As the ball hit the turf at SHI Stadium, 11 Rutgers players on the field and 55,000 fans in the stands effusively celebrated what appeared to be a big stop early in the fourth quarter of the Scarlet Knights’ back-and-forth game against Iowa.
Then came the laundry.
A stop that would have forced the Hawkeyes to punt the ball back to the Scarlet Knights , who held a 28-24 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the game, was negated by a holding penalty on cornerback Al-Shadee Salaam.
It gave the visitors new life, which they took advantage of. Four plays later, quarterback Mark Gronowski ran into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown in Iowa’s 38-28 win in Piscataway on Friday night.
It was the last of six penalties called against Rutgers, all of which appeared to come at crushing ti