Karma is a wonderful thing, and it’s something I believe in. It has no set timing for when it will emerge. But eventually, you reap what you sow. And what goes around, comes around. On this day, karma’s timing was perfect, as was its delivery.
The pregame narrative from the talking heads was whether Bryce Underwood could beat Iowa’s defense with his arm, or with his legs. At times, it felt like both. But when it mattered most, with the game on the line, it was Hank Brown’s arm that made the difference
as Reece Vander Zee made a gorgeous back shoulder catch in the end zone as time expired for Iowa to take a stunning win in at Michigan 20-19.
It ended with a 91-yard drive on 11 plays, one we’ll want to watch and rewatch, as the Hawks never lost their fight or will to win. While Iowa couldn’t seem to get many breaks in this one, other than the 99-yard kickoff return by Braeden Jackson, once again karma found its way to Iowa on this drive. And found its way to Michigan as well.
During this drive Brown delivered multiple strikes to his receivers, but most were too short and Iowa could not get out of bounds to stop the clock. Then on a sideline pass where Brown overshot Diaz, Michigan’s defense pushed Diaz to the ground when he was out of bounds, resulting in an unnecessary roughness penalty that kept the drive alive. With 11 seconds remaining, Brown’s downfield pass to Addison Ostrenga was slightly high. Ostrenga tipped the ball to himself for a 29-yard pass with 2 seconds to play.
On the final play of the game, Brown threw a beautiful 16-yard pass to Reece Vander Zee for the winning score as time expired. And it was game over.
But let’s back up a bit, for what transpired for several quarters, which gives the full context for why this win was so shocking.
As the first quarter moved into the second Michigan began to overpower Iowa, looking more physical, more aggressive, and more athletic. My halftime note to myself (literally) was what adjustments could Iowa make at halftime to flip the script. But Michigan began the third quarter with the ball and proceeded to march down the field with Bryce Underwood picking apart Iowa’s secondary with workman like efficiency. While that drive did end in an interception by Deshaun Lee, it still was not a good omen.
Iowa proceeded to go three and out, punted to their own 47, and away Michigan went again, marching down the field and settling on a field goal to take a 13 – 7 lead. In the blink of an eye, the third quarter was over, and Iowa was getting dominated on offense 330 yards to 129.
Which means at this point, we had ‘em right where we wanted ‘em!
Iowa’s passing game began to warm up in the fourth quarter to somehow end the day at 227 yards (to Michigan’s 276). Because of the painful prior three quarters, it didn’t feel half that close.
Part of what helped this one were two heroes on special teams. The previously mentioned 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Braeden Jackson. And secondly by the illustrious punting of Boston Everitt. Everitt had three punts inside the 20 that were downed at the 3-, 11-, and 1-yard lines today. And just when we thought “Punting is Winning” was a saying of old, it reared its ugly beautiful head today, especially the last one with about 8 minutes remaining to set this one up for a classic Iowa finish.
This game is going to take some time to digest and fully appreciate the magnitude of what transpired today in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One thing is for sure. This team grew up today, and their confidence just took a seismic leap forward. As did their possibilities for this season.
