David Pollack on Iowa: ‘You’re bringing a rock to a gun fight’

Iowa came up short in Week 2, suffering a 16-13 loss to Iowa State in the Cy-Hawk rivalry game. As usual, Iowa’s offense was its weakness. The Hawkeyes tallied just 214 total yards of offense, only 83 of which were through the air.

College football expert David Pollack doesn’t believe Iowa’s lack of a potent offense is sustainable. On the See Ball Get Ball podcast, Pollack explained why he believes Iowa’s College Football Playoff hopes are already over this season.

“Iowa, I love you. I love the way you play. I love the way you fight, but you’re bringing this like sharpened rock, and you’re not David from the Bible,” Pollack said. “You’re bringing a rock to a gunfight a lot of times, with the ability to pass the ball and receivers to catch it. So, Iowa, I love you, I love the way you play and love the way you battle, but you’re gone.”

In the loss, Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski completed just 13-of-his-24 pass attempts for 83 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown, but did throw an interception. More disheartening, Gronowski’s performance against Iowa State was an improvement from his Week 1 showing.

In Iowa’s season-opening victory over Alabany, Gronowski only completed eight passes for 44 total yards and a touchdown. His 127 passing yards through two games are the least by a Big Ten QB through the first two games of a season since 1995.

Gronowski’s start to the 2025 campaign has been nothing short of disappointing for Iowa fans, who expected great things from the South Dakota State transfer. After all, in four years with the Jackrabbits, Gronowski amassed 10,330 passing yards, 1,767 rushing yards, 93 passing touchdowns and 37 rushing scores.

He owns a laundry list of accomplishments, including the 2023 Walter Payton Award, annually given to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Alas, Gronowski’s accomplishments haven’t translated to the FBS level.

Of course, Gronowski isn’t the first QB to struggle to succeed in Iowa’s offensive system. The Hawkeyes haven’t ranked in the top 100 in yards per game in college football since 2020. In 2023, Iowa’s offense averaged the least yards per contest in the country.

Fans could attempt to blame the team’s offensive coordinator, but Iowa routinely fielded a poor offense far before Tim Lester came to town. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz doesn’t deny the team’s need to improve on offense, especially in the passing game.

“We need improvement and we know that. We’ll continue to improve,” Ferentz said. “I thought we took steps this week and we played a tougher defense. Some may not have shown up in the numbers in a way we like it to, but we’re going to be fine. We’ll just keep pushing forward here and  see where it all goes.”