Penn State posted its first shutout of a ranked team since 1999 Saturday night, slowly squeezing the life out of visiting Iowa in front of the second largest crowd ever to watch a game at Beaver Stadium.

Drew Allar led a grind-it-out offense with 4 TD passes as the No. 7 Nittany Lions (4-0) pelted the No. 24 Hawkeyes (3-1) even more than Ophelia’s steady rain drops did in a 31-0 demolition.

Manny Diaz’s defense carried the day, harassing QB Cade McNamara into a miserable night (5-14, 42 yards) while limiting the Hawkeyes to 76 yards and 14:33 of possession time — only 13 yards and 5:46 with the ball after intermission.

Penn State ran 97 plays to Iowa’s 33, and turned a 10-0 halftime score into a rout with long, methodical drives, racking up 28 first downs. The Lions averaged just 3.8 yards per rush attempt and 4.6 per pass, yet steamrolled the Hawkeyes.

Player of the Week: Chop Robinson

On the stat sheet, Robinson racked up all of 2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 2 QB hurries. Of course, Iowa ran only 33 plays, including 10 incompletions, so there weren’t a whole lot of opportunities to make plays. (Penn State had 24 tackles, with Curtis Jacobs and Abdul Carter leading the way with 3 each.)

Robinson forced many of Iowa’s errant passes, getting to Cade McNamara off the edge and up the middle, beating tackles and guards alike as an equal opportunity pass-rusher and havoc-creator. McNamara and backup Deacon Hill completed 6 passes, dumping the ball off to open turf to avoid more than the 3 sacks the Lions added to their ledger (13 on the year).

Unsung hero: Beau Pribula

The redshirt freshman brings a fun and reassuring game to the field as Drew Allar’s backup. The young man can run the ball out of the quarterback position, that’s for sure. Seeing action for the 4th straight week, Pribula carried 8 times for a career-best 55 yards with a high of 18 — he’s had a rush of 10+ yards in each game. If Iowa did any scouting, they had to know it was coming. But they couldn’t stop the slippery slasher from of York, Pa.

A high-3-star recruit last year, Pribula can sling the ball as well as run it, and will give Penn State a chance if he ever has to play in crunch time this year. It would not be a repeat of 2 years ago — when a very different outcome occurred against Iowa after Sean Clifford had to exit the game with an injury. Pribula clearly is a Trace McSorley type of QB, and currently leads the Lions in yards per carry (5.9) and ranks 3rd in rushing yards at 166. Not bad for a guys who’s only played 1 game worth of snaps so far.

He only got to throw the ball 3 times Saturday night, completing 1 for 16 yards. But that will come. The next 2 games are at Northwestern and vs. UMass, and it’s a good bet Pribula will play in both of them.

Biggest surprise: Struggling RBs, line

Credit Penn State for persistence. The Lions kept pounding, running the ball 57 times and eventually amassing 215 yards. Credit Iowa’s solid and stout defense for making them earn every inch.

But it remains a worry that stellar sophomores Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton can’t bust a big run. Neither has had a 20-yard run yet this season, and they combined to average 3.2 yards on 38 carries against the Hawkeyes.

Perhaps the loss of LG Landon Tengwall to a preseason injury is hurting even more than expected. Perhaps opponents are still loading the box and daring Allar to beat them. Whatever the reason, the line remains a work in progress, particularly in the run game — way better than 2021, but not quite as good as the group that closed 2022 with 5 straight victories.

With only 2 sacks allowed on the year and none vs. Iowa, the line is finding its footing in pass-pro.

It has time to up its overall game with 2 soft opponents before the trip to Ohio State on Oct. 21.

Biggest concern: Lack of secondary WRs

Maybe Penn State doesn’t need a definitive No. 2 behind KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who had 8 catches for 66 yards and a TD on Saturday. Allar completed 9 passes to tight ends (Theo Johnson 6 catches, Tyler Warren 2 TDs, Kahlil Dinkins TD) and 6 to running backs. He took what Iowa’s defense was giving, extending his no-INT streak to 14 games and 4 starts. He’s now the only B1G full-time starting QB who hasn’t thrown a pick this season.

But the wide receiver corps seems extremely limited beyond Lambert-Smith right now. Liam Clifford had 2 catches for 17 yards. Dante Cephas, in his first start as a Lion, caught 1 ball for 11 yards and appeared to run the wrong route on another play. The touted transfer from Kent State has but 5 receptions on the season and seems out of sync with Allar and the offense. No other WR caught a ball Saturday night.

Developing trend: Monster crowds

Even with rain, wind and temperatures in the 50s, 110,830 packed into Beaver Stadium for the 15th official, full-stadium White Out, just 60 bodies short of setting an all-time attendance record. That comes after 110,747 showed up for the season-opening night game victory over West Virginia. Even for Delaware at noon, more than 108K showed up.

Traffic jams and slow exits from parking lots are going to remain the norm until the Lions drop a game. It comes with the top 10 territory, and no legit fan should be complaining.

Penn State is No. 1 in college football in 2023 with an average home crowd of 110,051, besting even Michigan, which has averaged 109,668 for 4 September dates at The Big House.

Key stat: Iowa 12 offensive plays in 2nd half

Penn State’s defense made the most of its 14 minutes and 33 seconds on the field, forcing 3 of Iowa’s 4 turnovers and limiting the Hawkeyes to 4 first downs. Iowa finished with 76 yards on 33 plays, with only 13 of those yards and 12 of those plays coming after intermission. Cade McNamara went 0-for-1 passing after halftime and backup Deacon Hill was 1-for-2. In terms of yards allowed, this was PSU’s best B1G game ever and best effort overall since holding Temple to 74 yards in 2006.

Quote of the week

“Coach Manny [Diaz, defensive coordinator], he’s creative. …We have drops. We have stunts. Sometimes we are just straight gone, sometimes we take the receiver. … We have a bunch of different things that Coach Manny does. … It’s a fun defense to play in. Like I said, he’s coming up with different things on defense that use all of our different specialties. … With me, Chop, and Adisa [Isaac] on the prowler on the third down package that we have, [that] is going to be a lot of fun. … Later in the season when we get in the groove of things even more, it’s going to be amazing.” — DE Dani Dennis-Sutton

5  final Week 4 notes …

Penn State is the only team in the FBS without a turnover. Oregon fell from the ranks when Bo Nix threw a pick in the Ducks’ rout of Deion Sanders’ Colorado squad. At plus-11, PSU leads the nation in turnover margin. … TE Theo Johnson’s 6 catches set a career high. … The Lions extended the nation’s longest active streak of games with 30+ points to 11 — 4 short of the school record set in 1993-94. … The Lions’ streak of 11 games with at least 6 tackles for loss came to an end. They had 5. … The defense held Iowa to 2 yards and no first downs over a span of 7 drives starting late in the first quarter.

Market update: Buy/hold

The team remains on course to reach its Oct. 21 trip to Ohio State at 6-0, and is looking every bit the Buckeyes’ equal after No. 6 OSU needed a last-second TD to edge No. 9 Notre Dame 17-14. The Lions have played solid, turnover-free football for 4 weeks, and yet they have room to improve in several areas — particularly explosive plays. They certainly have not peaked yet.

First impression about Week 5

at Northwestern, noon Saturday (BTN): This game against the Wildcats (2-2 after a 37-34 OT win over Minnesota) finishes out the B1G cross-divisional slate for Penn State. As multi-TD favorites, the Lions should complete the sweep of their 3 West opponents with little trouble.

Fans probably will want to scout the forecast more than the Northwestern roster, because crazy weather has more potential to be an equalizer than anyone interim coach David Braun can put on the field. To that end, 6 days out AccuWeather sees 70 degrees and mostly sunny on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Assuming the forecast holds and the Lions arrive awake and alert for the 11 a.m. local time kick, only gamblers should be fretting by the time halftime rolls around. Northwestern ranks 11th in the B1G in total offense and 12th in defense.