Iowa crushes Nebraska: Mark Gronowski, Hawkeyes roll to 40-16 rout of Cornhuskers in regular season finale

Turn out the lights, the party is over.

Kamari Moulton capped off a 9-play, 63-yard touchdown drive with a 1-yard run to make it a 40-16 game. The play of the drive, though, was a beautiful one-handed catch by Iowa's Reece Vander Zee down the sideline. The 27-yard gain set the Hawkeyes up at the 1-yard line for the touchdown.

Iowa has dominated the game since halftime, and the atmosphere at Memorial Stadium is non-existent.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have seized control of the game. The Hawkeyes were able to get a safety thanks to a fumbled punt, and followed it up with a long touchdown drive to extend a 24-16 halftime lead to a 33-16 lead after three quarters.

Making matters worse for the Cornhuskers, the Iowa offense will begin the fourth quarter with the ball in Nebraska territory.

The Iowa defense has proved to be too much for Nebraska to handle. After Emmett Johnson ran wild in the first half, Iowa's adjustments have kept him contained in the second half, and TJ Lateef has thrown seven straight incompletions in the passing game.

It's hard to imagine the Cornhuskers mounting a comeback in the final quarter.

Mark Gronowski's 14th rushing touchdown of the season might have put the final nail in Nebraska's coffin. Gronowski scores from 6 yards out on a QB draw on third down to make it a 33-16 game. It capped off a 7-play, 71-yard drive. The biggest play came when Gronowski avoided the blitz to buy time and find DJ Vonnahme for a 43-yard gain.

The entire second half has been dominated by Iowa to this point. The Hawkeyes have 81 yards of offense and Nebraska has been held to 6.

This game simply refuses to be normal. Iowa opens the second half by gaining only 12 yards before having to punt, but Nebraska punt returner Jacorey Barney fumbles the punt return, and the ball is sent rolling backward into the end zone where the Cornhuskers are able to hop on the ball for a safety. It's 26-16.

Nebraska fans and coaches feel like there should've been a targeting call on the hit that forced the fumble, but they didn't get one.

HALF: Iowa 24, Nebraska 16

Iowa tacked on a touchdown with 37 seconds left in the second quarter on Mark Gronowski's 1-yard plunge as the Hawkeyes expertly executed a 2-minute drill before the break to answer a field goal from the Huskers. Iowa has won consecutive games in the series and 9 of 10 overall.

Huskers running back Emmett Johnson has 177 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries at intermission. He's battling for the Doak Walker Award this season and now has five consecutive games of 100 or more yards as one of the leaders of Nebraska's offensive attack without Dylan Raiola. Freshman quarterback TJ Lateef started his third straight game in place of Raiola and has 44 yards of total offense heading into the locker room.

The Hawkeyes receive to start the second half.

Q2: Iowa 17, Nebraska 13

The Hawkeyes have regained the lead thanks to Kamari Moulton's 3-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter, which capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Iowa converted twice on third down during the possession and Moulton's score was his first since Iowa's 37-0 win at Wisconsin on Oct. 11. Snow's starting to fall harder at Memorial Stadium between two rivals hoping to better their bowl opportunities with a victory to finish 8-4.

Nebraska turns the muffed/recovered/whatever you want to call it kick into three points to take a 13-10 lead. All things considered, that was a win for the Iowa defense. That's twice these teams have been set up with short fields after special teams plays and the offenses were held to field goals.

Even in a high-scoring game it feels like the defenses are winning.

The last two years have seen Iowa beat Nebraska 13-10 with last-second field goals. This year, we nearly saw more points scored in the first quarter with multiple big plays.

Nebraska's Emmett Johnson is responsible for a few of them, including a 70-yard run to set up Nebraska's first touchdown of the game. The running back already has 132 yards rushing and 13 yards receiving.

For Iowa, it was a long kick return from Kaden Wetjen that set up Iowa with great field position to get a field goal, and Nebraska trying to avoid him also set up the Hawkeyes with the ball at midfield before a 35-yard touchdown pass from Mark Gronowski to DJ Vonnahme.

Nebraska's attempts to avoid Wetjen put them on the end of a lucky bounce late in the quarter: a kick off fell short of Wetjen, bounced, and landed in the waiting arms of a Nebraska player. The Cornhuskers begin the second quarter with the ball deep in Iowa territory.

As snow begins to fall in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers rely on another big run from Emmett Johnson to get them into field goal range. A 31-yard FG ties things back up at 10-10 late in the first quarter.

Side note: Nebraska QB TJ Lateef limped off the field following the drive and was seen grimacing. He's being looked at by trainers.

Who thought we'd see so many big plays in this game? The last two years have seen 13-10 final scores between these two, and we may surpass that point total in the first quarter today.

Iowa is given a short field following a Nebraska punt (trying to avoid Wetjen), and Mark Gronowski finds DJ Vonnahme for a 35-yard touchdown to make it 10-7. It's a 3-play, 51-yard touchdown drive for the Hawkeyes, who have their first lead of the day.

As is so often the case after a long Wetjen return, Iowa puts points on the board. The good news for Nebraska is they held the Hawkeyes to a 41-yard field goal. It's 7-3 Cornhuskers.

Emmett Johnson has been the best player on the Nebraska all season, and that isn't changing today. Johnson's 70-yard run sets the Cornhuskers up with a 1st-and-goal at the 1-yard-line. Johnson finished the job on the very next play, scoring from a yard out. It's 7-0 Nebraska.

The best thing about the Nebraska opening drive is that the punter didn't give Kaden Wetjen a chance to return the punt. That's the best way to stop the Iowa offense. If you don't believe me, ask Michigan State. They let him return it multiple times last week and lost because of it.

Nebraska begins with the ball at its 20-yard line. Let's watch some ball!

These two played plenty of times before sharing a conference, and Nebraska leads the all-time series 30-22-3. However, Nebraska's lead was much larger before it entered the Big Ten. Nebraska won the first two meetings in 2011 and 2012, but Iowa's taken 10 of 12 since, including the last two. Iowa has also won six straight meetings at Memorial Stadium.

If the Cornhuskers get the win here it'll give them a record of 8-4 on the season. That's a big deal because it would be the first time the Huskers won eight games in a season since 2016. It would also be the first time they won five Big Ten games since that same season when they finished 6-3 in conference play.

The Hawkeyes lost their first two games in November this season, which is a rarity for them. Those losses dropped their record in the month to 19-4 since the 2020 season. It's the fourth-highest win percentage among FBS teams in that time.

Current temperatures in Lincoln are in the mid-20s, though it's supposed to get to the low 30s during the game. Oh, and it's windy. Be thankful you're watching this one from home.

With Dylan Raiola out for the season with a broken leg, T.J. Lateef will make his third start for the Cornhuskers. And, if you listen to rumors, he may be getting plenty of starts next season, too.