Iowa Beats Rutgers 38-28 in Front of Record Home Crowd

A packed SHI Stadium with 55,942 fans - the biggest crowd ever at a Rutgers home game - watched as Iowa powered past the Scarlet Knights 38-28 on September 19, 2025.

The Hawkeyes scored twice in a chaotic fourth quarter to lock up their victory. Iowa improves to 3-1 (1-0 Big Ten), while Rutgers suffers its first loss, moving to 3-1 (0-1 Big Ten).

"We made too many mistakes against a very good football team. We didn't deserve to win this game. This team will be a good football team. Right now we're not there yet," said Greg Schiano to ScarletKnights.com.

Iowa's Mark Gronowski dominated the game, running for three touchdowns while throwing for 186 yards. Kaden Wetjen got the crowd going early by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown - something no Hawkeye had done since 2003.

Athan Kaliakmanis threw for 330 yards and ran for two touchdowns, though he did throw his first pick of the season when Max Llewellyn pressured him - leading to a key Iowa score.

Ian Strong came back from injury to rack up 151 receiving yards. KJ Duff and DT Sheffield came up with big catches in what turned out to be one of the Knights' best passing performances this season.

The defeat marks Rutgers' fifth straight loss to Iowa since they first played each other in 2016. The Hawkeyes had blanked the Knights in their previous two meetings, winning 30-0 in 2019 and 22-0 last time they faced off.

On defense, the Knights showed toughness with Jett Elad leading with nine tackles, while Cam Miller picked up a sack. Eric O'Neill hit a milestone with his 30th career sack among two tackles behind the line.

With CJ Campbell done for the season, Rutgers' running game takes a blow. Despite Antwan Raymond scoring twice, their backfield depth has taken a serious hit.

The Knights head to Minnesota next week for a noon ET game on BTN, September 27th.