Iowa QB Mark Gronowski put up a stat line so bad in the Cy-Hawk rivalry game that Hawkeye fans are doing more than just booing. They’re literally tossing his jersey into a fire pit. His final numbers are 13-of-24 for 83 yards, zero TDs, plus 16 rushes for 37 yards. There’s also one interception that directly set up No. 16 Iowa State’s lone TD. The rivalry game is gone, and the 14-year streak in Ames is torched. And speaking of torched, fans are already feeding his jersey to the flames. 

On September 6, Elite College Football posted a wild Instagram “BURNING JERSEY’S” post with a caption that read, “Iowa fans are already burning Mark Gronowski’s jersey after he threw for 84 yards vs Iowa State today.” In the clip, Gronowski’s ‘11’ jersey laid flat in a fire pit, doused in lighter fluid, sparked with a burner, and set ablaze like a funeral pyre. Needless to say, Mark Gronowski lost both the game and the trust of his own fanbase, and social media had front-row seats. 

The rage has receipts. In his first two games of the season, Gronowski has totaled just 127 passing yards. That’s a Big Ten record for futility. It’s the fewest yards by any QB in the first two games since 1995 with at least 35 attempts. The record he broke was Kain Colter’s 177 yards back in 2012. The problem is that the 2012 Northwestern QB wasn’t even really a QB but a converted wideout. That’s how far down the basement stairs this Iowa passing game has fallen.

Instead of balancing the attack, Iowa leaned on the run like it was the only play in the playbook. 39 carries for 131 yards, one TD, and an uninspiring 3.4 yards per carry. Predictable, slow, and doomed. Iowa State sniffed it out, loaded the box, and dared Mark Gronowski to throw. And well, he couldn’t. Wide receivers flashed open, but the ball either came late, never came at all, or died in the pocket before liftoff. 

Meanwhile, Cyclone QB Rocco Becht looked like Joe Montana by comparison. He kept his team calm, moved the chains, and set up Kyle Konrardy for a game-winning 54-yard boot. They took home the win with a final score of 16-13 as fans stormed out of Jack Trice Stadium like they’d just exorcised a 14-year demon, and they had.

Back in Iowa City, the pitchforks aren’t just pointed at Mark Gronowski. HC Kirk Ferentz is taking heavy fire too. He’s one win away from the all-time Big Ten record, but fans are over it. Last year, the same Iowa State loss sparked the “Fire Ferentz” chants. This year, the offense looks even worse, the patience even thinner. On social media, fans are already building the buyout case, arguing that eight-win seasons with “absolute garbage offense” aren’t cutting it in the NIL and 12-team playoff era. 

Coach Ferentz’s disappointment is obvious. “Just a disappointing outcome for us. And I don’t think it was our preparation or effort,” he said after the game. “The preparation was good during the week and our effort was good today… We’ll go through the tape, see we can learn, and then, most importantly, see what we can do moving forward.” But talk is cheap. 

The nightmare reality is that this Iowa squad looks like another 8-4, at best. A bowl win, maybe, but nothing playoff-worthy, and nothing to quiet the flames. For now, Mark Gronowski owns a Big Ten record no QB wants, Kirk Ferentz is sitting on the hottest seat in Iowa, and the only highlight reel from Ames is a burning No. 11 jersey going viral on Instagram.