Watch James Franklin's postgame press conference following Penn State's 31-0 win over Iowa
Penn State fans couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend their Saturday night. Sure, the weather wasn’t the best, but the 110,830 Nittany Lion fans who piled into Beaver Stadium weren’t thinking about that much once the game started, as the Nittany Lions dominated Iowa in every facet of the game, winning 31-0.
We’ll start with the defense, which not only pitched its first shutout since last November’s win over Maryland but also held the Hawkeyes to 76 total yards on the night. The Nittany Lions also forced four fumbles, all of which were recovered by the defense. They were so dominant that Iowa had the ball just 33 players the entire night. The time of possession difference was 45:27 to just 14:33.
Offensively, quarterback Drew Allar completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 166 yards and four touchdowns. Five rushers combined for 57 carries and 215 yards, with Kaytron Allen leading the way with 72 yards rushing. Nick Singleton added another 49 yards rushing, while wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith led the receivers with eight receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown.
Highs & Lows: Penn State demolishes Iowa to White Out delight
As you would expect, head coach James Franklin was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I just thought we played really good complementary football; offense, defense and special teams,” Franklin said to open his postgame press conference. “Obviously, our defense played a suffocating style of D. We were able to get turnovers and were extremely ball aware, but the other thing again is that we didn’t turn the ball over on offense either.”
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Franklin went on to add, “We only allowed 76 yards in the entire game. That’s the 10th-fewest in school history. Iowa only had four first downs in the entire game, the fourth-fewest allowed in Penn State history. The offense had four scoring drives of 10-plus plays, which also went hand in hand with a possession time of 45:27 seconds, which I’ve never seen before.
“We’ve scored 30 or more points 11 times in a row now. That leads the nation. The Nittany Lions have also scored in 28 straight quarters. That’s the longest streak in the country. Just a ton of stuff to be proud of. We won the turnover battle, [and] we know how important that stat is. We did not win the explosive play battle, but I do think we grinded that game out, which when you’re playing a team like Iowa, you can’t get bored of grinding it out.”
