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Iowa’s undefeated season received a rude wake-up call on Saturday in the form of a rainy 31-0 loss at Penn State.
The Hawkeyes had actually won the last 2 meetings in this series, but not much went right in this one. And it served as evidence of the fact that Iowa has a long way to go to reach the heights of the B1G.
The good news for the Hawkeyes: a struggling Michigan State team is on the schedule next.
Player of the Week: LB Nick Jackson
Disclaimer: This will probably serve this week as the “best of the worst”. And senior linebacker Nick Jackson certainly takes that title after a dismal night in Happy Valley.
Jackson, an offseason transfer from Virginia, finished with 13 tackles, 5 behind team leader Jay Higgins. He was also credited with 2.5 tackles for a loss. Through 4 games, he’s 2nd in tackles on the team with 36 while leading the way in TFLs (3.5).
Biggest surprise: That the score wasn’t worse
The Hawkeyes had 4 first downs. They totaled 76 yards of total offense. They held the ball for 14-and-a-half minutes. They committed 4 turnovers. And they “only” lost by 31.
This was an evening where Penn State’s Drew Allar threw for just 166 yards, but 4 of his passes were for touchdowns. Iowa should count itself fortunate that this one didn’t get even more out of hand.
Biggest concern: A horribly flat performance against a far superior team
This was always going to be an uphill climb for the Hawkeyes. That’s taking the rain out of the equation, as well as the fact that this was one of the Nittany Lions’ famed White Outs.
The fact is, this resembled more of a blackout for the visitors. It’s hard to point to a single thing in this one that went well for them: Cade McNamara was off-target, the run game was non-existent, and they turned it over 4 times.
“We’ll go back to the board tomorrow and push forward,” Kirk Ferentz said after the game. “We’ve got good players, we’ve good young people, and I think we’re going to have a good football team. But clearly, we have work to do.”
The way Saturday looked, that amount of work seems like a mountain.
Key stat: 76
That’s the number of yards the Hawkeyes mustered against the Nittany Lions. McNamara and Deacon Hill combined for 56 of those through the air on just 6-of-16 passing. Iowa was credited with just 20 yards rushing on the evening.
Aller’s 166 yards passing more than doubled the Hawkeyes’ overall output. Kaytron Allen, who had 72 yards rushing for Penn State, had 4 fewer yards than the entire Iowa team.
Developing trend: Cade McNamara has yet to put it together at Iowa
While the weather could have certainly been seen as a factor, both starting quarterbacks had to deal with it. That includes Cade McNamara, who responded with a dismal showing on Saturday.
Hawkeyes fans had plenty of reasons to be excited for McNamara when he announced that he was transferring from Michigan to Iowa during the offseason. That said, he’s not shown the level of development needed to take his game to the next level and truly help this Hawkeyes offense.
Consider it another strike on the ledger of Brian Ferentz, who is already on borrowed time.
First impression about Week 5
Plain and simple, the Hawkeyes have to bounce back against Michigan State. The Spartans’ wins this season have come against FCS Richmond and Central Michigan, while they’ve been blown out in back-to-back weeks by Washington and Maryland.
This one represents a true “get-right” game for Iowa: if it can’t get the job done at home against a Michigan State team that is in turmoil, it runs the risk of sending the remainder of the season into a tailspin.