Joe Paterno had a great Big Ten record, no thanks to Iowa

I'm not going to write about the life and times of Joe Paterno. You can find column after column and story after story on Paterno on your Web browser, many of them very good.

I'll just say even the best of us is flawed. Even the best of us have blind spots or can make a serious mistake in a crucial moment in time. The least of us don't leave any good footprints behind, don't have all sorts of people singing their praises and insisting the deceased impacted their lives in positive and lasting ways.

But ... this Jerry Sandusky business and the way Paterno and other Penn State administrators didn't get it stopped ... that won't be forgotten. Nor should it.

All news is local, so I'll focus on the series between Penn State under Paterno, and Iowa under Bob Commings, Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz.

It wasn't like most of Penn State's series with other teams. For one thing, Iowa was competitive. More than competitive, in fact.

Paterno was 12-11 against Iowa. He was 5-1 against Commings, 4-2 against Fry, 3-8 against Ferentz.

Late in Commings' tenure at Iowa, in 1978, the embattled coach proclaimed "Dummies don't beat Joe Paterno." In his final game against Penn State, at Happy Valley in 1976, the Hawkeyes pulled out a 7-6 victory that was a shocker, to say the least.

Iowa went to USC the following week and lost 55-0 to the Trojans. The Hawkeyes went 5-6 that season and in 1977, but went 2-9 in 1978 and Commings was fired. But he did beat Paterno. Once.

Fry's two first Iowa-Penn State games were in 1983 and 1984, before the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten. Those two nonconference games were doozies, with Iowa winning 42-34 at State College and Penn State prevailing 20-17 in Iowa City. Chuck Long passed for 345 yards in the win. In the '84 game, Iowa's running back was stopped on a power sweep on 4th-and-1 at the Penn State 29 with 1:57 left in the game.

Iowa's first three Big Ten games against Penn State, from 1993 through 1995, weren't good from the Hawkeyes' standpoint. They lost all three by a total of 84 points. But in '96, Fry's last game against the Lions was a keeper, a 21-20 win in State College.

Penn State entered the game ranked 10th. Tim Dwight scored on an 83-yard punt return. His fellow Iowa City High classmate, Rob Thein, a redshirt freshman running back, threw a pass on a trick play to set up Iowa's winning score.

Then came Ferentz. His first team, in 1999, was overmatched by the Lions and lost 31-7. But in 2000, Iowa shocked Happy Valley and beyond with a 26-23 double-overtime win. Heroics were again performed by an Iowa City native, Ryan Hansen, whose interception in the second OT secured the victory.

Iowa won home games over the Lions in 2001 and 2003. Sandwiched between them was a 42-35 overtime win at Beaver Stadium in '02. The Hawkeyes led 26-7 at halftime and 35-13 with a little over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. But the seven minutes of hell PSU gave Iowa was erased by the Hawkeyes getting the job done in the OT.

The weirdest game in the series was at State College in 2004. Iowa 6, Penn State 4.

The Nittany Lions had just 147 yards of offense. Robbie Gould, who has made a lot of big field goals for the Chicago Bears, missed two field goals in this game including a 25-yarder. Kyle Schlicher (rhymes with "kicker') made two 27-yarders for Iowa, which went on to share the Big Ten title.

The two teams didn't meet  in 2005 and 2006, and Penn State hung a 27-7 home field whipping on Iowa in '07. Then came two of the most-memorable games in the series.

In 2008, Penn State came to Kinnick Stadium ranked No. 3 with a 9-0 record. After three quarters, it led the Hawkeyes 23-14.

Iowa won 24-23. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi was unflappable down the stretch. Shonn Greene was Shonn Greene. Tyler Sash had a huge interception late in the game. Daniel Murray made a 31-yard field goal with :01 left.

Few football moments in Kinnick have been more memorable.

The Hawkeyes hit a rough patch in 2006 and 2007, on and off the field. This particular victory seemed to pull the program out of that funk, and the season ended with a resounding Outback Bowl win over South Carolina.

Iowa's 2009 Big Ten season opened at No. 5 Penn State. Daryll Clark threw a 79-yard touchdown pass on the Lions' first offensive play. It got harder.

Defensive end Adrian Clayborn ran over Penn State's Nick Sukay, blocked a Jeremy Boone punt, picked up the ball and ran 53 yards for a touchdown to give Iowa an 11-10 lead. Clayborn and all of Iowa's defense took over from there, forcing three fourth-quarter turnovers. Iowa's offense held up its end of the bargain, too, and the Hawkeyes posted a 21-10 win that got them pointed to a 5-0 start in the Big Ten and 9-0 overall.

Iowa handled Penn State 24-3 in Iowa City in 2010, then lost 13-3 to the Lions in 2011 in State College.

Paterno's Big Ten record was 95-54, but he was a mere 6-9 in conference play against Iowa.

The Nittanies come to Iowa on Oct. 20. It's going to feel more than a little strange to see someone else coaching Penn State next season.