(Iowa City, IA) — A new quarterback but Iowa’s offense seems to be stuck in slow motion, particularly the passing game. The Hawkeyes overcame a sluggish start to beat Albany 34-7 in their opening game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.
Iowa was able to move the ball on their opening position but the drive stalled and the Hawkeyes had to settle for a 28 yard Drew Stevens field goal. The next two drives were both 3 and outs and Iowa only led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Albany mounted a drive that ended with a 9 yard TD pass from Jack Shields to Lasalle Rose to take a 7-3 lead and left the fans in Kinnick wondering what was going on.
The Hawkeyes finally woke up with a 7 play drive mostly on the ground — Xavier Williams had a 14 yard run, Williams busted one for 27, QB Mark Gronowski completed a short pass to Seth Anderson, Terrell Washington ran for 7, Washington ran for 5, Gronowski ran for 4 and on 3rd and 1 from the Albany 3, Williams got in the end zone for an Iowa TD and the Hawks would never trail again.
Gronowski threw a 2 yard TD pass to Kaden Wetjen just before the end of the first half — the first TD pass in a Hawkeye uniform for Gronowski and the first TD catch for Wetjen and Iowa led 17-7 at the half.
The Iowa defense dominated the 2nd half — Albany had (-2) yards of total offense until the final two minutes of the half. Gronowski did get a 1 yard TD and Stevens kicked a 55 yard field goal, after which Gronowski would leave the game with an apparent cramp injury and did not return. Back up Hank Brown came in and got a 1 yard TD run to cap the scoring.
It was not an impressive debut for Gronowski who was just 8-15 passing for 44 yards and 1 TD plus adding 39 yards rushing and another score. It was a breakout game for Williams with 11 carries for 122 yards and a TD. Washington added 15 carries for 69 yards. Iowa finished with 310 yards rushing in the game compared to just 43 for Albany.
Iowa (1-0) will now visit Iowa St. next Saturday and try to reclaim the Cy Hawk Trophy, kickoff 11 am, Cyclones Pre-Game at 9 am on KSOM.
