Penn State 31, Iowa 0
The unbeatable, absolutely perfect Nittany Lions triumphed on a rainy, record-setting, white-out night in Beaver Stadium, shutting their Hawkeye asses out decisively in what can honestly be described as a rout. The first two turnovers by Iowa set the tone for the evening. Penn State took over and put the clamps on the hapless Hawkeyes from then on. The victory was as lopsided as it gets in conference play, unless Rutgers is the opponent.
Tropical Storm Ophelia was the reason for the wind-blown soaking suffered by 110,830 rain-soaked, poncho-wearing white-outers. Most of them didn’t give half a shit about the weather, given the insulating euphoria provided by their team’s daunting performance on both sides of the ball.
Although Drew Allar still has problems accurately hitting receivers and some receivers don’t understand which route they should be running, no one noticed because the score kept on increasing in Penn State’s favor. From a 10-0 halftime lead, the Nittany Lions scored fourteen in the third and seven more in the fourth quarter, winding up with 31, which extends their NCAA FBS leading streak of games with more than 30 points scored.
Allar wound up 25-37 for 166 yards and 4 TDs. His leading receiver is, of course KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who had eight receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown. It was a rainy, gusty night, on which one would expect the passing game to be off.
It is cool that even after a crappy weather game, Penn State remains turnover-free for the season.
Lopsidedness
Iowa started off the game looking like they could move the ball, getting two first downs in the first quarter before they coughed the ball up. Who knew that those would be the last first downs their anemic offense would produce until it was playing against the Penn State scrubs late in the final stanza. They wound up with four, versus Penn State’s 28.
Increasingly irrelevant Time of Possession (thanks for being my whipping boy, Matt Herb) was in PSU’s favor by a 3:1 margin. Iowa was held to 20 yards rushing and 76 total yards, while Penn State totals were 215 and 397, respectively.
Opposing QB Cade McNamara declared this the worst day of his life, to wit: “This is the worst feeling in the world. I don’t remember the last time I’ve ever felt this bad about a game let alone a day in my life.”
I Was Bullshitting You
In my first paragraph, I called the Lions absolutely perfect and unbeatable. We all know that is bullshit. Remember that Iowa was missing three big producers on offense, although I expected much more from their defense. Only Sanguinarians will walk away from this game and start making playoff reservations. There’s a long row to hoe, after the three bye weeks involving wildcats, minutemen, and a real week off. But in winning this game, it does seem that a 10-2 season is again possible. Just don’t count your tOSU and UM chickens before they hatch, already.
There is some chance that PSU could move up in the meaningless polls. As you know, the first half of the season doesn’t provide enough meaningful information to intelligently rank these teams. Watching some of those PAC-12 (and falling) teams today, is there room in the Top Ten for all the teams that look like they belong there? In any event, I see no reason why the Nittany Lions should not remain at Meaningless #7, save for the unlikely event that ASU beats USC, who lead by 7 at halftime.
I’ll be back mid-week for a look at poor Northwestern. It’s on the north side, where there are fewer shootings.
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K. John says
This was one of those games where a tight game turns into a blowout. Two key plays, both featuring suspect officiating in our favor were the difference between an ugly, nail biter and the comfortable win we enjoyed. The first was the All fumble which 77 for Iowa clearly recovered but the official failed to blow the whistle allowing us to take it away from him despite him being down. This caused at least a 3 point swing in our favor. The second was the fourth down run by Allar where we was clearly short of the line to gain but we got a favorable spot giving us a free TD and an unearned 10 point lead. We were able to play with the lead from there on out while the rain picked up. If the refs get those two calls right, we probably go into the half down 3 to nothing or 7 to nothing and the second half is a very ugly Iowa kind of game.
The Nittany Turkey says
I agree with you regarding the spot on Allar’s fourth-down run being questionable. I wasn’t paying enough attention to notice the All fumble nuances you mentioned. However, it is a stretch to extrapolate those things into a completely different outcome, and the latter situation might have been contrived to support your case.
Iowa was short on offensive talent due to injury. Although at the outset it appeared as if their inside runs and short passes might be a successful strategy, the PSU defense became more aggressive as the game progressed. The fortunate happenstance you mentioned and the presence of the white-out crowd behind them gave their confidence a boost, but who’s to say that they wouldn’t have gotten there, anyway?
Chop Robinson was off the rails.
I’ll give credit where due. Supporting your hyperactive imagination based speculation of how the game ”would have gone” by citing poor officiating doesn’t wash with me. Your crystal ball probably needs a good, SAE 90 lube job. However, your opinions are always welcome here!
The lack of viable receiver options for Allar beyond KLS will limit this team’s ability to achieve what idiots call “da next level.” And I still think the defense is not up to “da level” that is capable of containing tOSU and Michigan. Until they see that for themselves, the Sanguinarians will revel in their pipe dreams about playoffs and national championships.
Nevertheless, I believe the boys are improving. That’s good enough for me, for now.
—TNT
K. John says
I don’t know how the second half would have played out but without two key calls, that game has a very different score at the half. As for the aggressiveness of the defense, that was entirely driven by the score and the weather, not to mention Iowa’s short handed status. You can’t call what Diaz was calling without a lead. This was one of those games where one or two plays is the difference between a nail biter and what we saw. Typical Iowa football.
Now, once I saw how crippled Iowa was going into the game, it was pretty obvious we very likely win, but I will say, the easy nature of the win was set up by the 10 point lead which was largely driven by two plays. This is where Franklin’s history of stupid decisions in tight games comes into play. I don’t know how it ends if the refs get the two calls correctly and we don’t start the third with a two score lead but chances are, the game remains stuck in the mud for 60.
eyedoc90 says
Wow! We both described the Hawkeyes as hapless. Maybe I should get a thesaurus!
The Nittany Turkey says
One of us needs to. Wait, I have one. You can better spend the money for a new, clean keyboard.
—TNT
Big Al says
Thanks to Ophelia, my power went out just before kickoff and didn’t come back on until State scored its final touchdown to go up 31-0. Since that game was now in garbage time, I switched to the Notre Dame game in time to watch the Papists jam the ball down tOSUs throat only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by playing a 10 man prevent defense. And then to listen to Ryan Day bitching in the post game interview about Lou Holtz calling OSU soft. Day obviously can’t handle the truth.
Since I only saw about 5 minutes of the Kitties game, I can’t comment intelligently on why State was able to score so many points. I can only assume Iowa was worn down by State’s long drive at the beginning of the 1st half and they packed it in. Iowa isn’t built to come back against anyone – not even the hot garbage in the B1G West – when they fall behind by 3 scores in the 2nd half. Their whole persona is built upon staying within one score during the first 3 quarters and grinding the other team town in order to take the lead in the last five minutes.
On the other hand, Penn State under Franklin is the ultimate front runner that tries to race out to big early lead and get the other team to quit. If the Kitties don’t have a lead by the end of 3rd quarter, they are likely to lose.
Also, we need to remember that Penn State usually has one game every season where they look like a national champion. The Iowa game was probably that game. State also usually has one game where they play like complete shit against a lousy opponent (I call it the annual WTF game). Last year, the WTF game was Northwestern. And I won’t be surprised if history repeats itself.
The Nittany Turkey says
Too bad that you didn’t get to watch what will undoubtedly be the zenith of Penn State administered ass kickings for the year. The defense looked great, a look that was amplified by Iowa’s offensive ineptitude.
Unlike K.John, the Iowa YouTubers are not blaming poor officiating for Penn State’s dominance. One even quipped, “If you look at the replays closely, you can see the referee’s arm in there stripping the ball from Cade.” If the calls were a little off, they always are. In retrospect, it means little.
However, you both come to similar conclusions about the type of team both contestants are. Iowa plays the game of attrition, keeping it close, wearing you down, and outlasting you, whereas PSU is the rabbit. If either doesn’t succeed at their game, there ain’t no alternative plan.
I won’t buy NWU as the WTF game this year. Maryland or Rutgers, perhaps. But Northwestern is in too much disarray. I don’t know WTF is going on in Evanston. Probably isn’t bullets — that’s the quieter side of Chicago.
—TNT