The nice thing about playing Iowa is that there aren’t any surprises. The Hawkeyes are who they’ve always been under longtime head coach Kirk Ferentz — the only coach with a longer Big Ten tenure than Penn State’s James Franklin. In 2023, it has been no different, as Iowa comes into Beaver Stadium on Saturday night looking to go 4-0 on the year behind the same kind of physical offense and stout defense it has always deployed.
It’s not rocket science, but it is corn-fed football.
“I would also say specifically with Iowa, they are who they are, and they take tremendous pride in their identity and doing it well,” Franklin said on Tuesday. “So you know what you’re going to get from them. Again, I mean that as a major compliment. They’re going to have wrinkles that are going to cause you challenges every year. But they do what they do and they do it well. It aligns with their identity. I don’t think it takes very long to get accustomed to who they are and their style of football. I think there’s enough film and evidence out there for our coordinators, as well as the rest of our staff.”
Of course Penn State knowing what Iowa will likely do and being able to stop or overtake it are two very different things. In fact Penn State and Iowa have played four of the last five games to a final score separated by no more than six points. The Nittany Lions – sitting on a 10-game streak of 30 or more points – have scored 30 or more points against Iowa just four times in the last 17 meetings. A lot has changed in college football and between these two programs since 2000, but sometimes you can’t avoid the obligatory rock fight.
For Penn State a primetime opportunity against Iowa is an interesting chance to beat some demons as well. The Hawkeyes ran the ball 43 times against Western Michigan last week and have outpaced passing attempts each of the first three weeks of the season. As for the Nittany Lions, Penn State’s rushing defense is ranked 34th in the nation giving up just over 97 yards per game. Lopsided scores and out of conference contests always mess with the validity of early season statistics but the Nittany Lions not quite feeling up to par on the ground – especially in the interior – is a still lingering feeling. Only time will tell whether or not that feeling is justified.
And it’s safe to say Iowa isn’t going to be afraid to test that feeling out.
“It would certainly be helpful,” Ferentz said of establishing the run against Penn State. “It’s hard to find people to beat these guys because they haven’t lost many games in the last 50 years, 60 years. But the teams that beat them last year did run the ball a little bit successfully — but that’s a truism in football. If you can run successfully, unless you throw it every snap — and if you’re throwing it every snap, at least if we’re throwing every snap, that’s not going to be good. Some teams are designed that way; we’re not. So you’ve got to try to find a way. These guys are a really unique challenge, very aggressive, very athletic. They make it tough on you.”
So once again, it won’t be much of a surprise when Iowa takes the field on Saturday, but once again, that won’t make it easy either.
