It’s time for another edition of “Spencer’s Sunday Thoughts” – a weekly column focused on college football headlines in Iowa, the Big Ten, Big 12 and beyond. Here’s what’s on my mind this week:
All Kyle Konrardy does is make 54-yard field goals to beat Iowa.
Well, that’s not all he does – but in this series, that’s become his thing, his niche, and that’s big for him, and Cyclone fans everywhere.
The Dubuque native’s latest dagger in the series came with 1:52 left on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium, and while it wasn’t a true walk-off winner like last season’s kick of the same distance, the Iowa offense couldn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat and win for the seventh straight time on the Cyclones’ home turf.
This was your typical Cy-Hawk game – but it felt like the roles were reversed in this chapter compared to past years. Instead of Iowa building a lead, then watching Iowa State come back, and the Hawkeyes working some late magic to put a W in the win column, it was the Cyclones who built the 10-point lead, saw Iowa come back to tie it, then had the ball bounce their way late that set up the late field goal by Konrardy.
Rocco Becht didn’t light the world on fire, but he didn’t turn the ball over in the game for Iowa State. The tight end tandem of Ben Brahmer and Gabe Burkle were the difference makers, with Brahmer scoring the only touchdown of the day for the Cyclones, and Burkle coming up with some big grabs late on the final drive.
For the Hawkeyes – their defense played well, but the offense – or lack thereof – is once again where you place most of the blame for the inability to gain any traction against the Cyclones on Saturday
Starting quarterback Mark Gronowski turned in another sub-100 yard passing performance and threw his first interception as a Hawkeye in the loss. In a game where Iowa fans were looking for improved production from their signal caller, the improvement was marginal at best, if there was any to be found.
The lack of a downfield passing threat continues to kill this offense. Reece Vander Zee, who missed his second straight game due to injury, is sorely missed, but I don’t think even his return would cure what ails the Hawks at this point. The run game took too long to get going for Iowa, and even when it showed signs of life, it still didn’t perform consistently enough to get the job done. Credit should go to Iowa State’s defense for slowing the run and daring Iowa to beat them through the air, something the Hawkeyes still haven’t proven they can do.
The Iowa defense played well enough to keep the team in the game, holding Iowa State to just 238 yards of offense and 16 points, but the failure to create a turnover or get a stop when it needed one badly is no doubt deflating after turning in that type of performance.
Two games don’t make a season, but the outlook changes quite a bit for Iowa with the loss. In all likelihood they’ll roll past win comfortably against UMass at home (On Saturday, the Minutemen lost on a last-second field goal to Bryant, an FCS team that went 2-10 last season. Yikes.) and will have a pretty good shot at beating Rutgers in a couple weeks, but the schedule remains full of tough challenges for the Hawkeyes with not a lot of time to make big corrections.
Personally, I didn’t have Iowa as a contender for the College Football Playoff this season. Yes, they still could get to 10-2, yes, but that would require going 9-1 the rest of the season – including games against Penn State and Oregon – and even the most ardent hawk fans would say that’s a stretch to suggest at this point.
For Iowa State, the win marks two straight victories and three of four in the Cy-Hawk series. Matt Campbell’s crew will (most likely) be 4-0 going into their bye week before Big 12 play starts on the 27th with a home game against Arizona. The Cyclones do have a rather interesting road game this week as they play AT Arkansas State. Remember, Iowa State went to Ohio University in 2023 and lost, but the way this team is playing I can’t see the Red Wolves pulling off a massive upset next weekend.
Big Ten Thoughts:
This week was “Blowout Saturday” for a good chunk of the conference. Top-ranked Ohio State bludgeoned Grambling 70-0, Oregon blasted Oklahoma State 69-3, Minnesota caused Huntington Bank Stadium to run out of fireworks in a 66-0 drubbing of Northwestern State, Nebraska clobbered Akron 68-0, and Washington walloped UC Davis 70-10. There’s really nothing remarkable about any of these games – but hey, beating the teams you’re supposed to beat is half the battle, right?
Elsewhere in the league – Illinois used a strong second half to win an interesting non-conference matchup at Duke. Luke Altmyer threw for three touchdowns in the win as the Illini improved to 2-0.
Oklahoma held off Michigan in Norman in the only matchup of ranked teams this weekend. Star freshman QB Bryce Underwood went 9-for-24 for 142 yards and didn’t throw a touchdown pass in the loss. Justice Haynes broke off a 75-yard TD on the first play of the second half, but that was it for the Wolverines in that department against the Sooner defense.
In what I’d say was the most underrated game of the weekend, Michigan State outlasted Boston College 42-40 in double overtime thanks to a touchdown and two-point conversion in the second OT. Spartans QB Aidan Chiles was incredible, throwing for 231 yards and four TDs, and adding another on the ground. BC quarterback Dylan Lonergan added 390 yards passing and four TDs of his own in the loss. If Michigan State can get that kind of play out of Chiles all season, and he can cut down on the mistakes that plagued him last season, the Spartans could be a “surprise” team in the Big Ten.
Lastly – UCLA dropped to 0-2 with a loss in Vegas to UNLV. Nico Iamaleava put up better numbers this week compared to last week’s loss against Utah, but a late interception ended their comeback hopes after the Bruins fell behind 23-0 to start the game. The win was UNLV’s first against a Big Ten foe in 22 years, since winning at Wisconsin in 2003.
National notes:
Outside of Iowa State and Baylor, Saturday was one to forget for the Big 12. Conference favorite Arizona State went into Starkville and lost to Mississippi State 24-20, Oklahoma State got demolished by Oregon 69-3, Kansas lost to Missouri 42-31, West Virginia went on the road and lost to Ohio University 17-10 and Kansas State lost at home to Army 24-21.
Florida got upset in the swamp by South Florida 18-16 on a field goal as time expired by Nico Gramatica (Yes, that’s Martin’s kid). Not only that, but Gators d-lineman Brendan Bett pulled a Jalen Carter and spit on a lineman from USF that extended the Bulls’ game-winning drive late. Not great!
What are we gonna do with Clemson? The Tigers sleepwalked through the first half of their game with Troy on Saturday, and did just enough in the second half to pull out an 11-point win. Maybe Dabo’s bunch let that loss to LSU linger a little bit longer than they should have, or maybe they’re not as good as most people thought. The Tigers go to Georgia Tech on Saturday, which will be another early test for Cade Klubnik and crew.
What stood out to you about the Cy-Hawk game or the rest of week two? Chat with me on X/Twitter or send me an email at spencer@kgymradio.com!
Spencer Wagen is the host of “Spencer on Sports”, weekdays from 4-6 PM on 1600 ESPN. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @SWOnTheRadio
