Iowa City Today

The University of Iowa football team defeated Wisconsin 37-0 at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday night, marking its first shutout over the Badgers in Madison since 1929. With this win, Iowa retains the Heartland Trophy and extends its winning streak against Wisconsin to four games.

Iowa’s defense was key to the victory, holding Wisconsin scoreless and forcing three turnovers. Bryce Hawthorne and Aaron Graves each recorded an interception, while Zach Lutmer recovered a fumble. Karson Sharar led the defense with six tackles, including four solo stops.

On offense, quarterback Mark Gronowski completed 17 of 24 passes for 107 yards and added a rushing touchdown. Kamari Moulton led the ground game with 96 yards and a touchdown, while Xavier Williams contributed two rushing scores. Iowa outgained Wisconsin in total yardage, finishing with 319 yards compared to the Badgers’ 210.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance: "Obviously, really pleased with the effort from our team tonight. Really proud of how the guys played. Looking backwards I think the guys handled the bye week extremely well, and then when we got back to work getting ready for this ballgame I thought the week of preparation went really well. Happy about that and most importantly the guys showed up at kickoff.

We played really hard. It wasn’t perfect but the guys made some things happen. It was good to see the takeaways; we hadn’t had an abundance of those this year and we got a couple tonight. Most importantly, we made the takeaways turn into points.

I thought we played good opportunistic football and good team football on top of it. The second half is a good example, getting the stop three-and-out and taking the ball and driving about 60 yards to get another touchdown.

A lot of positives out there that we saw from our guys. Mostly, I am just proud of the effort and them being together. Certainly, there are things we are going to have to keep working on, but it is a lot easier to do it after a win. Overall, really pleased.”

The game began with Iowa scoring on an early field goal by Drew Stevens after an extended drive. Following interceptions by Hawthorne and Graves in quick succession during the first quarter—Graves returning his pick to Wisconsin’s one-yard line—Iowa capitalized with short-yardage touchdowns from Moulton and Gronowski.

Stevens added two more field goals before halftime as Iowa built a commanding lead of 23-0 at intermission. In the second half, Williams scored twice on long runs as Iowa continued its dominance both offensively and defensively.

This shutout marks Iowa’s third all-time in Madison against Wisconsin and their sixth overall against their conference rival under head coach Kirk Ferentz—a record now standing at eighteen shutouts during his tenure.

Individually for Iowa:

- Kamari Moulton led in rushing for a third consecutive game.

- Xavier Williams recorded his first career multi-touchdown game.

- Mark Gronowski notched his eighth rushing touchdown this season—the fourth-most by an Iowa quarterback in one year—and achieved his fifty-third career win.

- Bryce Hawthorne's interception was his first career pick; Aaron Graves also recorded his first career interception.

- Kicker Drew Stevens converted three field goals—moving into second place all-time at Iowa for career field goals made—and surpassed Rob Houghtlin for third-most points scored in school history.

With this result:

- The Hawkeyes have outscored Wisconsin by nearly one hundred points over their current four-game winning streak.

- They have held Wisconsin to ten points or fewer in five of their last six meetings.

- The team remains undefeated (4-0) in night games this season.

- Their rushing attack has exceeded two hundred yards against Wisconsin for three straight matchups—a feat matched only once previously this season by another opponent (Michigan).

Two players—Jayden Montgomery (linebacker) and DJ Vonnahme (tight end)—made their first career starts during Saturday's contest.

Looking ahead, Iowa will host Penn State at Kinnick Stadium on October 18th.