2-Minute Drill: Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Iowa Hawkeyes

Penn State (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) has legit Rose Bowl aspirations. Actually, on college football Reddit this week, someone posted Purdue's road to the Rose Bowl. For this year. But let's not go down that Byzantine path and stick to Penn State.

After the No. 12 Nittany Lions face off with Iowa Saturday, they have road trips to Indiana (4-4, 2-3) and Rutgers (2-6, 0-5) before closing at Michigan State (2-6, 0-5).

The Lions are poised to vulture something nice out of the Big Ten East Division, with Ohio State, a team they beat, and Michigan on their annual collision course and the winner of that game likely headed to the Big Ten title game and a chance for the College Football Playoff.

Iowa sat in this very seat last season and hit the Rose Bowl lottery for the first time in 25 years. The Hawkeyes are playing for Big Ten West survival and will be every week for the rest of the season as long as they win. Penn State is playing for a shot at its first Rose Bowl since 2009.

OK, it's not quite as dramatic as Iowa's 25-year absence, but there will be a whiff of the rose Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

Game time is 6:30 p.m. and is on the Big Ten Network.

PENN STATE RUSH DEFENSE VS. IOWA RUSH OFFENSE

This is Brent Pry's first season as Penn State's defensive coordinator, but not his first season with head coach James Franklin and the Lions' personnel.

PSU has had one of the nation's best defenses in its first two seasons, and that drew Tennessee's attention to former coordinator Bob Shoop, who accepted the coordinator spot with the Volunteers. Pry coached PSU's front seven in those two seasons before moving into coordinator in February.

Basically, the Lions under Pry are a tough, physical 4-3 built on fundamentals. A few things that really help things along include the fact that the Lions have 11 defensive linemen with 100-plus snaps this season. That's unbelievable, Rose Bowl-level depth. Also, veteran linebackers Brandon Bell (6-1, 233) and Jason Cabinda (6-1, 232) have returned from injury and helped boost PSU to victories over Ohio State and Purdue.

The Lions are on the high side of yards per carry (4.50, 11th in the B1G) and rushing TDs (16, tied for 10th). They also are 10th in the league in yards per carry on first down (4.38).

Iowa's season might be as simple as how the running game goes so go the Hawkeyes. In their three losses, they've been held to 34, 79 and 83 rushing yards.

Iowa has a chance to field what might be its best O-line this week with junior Boone Myers returning from injury and likely pairing with Cole Croston at tackle and moving Ike Boettger inside to left guard.

Iowa's weirdest stat right now is that in only one game has a running back had 20-plus carries (LeShun Daniels had 23 at Purdue). Just last year, this offense had a running back go for 43 carries.

And, yes, Iowa's offense has been hurt by the fact that quarterback C.J. Beathard has been a non-factor in the running game. Last year, he finished with 237 yards, which doesn't sound like a ton, but this year he's at minus-13.

Advantage: Push

PENN STATE PASS DEFENSE VS. IOWA PASS OFFENSE

Penn State's defense has been a disruptive force with 68.0 tackles for loss (No. 2 in B1G) and 23.0 sacks (also second in B1G). What plays here for PSU is the fact that its top six players in sacks are defensive linemen, so PSU hasn't had to manufacture a lot of pass rush. It's getting solid pressure out of the front four, led by junior defensive end Garrett Sickels (6-4, 260) with 5.0 sacks and senior defensive end Evan Schwan (6-6, 263) with 3.0.

Sickels was suspended for the first half against Ohio State and then proceeded to dismantle the Buckeyes' OL, finishing with nine tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 of them sacks. He constantly got pressure on Buckeyes dual-threat quarterback J.T. Barrett. The Lions finished with six sacks vs. OSU.

The Lions have allowed just nine TD passes this season (seventh in B1G) and has eight interceptions (tied for fourth). Free safety Marcus Allen (6-2, 202) leads PSU with 69 tackles. Strong safety Malik Golden (6-0, 205) is second with 49. Cornerback John Reid (5-10, 191) leads PSU with six pass breakups.

Shade has been thrown all during the bye period toward Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis. The passing game against Wisconsin was a disaster. This is something that Iowa can no longer pedal off as 'development' nor is it something that can be explained with 'well, TE Henry Krieger Coble and WR Tevaun Smith graduated.'

The nine months between the Rose Bowl and the start of the season is plenty of time to find/develop viable options at the outside receiver and second pass-catching tight end. If it's not, then it's recruiting and the answer to that question is the same. It's unacceptable.

In the here and now, how fixable is it? Probably not very. Iowa averages 0.09 punts per play, which is in the 100s in the country (Texas Tech leads the nation with 0.03). Iowa averages 1.3 punts per offensive score. That's 85th in the nation. The 11.3 yards per completion is 85th.

Protection will be under fire in this game, especially with another reshuffle on the O-line (this time because of healthy players returning, which is good). How much would tight end George Kittle help pull this along if he returns somewhere close to 100 percent this week (he missed Wisconsin with a foot/ankle injury)?

Advantage: Penn State

PENN STATE RUSH OFFENSE VS. IOWA RUSH DEFENSE

Penn State sophomore Saquon Barkley (5-11, 223) is the best running back in the Big Ten. He's elusive. He can run downhill and through defenders. He has great vision. He's quick and has long-play gear.

Barkley leads the Big Ten with 111.0 yards a game. His 10 rushing TDs ties Minnesota's Rodney Smith for the Big Ten lead. Barkley is fifth in the league with 147 attempts and still averages 6.04 yards per carry. For perspective, former Iowa RB Shonn Greene averaged 6.03 yards per carry in 2008, the year he won the Doak Walker Award.

PSU coach James Franklin is making a low-key surge for B1G coach of the year. For example, the Lions have implemented more of a spread attack with quarterback Christian Hackenberg on to the NFL. It's the scheme Franklin used to win nine games (and a bowl) in 2012 and 2013 at Vanderbilt. This allows PSU to play at different tempos and use QB Trace McSorley's skills as a runner.

Last week was junior Brandon Mahon's second start at right tackle. It's working pretty well. Barkley ran that way 11 times, including an 81-yard TD. Mahon (6-4, 320) has helped stabilize an O-line that didn't hold up the last two seasons. Mahon has twice been recognized by Pro Football Focus as the top weekly performer in the country at right tackle.

After allowing 198 rushing yards in a 38-31 loss to Northwestern, the Hawkeyes have yielded 102, 42 and 167, a number that inflated in the final throes of their loss against Wisconsin when running back Corey Clement popped a 34-yard run.

The Hawkeyes came out of Northwestern allowing 4.2 yards a carry and 182.8 yards per game. Now, those numbers have dropped to 3.87 per carry and 153.75 per game.

If Iowa has an interesting November, it's going to be because the defense sustains its recent improvement.

Advantage: Push

PENN STATE PASS OFFENSE VS. IOWA PASS DEFENSE

You can't space out on PSU's passing game. The Lions have three receivers ranked in the B1G's top 20 for receiving yards per game — WR Chris Godwin (6-1, 205) with 52.8 yards, DeAndre Thompkins (5-11, 190) at 46.9 yards and tight end Chris Gesicki (6-6, 252) at 43.3 yards.

Godwin leads PSU with 30 receptions, 422 yards and five TDs. Godwin had 1,101 receiving yards last year. The Lions also have DaeSean Hamilton (6-1, 205), who caught 45 passes with six TDs last season.

At 6-foot-6, 252, Gesicki poses a significant matchup problem. He'll be a tough matchup in the middle of the field for Iowa's linebackers and safeties. Against Wisconsin, you saw tight ends hurt Iowa for three catches for 92 yards and a TD. Penn State likes to use Gesicki and sometimes lines up Barkley in spread formations. Gesicki can exploit a matchup if the wrong defense is on the field. Barkley can motion into the backfield and catch a pass defense personnel grouping in a numbers game.

McSorley might end up being more productive than Hackenberg. McSorley breaks contain and keeps his eyes downfield, allowing him to make plays off schedule. His playmaking keeps defenses on their heels, wondering if he's going to run or pass.

Iowa will have to be disciplined with McSorley, whose game is run-pass option and read option. That's assignment football and reading keys, something the Hawkeyes have fine tuned the last few weeks.

The Hawkeyes have shown they can get to the quarterback. Defensive end Anthony Nelson will be on a few Big Ten all-freshman teams. He could turn the corner a few times tonight and make something happen.

How the matchups fall will be key. How does Penn State approach cornerback Desmond King? A few teams have gone right at him and have come up empty. Do the Lions take their shot? Do they have to?

Advantage: Push

SPECIAL TEAMS

So maybe the Ohio State game was a referendum on Franklin. That seems like a strong assertion, but there were more than whispers of hot seat after two unremarkable seasons and a 2-2 start.

The Buckeyes went into Beaver Stadium as the No. 2 team in the nation. It was a 'white out,' something Penn State has become famous for. And it was a tight game when lightning struck for the Lions. It wasn't Barkley. It wasn't Linebacker U. It was special teams.

Safety Marcus Allen blocked a 45-yard field goal attempt (PSU's first since 2013) and cornerback Grant Haley scooped it up and scored (believed to be the first blocked FG returned for a TD in PSU history) to lift the Lions over the Buckeyes.

It was the first time PSU blocked two kicks in a game since 2007 against Florida International. There was a little more weight to this one. Franklin and his program have been flying high ever since.

Kicker Tyler Davis had a streak of 18 consecutive field goals snapped when he had a 39-yarder blocked against OSU.

Iowa has had just four punts returned against it (fewest in the Big Ten), but it has allowed 14.25 yards per return (worst in the B1G).

Penn State is third in the league with just 18.4 yards per kick return. Iowa's Desmond King leads the Big Ten with 32.0 yards per kick return.

Advantage: Push

INTANGIBLES

1. The full effect of Beaver Stadium

— The Big Ten has a tier of 'Death Star' stadiums. Ohio State and Michigan first come to mind, but Penn State and its 106,572-seat Beaver Stadium are right there. Iowa hasn't played at a B1G mega-stadium since 2013 at Ohio State. Iowa is excellent at blocking out the noise, as its nine-game road winning streak shows. Still, you never know how this group might react.

2. Bye week bump

— OK, this at first was going to be something that could be looked at in Iowa's favor. The Hawkeyes are, after all, coming off a bye week. But Penn State played Purdue, the Big Ten's movable feast. Still, Penn State had a bye going into its matchup against Ohio State (and hey, that's the B1G game heard around the world so far this season). In the Big Ten this season, you don't need to be perfect, but you do need to stick around.

3. Can Iowa's offense defend itself?

— There are bulls running around bullrings all over Spain that have fewer skewers sticking in it than Iowa's offense does. At some point, something has to kick in, right? Some sort of pride or special performance has to happen eventually, right? If not, more skewers will be on the way. Frankly, that's not any fun for anyone.

PENN STATE WILL WIN IF ... The Nittany Lions keep Iowa's defense off balance. The Hawkeyes have rallied against the run, but had critical one-on-one losses in coverage against Wisconsin. If McSorley and the Lions' receivers click, Iowa will be fighting on two fronts and will be stretched too thin to be effective against either.

IOWA WILL WIN IF ... The Hawkeyes can manage Barkley's big plays. Iowa might survive if the sophomore running back averages 5-plus yards per carry. But that with two or three 10- or 20-plus yard runs and Iowa won't know what hit it. It's on the defense to make the remainder of the season interesting. You just can't count on the offense right now.

PREDICTION: Penn State 27, Iowa 17

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com