Now that we have seen our team for 3 games - what do you expect in Iowa game?

[blion72]

our pass defense seems elite
pass rush uses blitz as the key - not sure we have many sample of rush without blitz
rush defense not elite but good enough so far = power running with RBs are avg 4.5 ypc from RBs - not sure how good Iowa is here

rush offense is facing steady 7-8 in box so this is hard to read - assume Iowa will do same as the others have done
pass offense seems still very solid (excluding 3-4 drops yesterday)

KO - excellent
KO return - excellent (not sure what Nick was doing on the play he took a knew but otherwise we seem solid)
Punt return - Saunders seems really solid
Punt - this is the one that feels not so good. I know Riley won the battle but his distance is not great and low trajectory/n hand time leaving returners free run. Iowa lives on field position with changing net punt difference
FG - seems okay now

No turnovers so far this year is superb - Iowa lives on TOs.

 

[Tom_PSU]

I just want them to keep beating the spread. I’m really enjoying my trips to the barber shop on Tuesday’s to collect.

 

[BobPSU92]

I expect we will not be happy.

 

[CDLionFL]

The only way Iowa gets pass yards is if they hit the tight end all day since that seems to be the soft underbelly of our defense most years. Heard the Iowa starting TE got hurt yesterday so that bears watching. Offensively, I'd expect Iowa to make it a slog but we make more plays to take care of business. Looking at around 27-10.

(1st 3 game guesses -- WVU 38-10 (was 38-15), UD 52-6 (was 63-7), Ill 38-13 (was 30-13)).

 

[Nitwit]

Penn State 31 Iowa 17
Ferentz goes through 3 packs of gum

 

[Nitt1300]

Iowa, as usual, doesn't scare anybody on offense. I expect a slight opening up of the passing game, but not enough to make our fans happy. 24 points win it, and Iowa won't score that much.

 

[leinbacker]

Saw we are 14 point favorites, mildly surprised its that high - I figured it would be about -10.

 

[marshall23]

I don't know. Personally, I want to see them dismantled piece by piece. I want them more than Michigan and Ohio State combined. I want them harrassed from the time they land until they take flight home. I want this to be the worst weekend of "Smelly Rat Ferentzs' " life.

 

[Classof09]

27-6. Great win, yet not enough to make a majority of this board believe we won’t lose to OSU or Michigan by 50.

 

[OhioLion]

I don't know. Personally, I want to see them dismantled piece by piece. I want them more than Michigan and Ohio State combined. I want them harrassed from the time they land until they take flight home. I want this to be the worst weekend of "Smelly Rat Ferentzs' " life.

Don’t sugar coat it, Marshall.

If they go 7 in the box, I’d like to see more WR screens and Yurcich find a way to get RB’s on a mismatch with their LBs.
Don’t continue to bang away inside if it isn’t working. Off tackle with pullers and outside zone reads with RPO.
Wouldn’t mind a time or two that Allar pulls the ball and runs backside counter. Can always add a pass off of this action as well.

OL

 

[19333lion]

I hope for great weather. Nothing like a White Out for a TV audience. Can't imagine what it's like in person but probably louder than anything I've ever heard in person. The game? The Lions give the crowd a lot to be loud about!

 

[Tom_PSU]

I hope for great weather. Nothing like a White Out for a TV audience. Can't imagine what it's like in person but probably louder than anything I've ever heard in person. The game? The Lions give the crowd a lot to be loud about!

Never been, I’m going to set you up with the “Home White Out Experience”.
1. Rent four Bose 500 speakers. Make sure everything is hooked up properly.
2. Try and cram at least 30 people into your living room. Everyone should paint either their face or chest white before they come over. **Remind them to use washable paint**.
3. Encourage them all to drink heavily for at least five hours before coming over ** This is the most important step **.
4. At least one hour before game time turn everything on full blast. And never, never, ever lower the volume.
5. I forgot, don’t forget to notify the local authorities that around 11:00 PM you’ll be requesting some first responder assistance.
Have a great game.

 

[J.E.B]

Iowa QB has been there before. It won’t faze him. Tough as nails defense but PSU has the athletes and speed so they have got to get these guys in space. PSU 24-13.

 

[psuro]

I want Iowa to be so embarrassed on the field that the next time they wave to the kids at the hospital,the kids give them back the finger.

 

[Bones80]

Things to watch: do we cover again? Do we continue streak of scoring +30? Do we continue streak of +6.5 tfl? Do we have first TO? Plus seven so far. If I’m Iowa I try to shorten the game by eating clock, play in a box by running up the middle, stuff the run game, and hope to win on TO. If I’m PS, I try to get better athletes in space, score first and force Iowa to play catch up, don’t make stupid mistakes. 34-20 good guys.

 

[Whart]

I hope for great weather. Nothing like a White Out for a TV audience. Can't imagine what it's like in person but probably louder than anything I've ever heard in person. The game? The Lions give the crowd a lot to be loud about!

Early weather Saturday….looks like 64 and partly cloudy. Sunday…..Rain

 

[Charlie1978]

our pass defense seems elite
pass rush uses blitz as the key - not sure we have many sample of rush without blitz
rush defense not elite but good enough so far = power running with RBs are avg 4.5 ypc from RBs - not sure how good Iowa is here

rush offense is facing steady 7-8 in box so this is hard to read - assume Iowa will do same as the others have done
pass offense seems still very solid (excluding 3-4 drops yesterday)

KO - excellent
KO return - excellent (not sure what Nick was doing on the play he took a knew but otherwise we seem solid)
Punt return - Saunders seems really solid
Punt - this is the one that feels not so good. I know Riley won the battle but his distance is not great and low trajectory/n hand time leaving returners free run. Iowa lives on field position with changing net punt difference
FG - seems okay now

No turnovers so far this year is superb - Iowa lives on TOs.

If Iowa has enough patience to stay with the run game, they will lose by less than 2 TDs. If they are over reliant on TOs and get somewhat impatient with the run game, assuming 28, 99, 56 and 51 show up to hurt them, then we win by 20pts. The B1G opponents are mentally like the LIons fans base. From McSorley through Clifford, everyone expects 1-2 interceptions, a fumble or two, some short hoppers, and a either overthrows or holding the ball too long. Allarmerican is none of that and it pays off, and I think it will pay off against the corncobs.

FYI, our backs 10 and 13 are not leveling up this year, in all three games they didn't start to show much past the LB level until the O Line beats the other guys into the ground. Against Delaware it was the second series, against the Illini it was into the 3rd qtr. So until we get some elitification from them and some more of that wide receiver stuff from our wide receivers, then our hopes for a natty basically hinge on the other coach loses the game by trying to win the game through the air, or our D Line slows the run game down enough to give our O LIne enough time to grind them down for our backs to help our #15. That's what elite looks like from a view over the fence.

PS. If you enjoy the agony of your nemesis, we all should be pulling for the devil's army against the Buckeyes. The entire state of Ohio will stroke out for a few months fretting the 2nd loss eliminating them from the playoffs. 2023 is shaping up to be an epic year for college football. Enjoy 12 1-0 weeks with Commander Franklin and see you next week.

 

[Hugh Laurie]

Haven't seen the injury report yet but I think it will be PSU in a low scoring nail biter. Iowa is not going to go easy. They might be the best team in the BIG West.

 

[saxophone colossus]

best team in the west is like saying sexiest old bird in the nursing home

 

[Fizz1]

I'm expecting about the same areas of strengths and weakness as the Illinois game, slightly improved given a road win under their belt. Hopefully that performance will be enough. Need our punting to win the field position game and our FG kicking to give us an edge - both a tough ask.

 

[Ludd]

I'm expecting about the same areas of strengths and weakness as the Illinois game, slightly improved given a road win under their belt. Hopefully that performance will be enough. Need our punting to win the field position game and our FG kicking to give us an edge - both a tough ask.

Home game will help us…white out will help even more.

 

[Thorndike2021]

I don't like Michigan or OSU, but I HATE Iowa. My greatest desire is that we hang about 70 on them.

I just hope we find a way to win it.

 

[BiochemPSU]

On paper this should be a PSU win. Better recruiting rankings and home field plus a defense that can shut down and punish an inferior or error prone passing attack. Would like to have more confidence in our offense going into this one, particularly the run game, but it is what it is.

As another poster said, the Iowa QB and TE have played at PSU before and did well. Iowa usually has one or two NFL guys on that o line and d line who can cause problems. The rest are usually 3 to 4 year players who play hard. However I don’t see the playmakers for Iowa at WR and the RBs look to be a committee who they just ride the hot hand that game. so this looks like a typical Ferentz grind, keep it close, throw in a few trick plays, and see what happens kind of team.

avoid the dumb penalties, don’t miss field goals, and avoid panicking on offense if nothing is working early on, and we should be fine.

 

[step.eng69]

best team in the west is like saying sexiest old bird in the nursing home

F-off sax,
I hang around nursing homes looking for a little extra in my limited life.

 

[DodgerHawki]

On paper this should be a PSU win. Better recruiting rankings and home field plus a defense that can shut down and punish an inferior or error prone passing attack. Would like to have more confidence in our offense going into this one, particularly the run game, but it is what it is.

As another poster said, the Iowa QB and TE have played at PSU before and did well. Iowa usually has one or two NFL guys on that o line and d line who can cause problems. The rest are usually 3 to 4 year players who play hard. However I don’t see the playmakers for Iowa at WR and the RBs look to be a committee who they just ride the hot hand that game. so this looks like a typical Ferentz grind, keep it close, throw in a few trick plays, and see what happens kind of team.

avoid the dumb penalties, don’t miss field goals, and avoid panicking on offense if nothing is working early on, and we should be fine.

There's a reason Iowa is a 14-point underdog. Hawks have a nice team, but PSU is more talented across the board.

Iowa's defense is good, but they lost 2 first rounders off the defense in Van Ness (Packers) and Cambell (Lions). But Penn State will stress the Iowa defense way more than any opponent so far has. Iowa's offense is better than last year, but last year was historically bad. So it's not good. Just not historically bad. McNamara is dealing with a strained quad he got in camp. Can't really run at this point.

If Iowa is to keep it close, it will need something big on special teams and manage to somehow hit a couple of big plays on offense. The Iowa special teams are very good. Blocked a punt for a safety last week, blocked a FG against Iowa State the week before.

I would expect Penn State to win 23-10 or 23-14.

 

[ApexLion]

I don't know. Personally, I want to see them dismantled piece by piece. I want them more than Michigan and Ohio State combined. I want them harrassed from the time they land until they take flight home. I want this to be the worst weekend of "Smelly Rat Ferentzs' " life.

I want fake injuries by the entire PSU team and the fans all at the same time after we put 42 on them.

 

[ApexLion]

Iowa QB has been there before. It won’t faze him. Tough as nails defense but PSU has the athletes and speed so they have got to get these guys in space. PSU 24-13.

I’m expecting a Michigan sequence to start the game. So loud the paint comes off their helmets. McNamara won’t hear himself.

 

[DaytonRickster]

Don’t sugar coat it, Marshall.

If they go 7 in the box, I’d like to see more WR screens and Yurcich find a way to get RB’s on a mismatch with their LBs.
Don’t continue to bang away inside if it isn’t working. Off tackle with pullers and outside zone reads with RPO.
Wouldn’t mind a time or two that Allar pulls the ball and runs backside counter. Can always add a pass off of this action as well.

OL

I'm not sure they will go 7 in the box. They are a zone defense team. Different scheme than Illinois.

 

[Ludd]

I want fake injuries by the entire PSU team and the fans all at the same time after we put 42 on them.

If Iowa has any player injuries, boo the crap out of them.

 

[Picnits]

If Iowa has any player injuries, boo the crap out of them.

Please don’t. Then we will look just as despicable as Iowa fans did 2 years ago. Plus why would anyone want to boo an injured kId???

 

[Ludd]

Please don’t. Then we will look just as despicable as Iowa fans did 2 years ago. Plus why would anyone want to boo an injured kId???

Taking the high road hasn’t exactly worked well for us. Let Iowa fans know what it’s like.

 

[Charlie1978]

best team in the west is like saying sexiest old bird in the nursing home

Einstein was right everything is relative, so they are kinda big deal in their circles. The ol' best down hill ski champion in Kansas sorta thing. but seriously, I would love to see NU back in the Big12 so we can make room for ND. Now that the dust is starting to settle on the geogreedaphy of college football, I would like to see WVU and ND join the B1G.

 

[Midnighter]

Do not put the ‘I word’ in thread titles!!! You trying to have this board flooded with corn hawks!?!

 

[blion72]

I'm expecting about the same areas of strengths and weakness as the Illinois game, slightly improved given a road win under their belt. Hopefully that performance will be enough. Need our punting to win the field position game and our FG kicking to give us an edge - both a tough ask.

the net punting differential is one area that does not feel like a plus for us. we have many places where we seem to have advantages, but punting seems tough. do they still have the guy who punted against us two years ago? punting in most of the games we have played against them has played a big role.

 

[BobPSU92]

I just want them to keep beating the spread. I’m really enjoying my trips to the barber shop on Tuesday’s to collect.

Point shaving?

 

[Calabrin]

-better play from both lines
-open up the pass game

Last season we didn’t have an especially talented QB. Now we do, so we can’t fall back on the excuse of, “Yeah, but he’s young!” Feh! Throw the ball. That’s what he’s here for! That’s why we’re all excited to have him.

If Iowa is going to stack 8 in the box (as everyone has done against us) then we should be coming out five wide and using the pass to set up the run (instead of trying to force it to be the other way around).

 

[J.E.B]

Just compare this years squad vs. last years team after three games. I’d give the nod to last years team.

 

[leinbacker]

Haven't seen the injury report yet but I think it will be PSU in a low scoring nail biter. Iowa is not going to go easy. They might be the best team in the BIG West.

so maybe a 5-4 score

 

[leinbacker]

If Iowa has any player injuries, boo the crap out of them.

Do the opposite, if their players get hurt, cheer in an ear shattering volume when they get up

 

[Ludd]

Just compare this years squad vs. last years team after three games. I’d give the nod to last years team.

Huh? A come from behind win in our opener against a team comparable to a team we blew out in this year’s opener. A 46-10 win over a G5 team in game two last year against a 63-7 win against an FCS team this year. A 41-12 win over a team who wasn’t as good as the team we beat this year 30-13. And last year we had a six year QB and this year we have a QB in his first year as a starter. How would anyone give the nod to last year’s team?