#11 Excel H Sports Ranked Hoosiers Spoil Homecoming for the Hawkeyes 

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

     Hitting the road for the first time this season the #11 Indiana Hoosiers faced its toughest test yet and escaped with a 20-15 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday Afternoon at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. The Hoosiers are 5-0 and 2-0 in the Big Ten and will be off for a week before heading out West to Eugene, Oregon to face the Oregon Ducks in Autzen Stadium two weeks from today. Iowa is 3-2 in the season and 1-1 in the Big Ten and will be off next week and travel to Madison Wisconsin to face the Wisconsin Badgers two weeks from today.

     Curt Cignetti is 16-2 in his tenue as Indiana Head Coach, and this is second single digit win he has had with the Hoosiers beating Michigan 20-15 on November 9, 2024, when the Hoosiers started 10-0 last season. This is first time in program history the Hoosiers have started 5-0 in consecutive seasons. Indiana snapped a four-game losing streak to Iowa and the Hoosiers get their first win in Iowa City since September 29, 2007, when the Hoosiers won 38-20. Indiana beat Iowa 24-21 on November 11, 2012, in Bloomington as Iowa now leads the all-time series 46-29-4.

    Indiana knew it was going to be a dog fight, and it was for 60 minutes, and it was exactly that. Iowa got the ball to start the game and Indiana picked off Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski on the second play from scrimmage as Isaiah Jones tipped the pass and Amare Farrell came up the ball for his second interception of the season. Fernando Mendoza hit Omar Cooper Jr. on back-to-back passes of 10 and 14 yards as Copper found the endzone on the second play from scrimmage as the Hoosiers led 7-0 with 13:33 left in the first quarter.

    Iowa responded when Drew Stevens kicked a 40-yard field goal with 6:25 left in the first quarter to make it 7-3 Hoosiers. Indiana fell behind for the first time this season when Mark Gronowski scored on a three-yard quarterback keeper with 22 seconds left before half as the Hawkeyes led 10-7.

    Indiana was able to march down the field with a 16-yard run by Roman Hemby and a 16-yard pass from Mendoza to Elijah Sarratt and that was followed by a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty on the Hawkeyes that gave the Hoosiers the ball at the Hawkeyes 28-yard line and a first down with seven seconds left. Nico Radicic kicked a career long 46-yard field goal with six seconds left in the half as Indiana tied the game 10-10 going into the locker room.

   The game was a stalemate in the third quarter as the Hoosiers punted twice and turned the ball over on downs while Iowa punted twice. Indiana was 0-3 on fourth down conversions and as Hoosiers struggled to convert when it mattered the most. Iowa gained the lead when Drew Stevens hit his second field goal with 12:43 left in the fourth quarter connecting from 54 yards to make 13-10 Iowa. Indiana responded with a 44-yard field goal from Nico Radicic with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter.

    Mark Gronowski was knocked out of the game with 12:58 left in the game when he scrambled for a three-yard run and Isaiah Jones clipped his feet and fell awkwardly to the ground and was shaken up and did not return. Gronowski was 19-25 for 144 yards passing with an interception and no touchdown passes along with 8 carries for 7 yards and a touchdown.

   Backup quarterback Hank Brown came in and went 5-13 for 48 yards and an interception. Brown was picked off by Louis Moore as Adien Fisher put the pressure on Brown and Indiana got the ball back with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter.

    The Hoosiers got the ball back as Fernando Mendoza threw his first interception of the season as Zach Lutmer picked it off and ran it back 38 yards to the Hoosiers 29-yard line with 2:50 left in the game. Iowa moved the ball 5 yards and Drew Stevens missed a 42-yard field goal with 2:01 left to give the Hoosiers one more chance to win the game.

   Roman Hemby ran the ball three yards followed by a 24-yard pass from Mendoza to Omar Cooper Jr. that put the Hoosiers in Iowa Territory at the 49-yard line with 1:49 left. Mendoza threw two incomplete passes to Cooper Jr with 1:36 left. Mendoza found Elijah Sarratt on the slant over the middle as he raced 49 yards for the touchdown and gave the Hoosiers a 20-13 lead with 1:28 left in the game.

   Iowa had one more chance but on a fourth down and 10 at the Iowa 49 yard line Hank Brown’s deep up the middle pass that was intended for DJ Vonhamme was incomplete with 16 seconds and all the Hoosiers needed to do was run out the clock, but the Hawkeyes had all three timeouts remaining and used all three of them.

   Indiana had three kneel downs and with 3 seconds left on fourth down Fernando Mendoza took off 40 yards to the Iowa Endzone to run out the clock and give the Hawkeyes safety and Indiana passed its first road test of the season and got a big road win in Big Ten Play.

   Mendoza completed 13-23 passes for 233 yards 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and through five games the Miami Native has passed over 1,000 yards on the season. Sarratt caught 6 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown. Roman Hemby ran the ball 16 times for 86 yards as the Hoosiers outgained the Hawkeyes 377-284 and outgained the Hawkeyes 104-92 on the ground.

   Iowa ran 69 total plays and controlled the clock for 32 minutes and 39 seconds and Indiana knew that Iowa was going to grind out and chew up the clock as much as possible. Indiana ran 62 plays and had the ball for 27 minutes and 21 seconds. At the end it was the veteran quarterback who found his veteran wide receiver when it counted, and the Hoosiers Defense came up with the stop to win the game and now have two weeks to prepare for the defending Big Ten Champion Oregon Ducks in another hostile environment.