Hawkeyes outlast Penn State Iowa beats Penn State 25-24 under the lights at Kinnick Stadium

The Penn State Nittany Lions stumbled into Kinnick Stadium reeling from three straight losses after being an easy pre-season pick to repeat as college football playoff participants. Their last loss against Northwestern proved to be fatal to the job of head coach James Franklin. Franklin was fired the day after the loss to the 'Cats. The Iowa Hawkeyes, meanwhile, were riding a wave of satisfaction after throttling rival Wisconsin 37-0 in Madison. Two programs, heading in opposite directions at the midway point of the 2025 season.

But this game was no easy task for either team. Kinnick Stadium under the lights is often a death trap for the visiting team. Penn State not only found themselves without their long-time head coach, but they also had to rally around a new starting quarterback after starter Drew Allar suffered a season ending knee injury against the Wildcats.

Late in the 3rd quarter, the Hawkeyes were down 21-10. But QB Mark Gronowski was just getting his legs warmed up and the Iowa defense would dig deep to get key stops in key moments. Iowa got a touchdown after an 8-play 74-yard drive underscored by a 38-yard QB keeper from Gronowski and punctuated by a 4-yard touchdown sprint to the left to make the score 21-16. Then, after a turnover on downs by the PSU offense, Drew Stevens knocked in a 31-yard field goal. Penn State then nearly drained the life out of Kinnick Stadium with a 16-play 61-yard drive that took over 8 minutes off the clock. However, the Hawkeye defense buckled down when it counted and the result was another Nittany Lion field goal to make it 24-19 with only 4:56 remaining.

It was a spectacular night in Iowa City and inside historic Kinnick Stadium. Here's what it looked like from inside the stadium to that point.