This past Tuesday night I was unable to settle into sleep. I tossed and turned. I folded pillows, cuddled comforters, snuggled the dog. Nothing I was doing kicked the melatonin into over drive (I’m sure
it had nothing to do with the Queen sized Prime Rib I attempted to eat just a few short hours earlier at a work dinner).
As I sat there rewatching Stranger Things for the 10th time and listening to my wife count sheep jealously, for some reason only beknown to the Football God’s themselves, a little anecdote from the beginning of the Penn State game popped into my head. A little comment early in the game about QB1 himself Mark Gronowski that ultimately kept me up WAY longer than I had anticipated.
This is that story:
“At quarterback, Mark Gronowski… last time he was on the field here at Kinnick, suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter prevented him from finishing the Indiana game. Toughed it out after a bye week last weekend at Madison…Iowa won in a shutout. Told us yesterday, he’s feeling MUCH better now Mike, and much closer to his dual threat self.”
There have been many, many instances recently when a broadcast team would say something along those lines about an Iowa QB and it was never anything more than bland word salad. Filler. Nonsense. Something you would laugh at if you were even paying attention to what they had to say about the Iowa offense that you didn’t already say to yourself over and over and over and over again.
But what’s interesting about that little quip is that since that very game in Madison in which Iowa, as the commentators so wisely put it, “won in a shutout”, it really does LOOK like Tebowski is, in fact, feeling MUCH better and performing much closer to “his dual threat self”. It finally dawned on me, despite the meat sweats, that for the first time since we’ve seen him in an Iowa uniform, he finally looks comfortable.
He looks swaggy.
He’s got some juice.
Dare I say… sauce?
And our fanbase, in turn, is embracing him. It’s like a dog gnawing on a bone because watching that kid play quarterback for Iowa is a fucking pleasure.
I’m sorry for swearing. But that’s how passionately I feel about it.
I will fully admit that I came into this season expecting to see something spectacular. We all watched the clips. We all saw the highlights. We saw the bombs. We saw the pure passing ability mixed with the run. We heard about the accolades. We saw so much hope. And because we’ve been lost in a quarterback-less desert since Nate Stanley, we fell for the mirage and gasped when he skipped a rock instead of completing what should have been his first easy passing touchdown of the season…
^^^^^THAT wasn’t THAT, ya know? ^^^^^
I panicked. I’ll admit it…I just about gave up on this season. I was in such a bad Iowa Quarterback headspace that I fully believed this was all toast and that Gronowski should’ve been immediately arrested for theft.
Shame on me.
Shame on me for nearly punting on the CASE 11H Tractor.
I’ve been working on a fun nickname… it’s not the 11H Tractor, I know. But it’s not the worst either. Bulldozer maybe? Do they sell bulldozers? No?
I digress.
Anyways, SHAME, shame on me for almost missing (and not abiding to) The Big Tebowski.
That’s better right!?
For all of us that watch Iowa religiously and know ball just enough, you know that since he’s come back from that injury against Indiana, “Sticks” has put on his cape, slapped a “C” on his shoulder pad and has been an absolute DOG for this offense. He’s making it a point to prove that had he been in to finish that game against Indiana…
I’m not even going to say it again.
Look, is he the prettiest passer I’ve ever seen? Not by a long shot.
Is it all a little too shaky still? Indubitably.
But, is he a super hyped up leader with the moxy of a guy like Baker Mayfield? Is he a guy who has somehow come back from not one but two (and maybe even three) injuries and toughed it out because he just loves football that much? Is he the leader and heartbeat of this entire offense (and maybe the entire team)? Is he kind of special?
GIMME A HELL YEAH, BROTHER!
I say all of this because as I went through all of this in my mind, meat sweats no longer a problem, I finally realized that Mark Gronowski COULD do the coolest freaking thing in the world…he could lead Iowa into playoff contention by combining his arm and his legs and his comfort inside Tim Lester’s offense. He could be THE reason Iowa wins out with wins over Oregon, AT USC, Michigan State and AT NEBRASKA.
He could be the reason we make the playoff.
Give me two other 10-2 teams that would have a better resume? I’ll wait.
I know I’m setting myself for the biggest amount of pain possible…but like…it’s not unreasonable! I mean, when is the last time Kirk Ferentz approved a naked bootleg to seal a game like this? 2009? Did Ricky “Rick Roll” once or twice in key moments? Feels right. I don’t know.
So you have that clutch first down in a game when he did that for the tune of 180 yards and you mix in this pass (which was kind of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa dime, right?) and well…
Like what if Mark Gronowski goes full Tebow?
Can we handle the full Tebow again? Segments every week comparing the two. Tebow on TV talking about the comparisons. It could be fun. And the coolest. And a lifelong favorite sports memory of mine that I will cherish and defend until I’m dead.
I know I’ve gone full blown bananas. But the heart loves what it loves and wants what it wants. And I love this program with everything I got and I want them to force the world to talk about the merits of a little flyover state that still has a college football soul left.
And Mark Gronowski, Fu Manchu in tow, could give us an all-time performance while also simultaneously stirring up the most heated chaos (which, for some reason literally drives the college football community bat shit insane every time it happens)… by being THE DUDE and forcing the world to deal with IOWA…
…in contention.
