Penn State overwhelms Iowa with offensive fireworks

The line opened at five points in favor of Penn State.

The Penn State Nittany Lions found themselves ranked No. 12 when the initial College Football Playoff poll was released Tuesday evening, and they spent Saturday night proving why they deserved to be ranked so high.

In their first seven games, the Nittany Lions were penalized an average of 4.4 times, for 41 yards. Two (Rutgers and Michigan State) are a combined 0-12 in conference play.

Heading into October, Franklin had 16 victories in two-plus seasons at Penn State, but only six came against Power 5 conference schools, and none of those victories was impressive – Rutgers (twice), in (twice), IL and Boston College.

The Whitehall High School graduate racked up 167 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

The Nittany Lions continued forcing turnovers as Troy Apke recorded the first interception of his career in the fourth quarter, setting up the McSorley to Barkley touchdown strike.

Receivers coach Josh Gattis called the wheel-route play that Barkley converted into a 44-yard touchdown pass in the second half.

Ferentz is 8-4 against the Nittany Lions and expressed disappointment earlier this week that conference realignment has prevented the two teams from playing since 2012. Running back Saquon Barkley got the ball three times, getting the ball down to the Iowa 33. “That’s what great players do”.

“You can kind of see it in the defense’s demeanor when you’re gashing them”, Barkley said.

Penn State would outgain the Hawkeyes, 143-41, in the first quarter.

Those attempts equaled the entire number of plays Iowa ran in the game. Iowa then went 3-and-out after receiving the ensuing kickoff. The sophomore back has scored on long plays to begin each of the last two fourth quarters. But the game was well in hand by then. A 25.8-percent success rate ranked last in the Big Ten and only three teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision had a worse third-down conversion rate entering weekend.

The slim chance of Penn State playing for a conference or national title remains dependent on MI losing twice, a longer-than-long shot. Penn State (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) also climbed in this week’s coaches poll, from No. 23 to No. 14, marking the biggest rise in that particular poll within the past week. However, the Lions played together and, like libero Kendall White said the previous night, kept fighting to finish the game. Look for more gadget plays with the redshirt freshman quarterback. I’m really proud of Chasz Wright. Starter Andrew Nelson was injured against Maryland and is out for the season.

Penn State, these Hawkeyes learned, just might be for real.

On the other side of the ball, the Penn State defense held Iowa to just 234 total yards, including just 30 on the ground. It almost tripled the Hawkeyes in total yards (348-128) and generated another collection of explosive plays. McSorley hit Saeed Blacknall on a 19-yard pass to cap Penn State’s opening possession and Barkley took off for a 57-yard touchdown run two possessions later. He had a rough stretch in the first half of the year, but voters are mostly concerned about what stars do in crunch time.

Iyke, a sophomore defensive linemen, carried the USA flag onto the flag as part of Penn State’s Military Appreciation activities. He completed 11 of 18 passes and showed the improved decision making in both the run and pass game that has turned the Penn State offense into a dynamic, point-scoring machine. While on deployment in 2014, Iyke watched the Penn State-Ohio State game and was captivated.

“I’ve talked to both of them, ” Franklin said. “When you have the chance to hit the home run, you better hit the home run”.