Since Nebraska lost its second game of the season to Minnesota, there have been plenty of people who offered their opinion about why what happened happened. Among the things that happened that are most concerning is that a Golden Gophers' pass rush that hasn't been very good logged nine sacks of quarterback Dylan Raiola. Now even Iowa's quarterback has an opinion.
Why should any Husker player or fan care what Mark Gronowski has to say about a game he wasn't at and only watched from afar? It's fair to say they shouldn't. Especially since Gronowski is not what anyone would describe as a top-notch passing quarterback in today's game.
Iowa QB Mark Gronowski weighs in on Nebraska’s sack struggles
Still, it's interesting to hear that the Iowa QB1 saw something in film he watched of Nebraska that stood out to him. In some regards, his comments jibe with what the coaches and even Raiola have said about Minnesota getting a school record last Friday. Gronowski doesn't think it was all on the offensive line.
The Iowa signal-caller was actually commenting more on what Minnesota did to get to the quarterback as often as they did. His comments were more that their pass rush isn't that tough.
"I thought that the quarterback they were playing against may have held the ball a little bit too long in some certain situations."
The quarterback he was talking about was Dylan Raiola. Husker coaches have gone out of their way to say that the nine sacks were "on everybody". At the same time, critics have called out the offensive line and its position coach, Donovan Raiola.
It's unlikely that Gronowski will get sacked nine times even if Minny's pass rush gets through as often as it did against Nebraska. Iowa's offense is driven more by its QB1's legs than his arm. Should he see pressure coming, it's far more likely he'll take off running.
This season, Gronkowski has thrown for just 811 yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions. Raiolo has twice as many passing yards, more than five times as many touchdown passes, and just as many interceptions in almost 70 more pass attempts. Even adding in Gronowski's 289 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns and he still trails Raiola in total yards and total TDs.
All of this is to say that Iowa's signal-caller could have kept his thinly veiled criticism to himself. On the other hand, Nebraska has talked about wanting to get the ball out of Dylan Raiola's hand faster. Part of that is Raiola himself sensing the pressure coming faster than he has at times this season.