Iowa Stuns Michigan 20-19 on Last-Second Touchdown

Iowa beat Michigan 20-19 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, September 26, 2026, when quarterback Hank Brown found Reece Vander Zee for a 16-yard touchdown with 2 seconds left on the clock. The score capped an 11-play, 91-yard drive at the end of a defensive struggle between two ranked Big Ten teams, and it was the second time in the fourth quarter alone that Brown and Vander Zee connected from exactly that distance.

What was the final score of the Iowa-Michigan game?

No. 17 Iowa defeated No. 18 Michigan 20-19 in front of 111,126 fans at Michigan Stadium — the 333rd consecutive crowd of 100,000-plus at the “Big House.” The game was each team’s Big Ten opener, and it went the distance: Michigan led for most of the afternoon before Iowa scored twice in the fourth quarter to take it away on the final snap.

How did Iowa score the game-winning touchdown?

Brown hit Addison Ostrenga for a 29-yard gain — Ostrenga tipped the pass to himself before pulling it in — to move Iowa to the Michigan 16-yard line with 2 seconds remaining. On the last play of the game, Brown threw to Vander Zee in the corner of the end zone for the winning score. It was Vander Zee’s second touchdown catch of the fourth quarter, both from 16 yards out, and it finished an 11-play, 91-yard possession that began only after Iowa’s defense forced a Michigan punt. “To be able to silence a stadium like that, there’s no greater feeling,” Brown said afterward. “We prep for situations like these throughout the week in practice all the time.” Vander Zee, in a postgame television interview, put it simply: “You just got to go make a play. I know Hank trusts me. He made a great throw.”

How did the rest of the game unfold?

Michigan led for nearly three quarters before Iowa’s late rally turned the game around. Michigan struck first, an 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryce Underwood to J.J. Buchanan with 1:58 left in the first quarter. Iowa answered immediately: Braeden Jackson returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7. A pair of Michigan field goals then made it 10-7 at halftime and 13-7 through three quarters. Iowa took its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter on Brown’s first touchdown pass to Vander Zee, 14-13 — only for Underwood to answer with a long touchdown pass to Buchanan that put Michigan back in front, 19-14 (Michigan’s two-point conversion attempt afterward failed). With 2:33 left and Iowa trailing by five, coach Kirk Ferentz sent out kicker Caden Buhr for a 51-yard field goal try; it sailed wide right. Iowa’s defense forced one more Michigan punt, and Brown drove the offense the length of the field for the finish.

What does this win mean for each team’s season?

Iowa is 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten, and the win broke two droughts at once: it was the Hawkeyes’ first victory over a ranked opponent on the road since beating Northwestern in 2015, and their first win at Michigan Stadium since 2010. Michigan fell to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play in its Big Ten opener. Both teams entered the day ranked, No. 17 Iowa and No. 18 Michigan, and the next Associated Press Top 25 will be the first accounting of how the result registers with voters for each program.

The bottom line

The headline is the finish: an Iowa team that had not beaten a ranked opponent away from Kinnick Stadium in over a decade got the biggest one of coach Kirk Ferentz’s tenure at the Big House, decided by 2 seconds and a matter of yards in the corner of the end zone. Michigan, which led for three quarters, instead opens Big Ten play at 0-1 and heads back to Ann Arbor to regroup before its next game. As of Sunday morning, September 27, 2026, the final score stands as Iowa 20, Michigan 19 — one result in a long Big Ten season, but an early signature win for a Hawkeyes team now sitting at 4-0.