Quarterback Mark Gronowski passed for two touchdowns and ran for another to lead Iowa to a 47-7 victory over Massachusetts on Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa.
Gronowski, who won two FCS national championships with South Dakota State before he transferred to Iowa, completed 16 of 24 passes for 179 yards. He was pulled from the game after three quarters.
Seth Anderson caught two touchdown passes for the Hawkeyes, who also received a 20-yard TD run from Kaden Wetjen, a 95-yard punt return for a TD from Wetjen and two field goals from Drew Stevens (54 and 27 yards).
Iowa’s final TD came on a 2-yard pass from backup quarterback Hank Brown to KJ Parker.
Iowa (2-1) led 20-0 after one quarter, 30-7 at halftime and 40-7 entering the fourth.
It was victory No. 206 for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, making him the winningest coach in Big Ten history. Woody Hayes won 205 games as Ohio State’s coach from 1951-1978.
Iowa scored on its first three possessions. After Anderson caught a 20-yard touchdown pass 1:31 into the game, he hauled in a 3-yard TD pass to make it 13-0 with 7:41 left in the opening quarter. Wetjen’s TD run came with 2:08 remaining in the quarter.
UMass (0-3) got on the scoreboard when quarterback Grant Jordan found the end zone from 6 yards away with 11:50 left in the first half. Derek Morris made the PAT to cut Iowa’s lead to 20-7.
The TD was set up when Kezion Dia-Johnson blocked a punt that gave the Minutemen possession on the Iowa 21-yard line.
After Stevens made his 54-yard field goal, Gronowski accounted for the first half’s final TD on a 13-yard run.
UMass was limited to 34 yards of offense in the first half. The Minutemen had zero yards rushing on 16 attempts through two quarters.
Wetjen’s 95-yard punt return plus the PAT extended Iowa’s lead to 37-7 with 12:39 remaining in the third, and Stevens made his 27-yard field goal with 2:58 left in the third.
Brown’s TD pass to Parker came with 11:04 to play.
