I believe the DT Shannon was the one busted for gambling and is disqualified from playing
Wow...Penn State opens as 10-point favorite against Iowa...bet up to 14
- Thread starter Jerry
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Only two teams on the schedule have comparable talent to Penn State. Unlike an NFL schedule where all games feature matchups with comparable talent.
Now stop being a dipshit.
Doesn’t matter, every game matters even against teams that don’t have comparable talent. If you can’t enjoy every game in a season, then why watch? It’s ridiculous that some posters on here act like every team we play other than OSU and Michigan are MAC level teams.
Iowa only outgained one of their cupcake opponents, and the improvement at QB appears minimal at best, before they lost a key TE. If our Receivers run good routes and catch the damn ball it will be more like 21 points. People are really bending over backwards to make Iowa sound like a challenge, much like talking up Illinois since late Summer.
If Lachey is still out that's big. He's a wonderful player, probably their best player.
It would be foolish to say Iowa doesn't have a shot. Of course they do. They are the closest thing to a Joe Paterno team left in college football. Joe won a lot of games the way that Iowa wins -- tough bend-but-don't-break defense, conservative, patient offense and a good solid kicking game.
I fully expect Iowa to be a step up from Illinois -- Illinois may have better athletes in some places but Iowa has tradition and a team identity and always plays with tenacity and emotion.
Obviously Iowa will try to run the ball and keep the PSU offense off the field. Defensively they'll gladly give up 3 yards per play and count on being able to stop PSU in 3rd down situations. If they can do both, and limit PSU explosive plays, they keep it close and it comes down to a coin flip at the end. And Iowa (like Paterno) knows how to eke out a close win.
When PSU has dominated Iowa it's because PSU had a lot of speed that Iowa couldn't handle. This year's PSU team has speed offensively but I don't know if the offense is developed enough to really take advantage of that speed yet. They had explosive plays against West Virginia but not against Ill. because of the Ill. pass rush.
Where I would worry if I were Iowa is that PSU has a lot of upside potential, a lot of room to improve, and they might, playing at home, be a lot better team than they were in the 1st half against Illinois.
If PSU can put Iowa into 2nd and long or 3rd and long, then the PSU D is built to produce turnovers. And offensively, PSU has speed to put a lot of points on the board if they can get the Iowa defense to bite just a little bit on some misdirection.
So who knows but the line is probably about right. Iowa's an underdog but at the same time can win this game if PSU offense can't operate.
Penn State has 34 active NFL players, good for #8 in the country while Iowa has 29 which is #12. Kirk Ferentz is 10-7 against PSU. I'd say the talent on the two rosters on any given year is at the very least "comparable."
We will play better. White Out motivation and some payback for '21. Don't think this is real close, 14 point spread or around that as Vegas has indicated seems right. So maybe they are tougher than Illnois but we will play better (particularly Allar) so it may end up the same kind of result. Turnovers are the only thing that can keep them in the game.
Well said
Lots of NFL developed talent in both these programs! Iowa just doesn't have the speedy skill players that Penn State gets.
Iowa gets mostly 2-3 star unheralded kids and is tasked with lots of development training.
All good points.
Speaking of Paterno, one of his signature acts was to never take any team lightly. Joe could make the Little Sisters of the Poor sound like a serious challenge. Regardless of what any of us fans may think, I hope the team is bringing that old Paterno mindset to this game: be ready for a dogfight.
I think Iowa is better than Illinois, and our comfortable margin in that game was a little deceptive. The O was repeatedly given short fields on which to operate, and its performance was underwhelming. Hopefully the problems with the OL and running game were a wake-up call because we need better than that on Saturday night.
No question, this game is the highlight of the first half of the season. I once admired Kirk Ferentz...until he did that chickenshit number in response to our injuries in 2021. But on the field it'll be their guys against our guys, and I don't think the idiocy of Ferentz or Iowa fans from two years ago will be uppermost in the minds of the players on either side.
That said, you'd have to believe Franklin, in his heart of hearts, would be happy for a little payback. I know I would. But blowout or dogfight, winning the game is the main thing.
Yeah it was a serious injury to Iowa's #1 receiving option. Lets just say It looked real bad on TV
Iowa does have some depth at TE with The transfer from Michigan Erick All leading the way now.
And Iowa used to beat us pretty regularly when Joe was the coach and we had more talent then too.
Point spreads only matter to gamblers, psu could be up by 8 with Iowa goal to goal with less than a minute left. A DB intercepts a pass for a pick six and it’s a fifteen point lead and we beat the spread.
Or psu is up 9 after three but Iowa never really threatens . Just looking at the scores makes you think the first was the easier game. I watch the games to see what happens, lol:
Or psu is up 9 after three but Iowa never really threatens . Just looking at the scores makes you think the first was the easier game. I watch the games to see what happens, lol:
The Illinois game was a good example. Penn State cruising to a W, so you're pretty happy. Unless you laid the 14 points in which case you're sweating bullets as the Illini move down the field against our back-ups in garbage time.
I think too much is made of the OL "problems" versus Illinois. They have a very good defensive front and they were stacking the box to stop the run then playing man on man defense behind that. Watching the game replay, it really wasn't that bad but certainly good play by Illinois and numerous mistakes by PSU kept it close at the half when it could have easily been 20 or 27 to nothing. While the Iowa DL isn't quite as good as Illinois, they have good twisting and stunting schemes that will challenge our OL. In the secondary, they'll play zone almost exclusively and hope that the QB makes some mistakes. That's how they get their interceptions. I think Allar will have a good day and can pick them apart.
Offensively, are we really worried about them? I think 17 points would be a good performance on their end so how many do we score?
Hard to believe Illinois was beaten easily by Kansas the week before. But, then again they just barely beat Toledo in the closing seconds. If Iowa puts 6-7 guys at the LOS, and has a DT anywhere near as explosive as Newton, we may have a problem if this weeks practice doesn't adjust with the OL play.
Why we didn't capitalize on Illinois having one safety in center field, I don't know. The entire secondary was wide open beyond 5 yards. Like to see them play that defense against the Buckeyes. Their WR's will have a field day.
Newton was one of the most disruptive DT's I have seen in the Big 10 in years. A lowly 3 star, 250 lb. DT out of Florida.
Why we didn't capitalize on Illinois having one safety in center field, I don't know. The entire secondary was wide open beyond 5 yards. Like to see them play that defense against the Buckeyes. Their WR's will have a field day.
Newton was one of the most disruptive DT's I have seen in the Big 10 in years. A lowly 3 star, 250 lb. DT out of Florida.
Iowa is a tough and physical opponent. PSU did not play well against ILL but still won easily and exceeded the spread in our first away game. ILL also plays us tough as does their coach BB.
But moving onto Iowa, their schedule so far:
But moving onto Iowa, their schedule so far:
- Beat Utah State, not to be confused with Utah, 24 14. utah state is 0-3 with other losses to memphis and Boise State
- Beat Iowa State at Iowa State 20-13, Iowa State got beat but Ohio University Saturday
- Beat Western MI 41-10
And Kansas only beat 0-3 Nevada by 7. The game was tied into the 4th quarter. Road games are hard.
And he only weighs 295 lbs. He's not some monstrous 315+ lbs NT. Moves like he's 270 lbs.
Exactly. It could amount to nothing, but they have been weak against weak competition. What would their record be if they swapped with Illinois and played Toledo, Kansas, and us?
Agreed but I'll say this: the unsportsmanlike call against KLS was a game-changer. IIRC, we would have been in ILL territory with second and 7 at the 25. KLS gets a 15 yard penalty after the play making it 3rd and 17 from the 35. We have to kick a 52 yard FG. the kicker has to drive it instead of loft it and it gets blocked. Momentum swings and ILL drives for their only real TD against our first team. That penalty ended up being a 10 or 14-point swing. If we kick that FG or get that TD, we'd have been up 16-0 or 20-0. Instead, we are at 13-7 and it is a ball game. If we are up by 16, ILL would have had to get more aggressive on O with us more aggressive on D and we are looking at a blow out.
WVU and Illinois are still better than Iowa State, Utah State, and Western Michigan. Have either of us played a legit ranked team yet? No. Wouldn't you say our opponents would be favored to beat their opponents?
Illinois is better. We know my thoughts on WVU. I just don't think any of the teams either school have played are a test. Don't get me wrong, as much as I think our first 6 games are pure trash I think Michigan's schedule is even softer but I'm not going to pretend WVU is better than other bad teams. I really don't know. Let's see how they do the next two weeks and if I'm wrong I'll own it.
We played two power five teams. Teams that aren't great but are dangerous. Again, you could take the combined rosters of five of the six teams UM and tOSU played and you still wouldn't have a team as talented as PSU/UM/tOSU
I'm not saying WVU is going to win a bunch of games. I'm just saying that I have no qualms believing that they are considerably better than the teams Iowa played.
They already beat Pitt. That's 1 more than some expected.
Yes, I didn't think they would but I also didn't think they'd have the benefit of Greene not being on the field.
I wouldn't use the term considerably better. They beat Duquesne then a Pitt team who's QB should retire.
We're making too much of a P5 team. Indiana is a P5 team, right? You could take the combined roster of who we played and they wouldn't be as talented as PSU/Michigan/OSU. We define "dangerous" differently. Even in the first half of WVU/Illinois I was never worried for a second.
If nothing else, WVU has a very good o-line and a decent d-front 7, and PSU did fine against them. I doubt that Iowa's o-line is as good as WVU's and their defensive front won't be significantly better, if they are better.
Also, this is the same Iowa that scored a whopping 20 points against what obviously is a bad ISU team. There's no way that they should score those many points against PSU on the road in a night game.
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Agreed. WVU had an all-american center and an all big 12 left tackle. ILL's front 7 was considered as good as any in the B1G according to the B1G roadshow talking heads. ILL played awful against Toledo and Kansas. I think Kansas surprised them. I also think without KLS's unsportsmanlike penalty, we beat ILL by 30. Huge swing that we were, fortunately, able to overcome.
Don't get me wrong. I think Penn State wins 24-6. I don't see Iowa doing anything. I just don't think how we dominated WVU mean much.
That KLS penalty would have had him riding the bench for a game or two if Joepa were coaching. And rightfully so.
Maybe if those two games were UMass and Northwestern but he's our only reliable receiver.
One thing not being mentioned much in this thread is the White Out environment being a big advantage for us. I think it can be worth as much as a TD advantage. It is a huge intangible that will spark the team. I think it amps up the defense while helping Allar's confidence. Now this White Out should be against Michigan but I digress.
Iowa seems pretty pedestrian but they will play solidly and tough. That is their DNA. Their QB won't be throwing picks all over like the Illinois QB. They are so meat and potatoes and predictable. Ferentz will coach like Paterno did.
Conservative and hope the defense can win it for them.
I don't see a plausible path to Iowa winning. Allar has to play poorly with probably a pick or maybe 2, running game is not explosive and we give up some sacks. No big plays in the passing game. On defense, we get no turnovers and they have success running as in around 200 yards rushing. Finally, they hit a couple big plays on us, maybe a trick play after pounding the ground game. In a nutshell we have a C minus type of performance and they have an A performance. I highly doubt all this falls in Iowa's favor especially in a White Out.
Iowa seems pretty pedestrian but they will play solidly and tough. That is their DNA. Their QB won't be throwing picks all over like the Illinois QB. They are so meat and potatoes and predictable. Ferentz will coach like Paterno did.
Conservative and hope the defense can win it for them.
I don't see a plausible path to Iowa winning. Allar has to play poorly with probably a pick or maybe 2, running game is not explosive and we give up some sacks. No big plays in the passing game. On defense, we get no turnovers and they have success running as in around 200 yards rushing. Finally, they hit a couple big plays on us, maybe a trick play after pounding the ground game. In a nutshell we have a C minus type of performance and they have an A performance. I highly doubt all this falls in Iowa's favor especially in a White Out.
This--Iowa's only path to win is defensive or ST TDs....plural.
Our run game really needs to get some explosive plays this week. That's my biggest concern heading into Ohio State and Michigan. Way more concerning than Allar.
I think a lot of PSU fans are overreacting to a mediocre performance against Illinois. Consider that was the first road test for Allar, he didn’t play great, we had some dropped passes and some stupid penalties. I think you’ll see a much crisper performance from the entire team this Saturday.
Iowa’s D is good, but I expect PSU to win by 13-17 points.
Iowa’s D is good, but I expect PSU to win by 13-17 points.
