IOWA CITY — With two regular-season games left in his decorated college career, Mark Gronowski doesn’t have much time left to dwell on disappointment. The Iowa football quarterback says he and his teammates will be ready roll for one last game inside Kinnick Stadium.
Gronowski and several other Hawkeyes will be honored on senior day against Michigan State, a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on Nov. 22 set to air on FS1. Although the Hawkeyes (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten Conference) nearly had two massive upsets at home, the Spartans (3-7, 0-7) offer a chance for a strong Kinnick Stadium sendoff into 2026.
Ahead of this Week 13 matchup, Gronowski met with reporters to discuss the state of Iowa football, senior day and much more.
Here’s what stood out.
Mark Gronowski on being part of Iowa’s senior class, which is a deep one.
“It’s special, especially with a lot of these guys having been here for so long,” Gronowski said. “You’ve got Ethan Hurkett, who’s been here for six years. You’ve got Logan Jones, who’s been here for six years. And those are both two leaders on the team that have invested so much time and effort into relationships and people and the community as well. So special to be out there walking with those guys, but also with all the other seniors who have spent so much time here and have continued to build the culture and also leave their legacy to the younger guys on this team.”
As disappointing as the last two games have been, Mark Gronowski and his teammates want to finish the season strong.
“There was some talk on Sunday that we just have to get back on track,” Gronowski said. “We have to focus and have a really great week of practice. I’ve said it before, but learn from what we did on Saturday and continue to push forward and not let what we’ve done the past two weeks dwell on us. You have to continue to push forward and have a really good week of practice. I feel like we had a good day on Monday and had a good day today as well.”
Mark Gronowski on watching how close Kaden Wetjen was to catching his final pass of the USC game.
“It was one of the first things my dad and my brother showed me after the game, all the things on Twitter,” Gronowski said. “So I saw that a couple times. But actually watching the play itself — we watched it a couple times in the film room — and kind of moved on from that. But I think I could’ve done a better job on that one. I ended up hitching twice on it. If I had only hitched once and threw it out there, maybe it would’ve saved him a little bit of time. But again, it’s just one of those crazy, fluky things where you’re so close — a couple inches away — that it could’ve changed the outcome of the game. But obviously, we came up short.”
On how close losses and plays that didn’t hit eat at a quarterback afterward.
“After every loss, and even after some wins, you have the 24-hour rule where you kind of sit there,” Gronowski said. “Even in the Minnesota game, I was like ‘Dang, I wanted that throw back.’ And we won by (38) points. But I was like, ‘I want that one back. I want this one back.’ And you always kind of eat at yourself. But I think that’s part of being a competitor and being someone who wants to improve and wants to be better — not just for yourself but all the guys around you. It’s definitely devastating when it happens in a loss, especially because you always try to think about what those plays could’ve been that could’ve put you over the hump. You never know what those plays are. But when you’re not successful on some plays, those are the ones you usually think about.”
On why Iowa’s offense wasn’t successful playing with a lead for most of the second half at USC.
“There were really some execution errors in that second half,” Gronowski said. “Maybe a route ran wrong or when I left the ball short to (Wetjen), or there was a blocking assignment that was missed. When you have one thing happen after another, it makes the team sputter a little bit. When 11 guys aren’t working all together, something is going to happen. So you always want to make sure you’re doing your one eleventh and everyone is doing their job.
“And we obviously didn’t do that. Not everyone was working together on Saturday in that second half. The offense did sputter a little bit. There were obviously some key things that if we end up flipping it — one play here, one play there — you never know which one it is. But it obviously just ended up being not a great second half and ended up losing that one.”
Mark Gronowski reflects on entering the program as a transfer and the challenges that presents.
“It’s always difficult being a transfer and trying to build relationships,” Gronowski said, “not just with the people but just trying to become friends with people and getting out of your comfort zone a little bit. Go talk to people, go meet people. There are already people who have friend groups on the team where people hang out a lot. So that was probably the most difficult thing.
“But once I met people like Hayden Large, he was the first one who kind of reached out to me and started hanging out with me. He invited me over to his place, and it just kind of branched out from there. Now I have so many great relationships with the guys. Hanging out with them, going out to eat, it’s always been a lot of fun with them. To do it one last time in Kinnick is going to be really special on Saturday.”
Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa football quarterback Mark Gronowski talks Michigan State matchup, senior day and more
Reporting by Dargan Southard, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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