Penn State 30, Iowa 24
The sun didn’t shine much on St. Joe Memorial-Penndot/Altoona Federal Stadium at Beaver Field on Saturday, but when it finally did, it was in the form of a game saving interception by Nick Scott with 3:18 left. #17 Penn State (6-2, 3-2) hung on to defeat the #18 Iowa Hawkeyes (6-2, 3-2), 30-24 on a rainy, cold day at the Big Beave.
Once again, Trace McSorley produced a significant share of the offense, even after he had been hurt. He wound up 11-25 passing for 167 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He added 12 carries for 63 yards, including a touchdown while hobbling on a 51-yard post-injury scamper, enabled by a mighty fine block by DeAndre Thompkins.
It Ain’t Over til It’s Over
Scott’s interception didn’t put the game away, because the Penn State offense was unable to move the ball from their own 9 yard-line, where Scott had tripped up. A decent punt by Blake Gillikin gave Iowa the ball at their own 23 with 1:11 left. However, Nate Stanley could not complete the deal for the Hawkeyes. On the comical last play, Shareef Miller had finally penetrated and dropped Stanley, who lateraled to a behemoth lineman, Tristan Wirfs. King Kong managed to amble for 15 yards to the PSU 29 before being felled as the clock ran out.
McSorley, McSorley, McSorley
Trace McSorley showed immense courage coming back to play the second half in pain. He begged James Franklin to let him play. Franklin told him he didn’t want a pro-style, pocket passer quarterback — he wanted the full package a healthy McSorley offered. After an emotional bonding with his dad, a hobbled McSorley came back in and did what was needed to win the game, the picture of courage, strength, and leadership. It is a shame that two home losses to tOSU and Moo U. will essentially eliminate him from Heisman consideration.
Slopfest
The game was played under harsh conditions, but these guys looked like the Keystone Cops out there in the first half, which wound up tied 17-17. First, a blocked Gillikin punt resulting in a safety followed by a Hawkeye field goal put Iowa in the lead 5-0. Then Gillikin gave Iowa a short field with a crappy, 32-yard punt. The Hawkeyes capitalized with a touchdown. They had obviously been watching videos of Penn State’s special teams defense, because the scoring play was a fake field goal from the 10 yard-line that caught the bemused PSU defense with its pants down.
To their credit, PSU answered with an 85-yard touchdown drive to make it 12-7. Then, I guess they wanted to make the score look “normal” because on the next series, a three-and-out, they screwed up the snap to Gillikin, sailing it into and out of the end zone. 14-7. There were hijinx throughout the game, in the unfavorable weather circumstance. It suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked.
In Conclusion, Let Us Pray…
You can write off only so much to the weather. We can conclude that Iowa’s usually serviceable defense was not sufficient to overcome its dysfunctional offense. If it weren’t for two interceptions of Nate Stanley, the outcome might have been flipped, because otherwise, Iowa played its possession game.
Going into the Michigan game, we have lots to fix in a short time, which likely won’t happen. Aside from McSorley’s health, we have special teams that are anything but special and PSU’s offense is pretty offensive at times. The third-down conversion rate is not improving — four for fourteen in this game.
A win is a win, so that’s good news. We made some lemonade from lemons. Do any of you see any bright spots as the boys prepare for the trip to the Big House?
I’ll be back during the week with more unseemly comments. PSU will probably move up to #14 or #15 so as to create a media hype game with the #5 Wolverines. Kickoff will be at 3:45 on Saturday.
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K. John says
A win is a win is a win is a win. We’ll flippin take it. Things looked bleak early on. Actually, they looked bleak throughout with the exception of a long TD run by Trace resulting from Iowa’s only real defensive mistake. Good job Trace. This is a weird year. We are improbably sitting at 6 and 2. While it is true we are 2 plays from undefeated, concurrently, we are 3 plays from 5 losses. How is that even possible? Apparently it is better to be lucky than good because we are not good but very lucky. On to Michigan and a team that might be the best bet to stop the Evil Empire come playoff time.
The Nittany Turkey says
We have no choice but to take it. Take any win we can get, because this weekend looks pretty desperate. Michigan favored by 10 — what are the chances for an upset? McSorley better be not too McSore.
Numbers aside, we’re f-in’ lucky to be 6-2 given the gaping holes in this team. Not much improvement, except perhaps some small hopes for the defense and the pass rush. Alas, they’re on the field way too long because the offense cannot sustain drives. Long as they keep doing what they’re doing, the numbers won’t favor PSU.
I am not getting great hopes up for performing against Michigan, especially after watching the first quarter of the Iowa game. It wasn’t even a noon kickoff, and it was on home turf, yet they played with their heads up their ass, which is ironic because they played like shit. They were just playing possum, with UM in mind, right? I believe that. Uh huh.
Remember when Ohio State was the only game the Nittany Lions were supposed to lose this year. At the moment, the Buckeyes appear to be one of the pretenders of the Big Ten. Is Michigan the real deal?
—TNT
Big Al says
Well, Michigan is as real as the B1G gets this year. Which isn’t very real – they would probably lose to Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, or Clemson by three touchdowns IF they make the playoffs and that’s a huge IF. They have to beat tO$U to make the championship game. Also, it’s pretty easy to envision a 5 loss Northwestern winning the B1G west and Michigan barely beat them a couple of weeks ago. Northwestern beating Michigan in the championship and going to the Rose Bowl would show the world just how shitty the B1G is this year.
As far as the Kitties go, I did see two positives in the Iowa game. The field goal kicking problems MAY have been solved. And the defense played their best game of the year considering that they were repeatedly hung out to dry by the offense and special teams. Of course, the defensive effort was significantly helped by Nate Stanley’s Sackenberg like mobility and accuracy. They might revert to their previous form when they play teams that have a semi-accurate, semi-mobile quarterback.
One final comment. I’m amused by all the Kool Aid drinkers on BSD who believe that the game wasn’t close and that State was 3 touchdowns better than Iowa.
The Nittany Turkey says
I don’t want to be amused too much this morning, so I’ll stay away from the delusional BSD homeys. Pretty hard to deny the “increasingly irrelevant” TOP advantage by the Hawkeyes and the inability of PSU to sustain drives. Where they were close was in general incompetence. I suppose they’re congratulating Nick Scott for the game-changing interception on a busted play where so-called NFL material Nate Stanley lost his cool and should have thrown the ball away. The game might well have concluded with an Iowa win, 31-30.
My thinking is trending toward a similar game this weekend, only with fewer mistakes by the opposition, but i haven’t reached any conclusions yet.
I hope the 3-for-3 in field goals is an indication that Jake Pinegar has developed some cool confidence to accompany his natural ability and I hope we’ll see lots more good work by the defense. Gross-Matos is turning into the DE we need and they’re all playing better.
In the words of one of my favorite Canadian electro-mechanical YouTubers, AvE, Keep Your Dick in a Vise!
—TNT
psudrozz says
Not gonna go thru the negatives. Just want to opine that the defense played an outstanding (relatively) game. I saw improved tackling, decent coverage, and the D-Line was actually getting pressure on stanley. The Iowa offense only scored one TD.
I think we can beat michigan. This is based on bias and pure hate.