ANN ARBOR - Hank Brown's voice was already gone by the time he arrived to postgame media availability. 

Why wouldn't it be? Iowa's fourth-year quarterback was just catching his breath after doing the unthinkable - beating No. 18 Michigan at the Big House by throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee on the game's final play

"We were just yelling. Thinking back to it, [I just said] I love you. Way to make a play," Brown said after the game. 

Vander Zee's job of running a successful route to get open on a play like that is far from easy, but Brown's job is obviously the most challenging as the quarterback. Not only does he have to make sure his offense is set before the snap, Brown also has to analyze Michigan's defensive alignment. 

The Wolverines didn't make life very easy for Brown on this day - he completed just 8 of his first 16 passes through the first quarters - but what he saw on the final play opened his eyes. Offensive coordinator Tim Lester told Brown through the headset that his goal for this final play was to get the ball to the end zone, and as soon as Brown spotted Michigan cornerback Smith Snowden pressing Vander Zee at the line of scrimmage, he knew he had a shot to accomplish that goal. 

Once the ball was snapped, Brown knew the only way he could get the ball to Vander Zee was via a back shoulder throw, which was no problem for the 6-foot-4 Vander Zee, who ended up getting not one, but two feet in the end zone for the thrilling score. 

Vander Zee revealed that he had his full trust in Brown before the play, and the trust goes both ways. Both of Brown's touchdown passes on this day went to Vander Zee, and the strong connection with each other (five targets, five catches) helped Brown complete 13 of his last 19 passes after a rough start. 

"I trust Reese. I know he's going to deliver for moments like that, and he did," Brown said. 

While the play will ultimately go down as one of the most iconic plays of the Kirk Ferentz era, it may not have happened had Michigan defensive lineman John Henry Daley not gone down with an injury after Addison Ostrenga's 29-yard ricochet catch. 

Though the clock briefly stopped to reset the chains, there were only two seconds remaining after Ostrenga's reception. NCAA rules don't allow the ball to be spiked under three seconds (this came into effect during Iowa's win over Iowa State two weeks ago), and it looked like Brown was ready to fake the spike and heave one to the end zone before the whistle blew. 

Brown didn't say that was going to be the case after the game, but he did say that Iowa already had a play call ready to go. The extra timeout due to the injury didn't change the play, it just simply allowed the Hawkeyes to recharge and discuss things. 

"I think it [the extra time] helped a ton. Just being able to huddle up and talk to what we're going to do now. Whether he would have went down or not, I think we prepared for that that point in the field of what we're going to do," Brown said. 

Though Brown and his teammates certainly enjoyed the win on their flight back home to Iowa City, he knows the job is far from finished. No. 7 Ohio State comes to Kinnick Stadium next weekend, meaning a large national audience will be keeping close tabs on the Hawkeyes. 

"The hay's never in the barn," Brown said. "As exciting as this is, we gotta come back next week and fight, and we got a lot to work on offensively."

Don't miss out on our Roundtable community and the latest news! It's completely FREE to join.

Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members in the community section! Download the FREE Roundtable APP and stay even more connected!

Click here to join the fun and potentially win some FREE Hawkeye swag! 

HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]