The Iowa vs Michigan Big Ten opener came down to the very last snap. With two seconds on the clock, Hank Brown threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee, and No. 17 Iowa beat No. 18 Michigan 20-19 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, September 26.
It capped a 91-yard drive, handed Iowa its first win over Michigan since 2016 and its first in the Big House since 2010, and left the home crowd in stunned silence.
The 91-yard drive that won Iowa vs Michigan
Iowa needed to go 91 yards in the closing minutes, and for a while it looked like the drive would stall. The Hawkeyes faced third down near midfield with the clock running down.
That’s when Michigan handed them a lifeline. An unnecessary roughness penalty on the Wolverines kept the drive alive, and Brown made them pay. His 29-yard strike to Addison Ostrenga set Iowa up in the red zone, and on the final play he found Vander Zee in the end zone for the winner.
“To silence a stadium like that, there’s no greater feeling,” Brown said afterwards.
Michigan outgained Iowa and still lost
On paper, this one should have gone Michigan’s way. The Wolverines piled up 429 yards to Iowa’s 285 and had 21 first downs to Iowa’s 16.
Bryce Underwood completed 17 of 28 passes for 276 yards with two touchdowns, both to JJ Buchanan, who caught five balls for 130 yards including a 49-yard score in the fourth quarter. But Michigan left points on the field. Underwood was intercepted by Deshaun Lee at the Iowa 2-yard line early in the third quarter, a fourth-and-1 sneak was stuffed at the Iowa 18, and a two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete. That missing point proved decisive.
Iowa, by contrast, finished with zero turnovers. Brown went 21 of 35 for 227 yards and two touchdowns, and Vander Zee caught both of them on a five-catch, 66-yard afternoon.
What the result means in the Big Ten
Iowa move to 4-0 and 1-0 in the Big Ten with their first ranked road win since 2015. Michigan drop to 3-1 and 0-1, and the defeat also ended a long run of wins in games they had led at halftime.
It was one of several upsets on a wild college football Saturday. Down in Gainesville, Florida ran over No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28.
