The Penn State Football Show

You are going to hear a lot of different people voicing their opinions about this game, but the simple fact of the matter is that Penn State is not that great of a team, and they got flat out beat tonight. The Lions played a terrible game, especially the offensive line. But I give all the credit in the world to the Hawkeyes. They came into a very hostile environment and seemed completely unfazed by the crowd. I think most teams would have really been in a tough spot after giving up the big play touchdown on Penn State’s first play. Then, the interception shortly thereafter that led to a field goal. That’s a hard hole to climb out of on the road at Beaver Stadium, and they managed to hold Penn State scoreless for the rest of the game.

Like I said in the preview, they always seem to play their best against PSU. I really think Ferentz just has JoePa’s number. Lloyd Carr had JoePa’s number, and so does Ferentz. It’s frustrating because Iowa always loses a few games every year, and they are not an elite program, but they own Penn State. And they do it the same way every time. Nothing flashy, strong defense, make plays when they need to, control the clock, and just hang around for long enough to put themselves in position to win the game.

I was frustrated watchinig Penn State’s performance in the game, but now that it’s over, I’m really not that devastated. I mean, they played poorly and they deserved to lose. This team was not going to win the national championship, and I expect them to lose at least two more games this season.

The defense played pretty well, especially without their best player. They were getting pretty thin at linebacker, but still managed to hold Iowa to just one offensive touchdown. There is one place, and one place only, where you can point your finger as to why Penn State lost this game: The offensive line. The o-line was just manhandled by Iowa defense all night long. Clark had guys in his face on every pass, and had no time to set his feet. Yes, Clark had a very bad game, but I blame that on the offensive line. The offense had no rhythm, no running game, no passing game, nothing. I would have liked to see them try some trickery to open things up a little. They also should have tried some screen passes. There was one third and ten I was begging for them to run a screen, and Iowa blitzed and forced Clark to throw it away… the screen would have been the perfect call against that blitz. The play call for the opening play of the game was perfect, exactly what I was hoping for, but it went all downhill from there. I don’t think Graham Zug had one reception all game. Again, the probably was the fault of the offensive line not giving Clark time. I did like that Penn State called some running plays for Clark. Some worked, some didn’t, but I was glad that they were in there.

Other notes:

I am now a 100% believer that Derek Moye is the real deal. He’s a good one.

The roughing the punter call was a joke, and that happens way to often. I can’t stand it when they call that for no reason, but it happens all the time. Let the kids play.

I could tell even when it was 10-5 that Penn State was not going to win that football game. If you couldn’t, you haven’t been watching PSU vs. Iowa in the past 10 years.

If the coaching staff sees anything at all in any of the backup centers, they need to consider moving Wis back to guard.

Clark needs to take off and run on some passing plays. Has he done that yet this year?

Eric Latimore had his best game yet. He made some nice plays.

I’m still not clear on how they were able to block that punt so easily. Was it Sukay that blocked the guy? Whoever it was, I know he didn’t completely stop him, and the kept coming through, but I would have thought the bump he gave him was enough to allow Boone to get that punt off. Did Boone take a long time to get rid of it or something?

Terrible tackling on Iowa’s TD run. Mainly from Sukay.

PSU will lost at Michigan.

I think that makes Penn State 2-8 this decade in Big Ten Openers. That’s a really mind-blowing statistic. Perhaps they need to prepare themselves better with stronger non-conference competition. I can’t wait for Alabama the next two years. Those should be great games.