Mark Gronowski

#11 · QB · Sr. · Iowa6′2″ · 235 lb · Naperville, IL

Mark Gronowski is a quarterback who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Iowa.

Gronowski extends plays on the move until something opens up. Came to Iowa by way of South Dakota State. All-America (NCAA) in 2024 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. A game that shows it: 212 passing yards and 54 rushing yards against Vanderbilt — Bowl, 2025.

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	Iowa	166	262	63.4%	1,741	6.6	10	7	126.4	39
Career		166	262	63.4%	1,741	6.6	10	7	126.4	39

Season	Team
2025	Iowa	130	545	4.2	16	67
Career		130	545	4.2	16	67

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR
Wk 1	W 34-7vs UAlbany	8/15	44	1	0	2.9	24.5
Wk 2	L 13-16@ No. 16 Iowa State	13/24	83	0	1	3.5	29.2
Wk 3	W 47-7vs Massachusetts	16/24	179	2	0	7.5	70.3
Wk 4	W 38-28@ Rutgers	12/18	186	0	0	10.3	70.5
Wk 5	L 15-20vs No. 11 Indiana	19/25	144	0	1	5.8	54.7
Wk 7	W 37-0@ Wisconsin	17/24	107	0	1	4.5	36.7
Wk 8	W 25-24vs Penn State	10/16	68	0	1	4.3	84.2
Wk 9	W 41-3vs Minnesota	12/19	135	1	0	7.1	70.5
Wk 11	L 16-18vs No. 6 Oregon	10/18	138	1	0	7.7	88.3
Wk 12	L 21-26@ No. 17 USC	12/19	132	1	1	6.9	68.7
Wk 13	W 20-17vs Michigan State	12/22	147	1	1	6.7	39.0
Wk 14	W 40-16@ Nebraska	9/16	166	1	0	10.4	93.2
Bowl	W 34-27vs No. 13 Vanderbilt	16/22	212	2	1	9.6	79.5
Total		166/262	1741	10	7	6.6	—

Highs and lows

Only games with 20 or more plays count for best and lowest.
Best by our grade	Vanderbilt	W 34-27 · Graded solid · Passing grade only · 212 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT · Rush 10 for 54, 1 TD · The interception cost about 10 points of win chance · Sacked 1
Lowest by our grade	UAlbany	W 34-7 · Graded rough · 44 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT · Rush 11 for 39, 1 TD · Sacked 1
Biggest game	Oregon	No. 6 at kickoff · L 16-18 · Graded solid · 138 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT · Rush 12 for 25, 1 TD · Sacked 2
Best play	Michigan State	Completion for 13 yards, touchdown, Q4 1:29 · Win chance 48% to 69%

Passing profile

Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

166/262 (63.4%) · 10 TD · 7 INT

256 of 262 attempts matched to play-by-play

94 of 256 attempts charted for true throw depth

Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 256 passing plays (160 completions) against the box score's 262 attempts (166 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.

Adjusted ANY/A

5.55137 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

5.8%139 of 206 QBs

Sacked on 5.8% of dropbacks (139 of 206) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (137 of 206).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

16% of attempts (15)

93%comp

Air -2.7 · YAC 7.9 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

48% of attempts (45)

60%comp1 INT

Air 3.9 · YAC 6.5 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

17% of attempts (16)

38%comp

Air 14.3 · YAC 1.3 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

19% of attempts (18)

44%comp1 INT

Air 28.7 · YAC 7.9 avg

Overall 63.4% completion on 262 attempts · 44% completion on 18 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2025 baseline

No situation moves him more than 48 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-48 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 2/82 (2.4%) · league sack rate 4.2%

Down 2

+20 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 5/80 (6.2%) · league sack rate 4.5%

Down 3+

+27 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 7/88 (8.0%) · league sack rate 7.8%

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Teams and coaches

2025Iowa9-4HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-heavy, slow tempo

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 51 (#65 of 146). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

51Rotational starter #65 of 146 · 2025?

13 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: rush tds (98th percentile). Strength: rush yards (84th percentile). Concern: success rate (28th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#67 / 183 · 64th pct

9.8%

EPA / dropback#109 / 183 · 41st pct

0.15

Sack rate#122 / 183 · 34th pct

5.9%

Interception rate#124 / 183 · 33rd pct

2.7%

Success rate#133 / 183 · 28th pct

36.8%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush TDs#3 / 183 · 98th pct

Rush yards#29 / 183 · 84th pct

545

Fumbles lost#32 / 174 · 66th pct

Completion %#76 / 183 · 58th pct

63.4%

Interceptions#92 / 183 · 44th pct

Pass yards#105 / 183 · 43rd pct

1741

Pass TDs#105 / 183 · 40th pct

Yards / att#133 / 183 · 27th pct

6.6

Season trend

EPA / dropback— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Sack rate— first qualifying season

Interception rate— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2025 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

After 246 dropbacks

39Zeitgeist Passer Rating107th of 142 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 126.4 109th of 142 FBS QBs

Positive-play rate weight 24%

41.4%18th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · -1.7% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

6.6836th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · -0.1 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

6.0%42nd pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · +0.3% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (26 of 272 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home7g	122	0.9	6.0	0.4
Road5g	135	0.4	7.1	0.6

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	136	0.7	6.3	0.6
Weeks 8+6g	131	0.8	7.2	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Kirk Ferentz

Pass share

36.6%

286 pass / 495 run

Plays / game

60.1

13 games

Scheme: Run-heavy, slow tempo.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Starter

262 pass attempts, 130 carries and 1 catch in 13 games, fewer passes and runs a game than most FBS quarterbacks who play every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

51 · #65 of 146 QBs · 2025

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-Big Ten

Based on 2025: #9 of 19 Big Ten QBs

How the All-Big Ten base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).

Selector Grid · 2024

AP—

FWAA—

AFCA—

WCFF—

SN—

SI—