Since Saturday evening, I’ve listened to multiple podcasts recapping the underwhelming debut of this seasons QB savior. Each ascribed his (ahem) failure to launch (bear with me, I have a point, I promise the bad puns will end soon) to any number of things. Chief amongst them seems to be a combination of anxiety and adrenaline that put Gronowski into a mental state that (at least for the first 30 minutes) he struggled to get out of. He missed easy throws, skipped even easier ones, and felt ill at ease
for someone attempting to notch win #50 of his college career. Needless to say, there was a serious disconnect between the tower and the traffic. Hence the title I, eventually, settled on here.
Iowa fans (myself included) spent most of the last 237 days full of hope and excitement over what this exceptionally credentialed QB would bring to the table in year 2 of the Tim Lester era. They drooled over his highlights from 2 separate FCS National Championship seasons and lulled themselves to sleep with tales of his Walter Payton award winning performances. Finally, Iowa had managed to convince a proven winner that its QB room was worth entering. Sure, it had cost a lot of money, but this guy is a proven winner. I mean hell, he almost beat us a couple years back. Surely, he will immediately perform and put up gawdy numbers against a middling FCS opponent like the University at Albany Great Danes. Surely.
Then came an actual game, in front of 69K screaming Iowa fans, at night (or at least in the early evening) and, at least for a while, nothing seemed to go right. He threw behind, in front of, and over receivers. He seemed to be going through progressions so fast that he was bailing from the pocket before routes even had time to develop. He looked nervous, overwhelmed and, dare I say, a little bit scared. Now, for the record, I’ve never done anything that was watched by 69,000 people, either during or after, so this is all speculation, but the kid looked spooked and I’ll be honest, I don’t blame him for one second.
Not unlike Arch Manning, who’s debut at noon on Saturday was also deemed a disappointment (or a colossal failure depending on who you ask), Mark Gronowski had a bad day. Chalk it up to nerves, or the adrenaline built up while waiting something all day to finally live out your dream, or just the yips, the kid had a bad day. We’ve all had bad days, we’ll all have more bad days, and as for this fan, I’m more than willing to give this young man the benefit of the doubt.
Hence the title of this post, as I (and hopefully many others) am now in an expectation holding pattern. Mark Gronowski did not forget how to play football over the last ~6 months. He did not forget how to throw a football, or read a defense, or how to progress through his reads. What he experienced on Saturday, however, was unlike anything he’d probably ever experienced before. Sure, he’d played at Kinnick before, but not with 69K+ fans holding their breath over his every move, and certainly not with the added weight of their expectations placed squarely on his shoulders. For the first time, likely in his life, Mark Gronowski felt what it was like to have half a million people hitching their hopes and dreams to his wagon, and it got off to a bit of a rocky start. Well, to that I say, big whoop.
Listen, at the end of the day, Iowa beat Albany. I know everyone gets tired of hearing Kirk say it, but the only thing that matters is the score on the scoreboard, and Iowa scored nearly 5 times as many points as their opponent on Saturday. “But it was against ALBANY!” you might say, to which I’d say sure, but would you rather that they had to block back-to-back field goal attempts to win this game? Would you have preferred a victory wherein they scored a touchdown worth of points in, possibly, the most difficult way in football history? Or is it that you would have preferred they drop 55 points on Albany like little brother did in Ames (with a 3-year starter at the helm and what may be the best RB tandem in the B12 right now)? Sure, no one would be complaining if we had routed the Great Danes because Gronowski came out firing on all cylinders and had scored 4 tds by halftime, that would have been great, it’s just not what happened, but we still won the game.
Instead, Iowa fans were treated to one of the best rushing performances Iowa has recorded in two decades, most of which was done without Kamari Moulton. Instead of a breakout performance from Mark Gronowski, we got one from Xavier Williams (122 yds on 11 carries and a TD). Or how about we talk about the defense, which held Albany to 177 total yards, giving up only 43 yards on the ground? Hell, how about the 55-yard field goal that Drew Stevens bombed through the uprights that, likely, would have been good from at least 60 (if not more)? Or perhaps Sam Phillips’ incredible punt return that negated a 75-yard punt by Albany? It wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot better than any number of possible alternatives.
So yeah, Gronowski had a bad day, but Iowa won going away. So I implore you, just for this week, let’s try to focus on the positives, because I think we can all agree that we’ve spent altogether too much time over the last 4 years laser focused on the negative.
As always, GO HAWKS!
