IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa football team defeated Michigan State 20-17 after Drew Stevens kicked a walk-off field goal Saturday night on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium.

Stevens was 2-for-3 on field goal attempts, including the 44-yard game-winner.

Mark Gronowski completed 12 of 22 passes for 147 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He added 57 rushing yards.

Kamari Moulton led the Hawkeye rushing attack with 78 yards on 18 carries. Reece Vander Zee had a team-high 46 receiving yards, and Jacob Gill caught a touchdown pass.

Karson Sharar led the Iowa defense with 10 tackles (nine solo), and Koen Entringer had nine (seven solo). Sharar had three tackles for loss, and he and Ethan Hurkett each added a sack. Zach Lutmer intercepted a pass.

Kaden Wetjen had three punt returns for 147 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown.

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

"I talk to our players all the time there's nothing easy about winning games in college football, and today was a great example. Certainly the start of this game didn't go the way we had hoped or the way we wanted, but really the most important thing is the way you finish.

I was struggling during the game, trying to think of what this game reminded me a little bit of, and Rai Brathwaite hit it on the head. In the locker room, we talked about Purdue in '02. It's one of those games where you're like how the hell did we do that? Purdue was certainly that kind of a game.

A lot of the stuff out there didn't go the way we wanted or the way we intended, that's for sure. A lot of ups and downs through the course of the game. We talked to our guys about that as well. When all that's going on, all you can do is stay together and keep your eyes forward, see what you can do in the forefront. That part, I think our guys really did a great job of that.

I want to credit Michigan State. I'm not at all surprised, and that's something I really tried to accentuate with our team. You look at a team right there, they were 0-5 a couple weeks ago in Big Ten play. It's clear they've made a choice, their team made a choice how they're going to finish the season out. Go up to Minnesota, out gained Minnesota by 160 yards, lose in overtime. Then last week against Penn State, who we have a lot of respect for and had to play them, it's a four-point game with five minutes left.

The average fan looking at the score says, okay, it was an easy game, but you watch the tape, and you see the team is playing hard and competing. I think it speaks volumes about the job their coaches are doing and their players are doing. So we had great respect, just so everybody understands that, them coming in here. We had great respect, and we knew this was going to be tough.

Obviously, we didn't have much flow going on or rhythm or however you want to term it. Wasn't a lot going well for us or smoothly in that first half. Michigan State gets credit for some of that. They were pretty aggressive with their defense certainly and did a good job there.

Quite frankly, there's a couple things that happened right at the end of the first half and into the third quarter where I started getting concerned in terms of you miss opportunities, leaving stuff out there, and then are you going to be able to make that up? So that's kind of where that was at.

The bottom line is I'm proud of how our players stayed the course. They didn't flinch. They kept pushing and playing and encouraging each other. Then they continued to compete, which is the most important thing, and the coaches kept coaching.

It's a 60-minute thing. If you quit, you have no chance. Certainly our players did a great job there. Really proud of them and very happy for them because we've had some tough losses, and you deserve what you get. That's about how it goes. Sometimes it doesn't always work that way. Really happy for our guys. They can celebrate in the locker room after an effort like that.

Singling out some efforts. Got a lot of guys look like they're playing their best football, Karson and Xavier, both seniors, are playing at a faster clip than they would have been a couple months ago.

And Kaden Wetjen single handedly kept us in the game today in a lot of ways just with his returns. I don't know if I've ever been around a player like that, that electric, that much juice. Tonight he certainly impacted the game. Going back to the Purdue game, where you have a couple of key special teams plays in that game and somehow, some way you end up finding a way to win the ballgame. So I'd be remiss if I didn't single his efforts out.

You think about Drew Stevens up there with Nate Kaeding, and that's a pretty high bar. Nate set that early in this whole thing. And now you have Kaden passing Tim Dwight. That's pretty good company when you talk about place kicking or you talk about return game. Really happy for our guys, proud of them."

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Iowa scored first on Wetjen’s 62-yard punt return with 3:38 left in the first quarter.
• Michigan State converted a 27-yard field goal with 2:54 remaining in the first half to cap a 14-play, 78-yard drive.
• A 45-yard touchdown pass gave the Spartans the lead with 8:58 left in the third quarter.
• With 1:13 remaining in the third, Michigan State struck again with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass.
• Stevens made a 26-yard field goal with 11:27 left in the game to finish a nine-play, 67-yard drive.
• With 3:45 remaining, Iowa went for it on fourth-and-11 at the Michigan State 33-yard line, but the pass fell incomplete.
• The Hawkeye defense forced a punt, and a five-play, 42-yard drive tied the game with 1:29 left when Gill caught a 13-yard touchdown pass.
• Iowa forced another Michigan State punt with 41 seconds remaining and drove five plays and 46 yards to set up Stevens’ 44-yard field goal as time expired.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Iowa rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit – its second come-from-behind win this season (Penn State).
• The Hawkeyes have won at least seven games 21 times under head coach Kirk Ferentz.
• The win is No. 211 for Ferentz – the most in Big Ten history.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• K Drew Stevens had a game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired to give Iowa the 20-17 victory.
  • It is his fourth career game-winning field goal (21-yarder with 28 seconds left in road win at Minnesota in 2022, a 53-yarder in road win over Northwestern at Wrigley Field in 2023 and a 53-yarder as time expired in a win over Nebraska in 2024).
  • His 73 made field goals in his career are the sixth most in Big Ten history.
  • He scored eight points in the game, giving him 335 points in his career (116 PAT, 69 FG) – second-most all-time.
• WR Kaden Wetjen had a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter – his third punt return for a touchdown this season. The three punt return touchdowns are tied for the most in the nation.
  • Wetjen’s three punt return touchdowns are tied for the third-most in a single season in Big Ten history, joining Michigan’s Gene Derricotte (1947), Iowa’s Tim Dwight (1997) and Nebraska’s De’Mornay Pierson-El (2014). Ohio State’s Ted Ginn, Jr., holds the single season record with four.
  • It is Wetjen’s sixth career combined return (four punt return, two kickoff return) for a touchdown – the most in Iowa history. He was previously tied with Tim Dwight with five.
  • His four-career punt return touchdowns are tied for the third-most in Big Ten history and are one behind Tim Dwight (5) in the Iowa record books.
  • It is the third consecutive punt return for a touchdown in Kinnick Stadium against Michigan State – Charlie Jones (2020), Cooper DeJean (2023) and Kaden Wetjen (2025).
  • He finished the game with 165 combined return yards – his sixth career game with 100+ return yards.
  • Wetjen’s 17.5 career punt return average (53 returns, 929 yards) is currently No. 1 in Big Ten history.
• QB Mark Gronowski finished 12-of-22 for 147 yards and one touchdown to go along with 11 rushes for 57 yards.
  • It is the first game this season without a rushing touchdown.
  • 117 of his 147 passing yards came in the fourth quarter.
  • He completed his final four passing attempts of the game for 67 yards, including the game tying touchdown.
• RB Kamari Moulton finished with 18 carries for 77 yards.
  • He has led the position group in rushing in each of the last eight games.
• DB Zach Lutmer had an interception – his third of the season – in the second quarter.
• LB Karson Sharar tied a career-high with 10 tackles (nine solo), including a career-high three TFL, one sack and two hurries.
  • It is Sharar’s third career double-digit tackle game.

MISCELLANIOUS

• It was just the third game this season where Iowa didn’t have a longer time of possession than its opponent.
• Iowa won the toss and elected to receive. The Hawkeyes have played 339 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 249 times (160-89). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 90 times (51-39).

UP NEXT

Iowa closes out the regular season Nov. 28, traveling to Lincoln to face Nebraska in the Pioneer Heroes Game.  The game will begin at 11 a.m. (CT) and be televised on CBS.