IOWA CITY, IOWA — For Penn State, Saturday night’s grinding win over Iowa was as much the continuation of one trend as it was an ongoing attempt to flip another.
The Nittany Lions have won five of their last eight games that have finished with the teams separated by a single score — 11-of-18 if you expand the window farther. These vary in appearance: Penn State’s overtime win against Appalachian State carries a different level of dramatics as the Nittany Lions’ late win over Indiana in 2018, but both required complete four-quarter efforts.
In total, Penn State has won at least two of these single-score games over each of the past three years.
This is of course not a huge surprise given the current run the Nittany Lions have been on. Nevertheless, there has been a fairly consistent ability to find results in the games that are less than perfect, less than pretty and not short on pivotal late drives.
The other side of this coin are the losses. Penn State has fallen short in crucial, season-defining games each of the past two years, with plenty of late theatrics to go with them. Defeats to Ohio State and Michigan State have derailed title hopes, bowl losses to Kentucky and USC a sour ending to their respective seasons. There’s no denying that.
While Saturday’s win over Iowa may not make the top of the list of Penn State’s recent accomplishments, its value is not to be overlooked either. A win sets up a primetime meeting with Michigan before heading to Michigan State. Games against Minnesota, and Indiana the only remaining obstacles between Penn State and Ohio State clashing in Columbus for what very well could turn out to be a Big Ten title game berth.
In historical context, it also marks James Franklin’s first win over a ranked opponent on the road at that opponent’s home field. [Wins against Washington in the Fiesta Bowl and Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship both came against ranked teams, but both at neutral sites.]
Of course such talk is putting the cart before the horse. Penn State’s own history stated above indicates that things need to be taken a week at a time, but a victory on Saturday was a test passed.
And an experience gained.
‘I think it helps us work on playing a full game, playing until the last second and just being tested on your resiliency, how you bounce back on plays,’ linebacker Jan Johnson said. ‘You may have one good play or one bad play, but how do you respond to all that stuff. I think we were able to respond in a positive way.’
Penn State was able to respond on more than one occasion Saturday night, the Nittany Lions holding Iowa to a field goal during an early drive, and stopping the Hawkeyes later in the game when the Nittany Lions needed to win back momentum. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was often timely.
And there is something to be said for that, especially as Penn State eyes the meat of its schedule and tries to chase their bigger and bigger goals.
‘Really proud of our guys,’ Coach James Franklin said after the game. ‘Went on the road, won in a tough place to play and a place that’s tough to win on the road. When you look over the last few years, the number of people they’ve played and upset at home, night game. This place was rocking. So really proud of our guys.’
It’s just one win, but the Nittany Lions will take them all, especially the ones that don’t come easy.
