get ready for USC. It's another big game, so we've got to be excited for the opportunity and keep going out there and competing.”

The Trojans’ lone Big Ten loss came in the final seconds at Illinois, 34-32, and they entered Saturday with the No. 4 total offense in college football (503.2 yards a game). They gained 482 (309 passing, 173 rushing) against a formidable Northwestern squad.

USC averages 5.81 yards per carry, ninth-best in FBS, and 9.6 yards per pass attempt, sixth-best in FBS. This is a balanced offense led by coach Lincoln Riley and quarterback Jayden Maiava.

Beyond postseason implications, the big story line this week will be Iowa’s woes in the state of California. The Hawkeyes surprisingly lost a Game 10 matchup last year in Los Angeles, 20-17, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Under Kirk Ferentz, Iowa also has gone out West and struggled, including regular-season losses at Arizona State (2004) and Arizona (2010) and, of course, the Rose Bowl vs. Stanford to end the 2015 season.

Iowa did win the 2019 Holiday Bowl against USC, 49-24, in San Diego … so not all hope is lost for the Hawkeyes in California.

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