Game report: Iowa vs. Penn State

Game MVP 

  Iowa defensive lineman Christian Ballard had six tackles, including three solo stops. He had one sack and stopped Penn State quarterback Robert Bolden for no gain to prevent the Nittany Lions from scoring a touchdown. 

By the numbers 

1 - Yards gained by Penn State in the first quarter 

41 - Touchdowns thrown by Iowa QB Rick Stanzi, tying Matt Rodgers for fourth in Iowa history 

8(a) - Wins Ferentz has against Penn State in his Iowa coaching career 

8(b) - Tackles for Iowa by Iowa; Penn State finished with 9 

38 - Consecutive points Iowa scored on Penn State from 2009 through the last play of the first half Saturday 

74 - Yards on a punt from Penn State's Anthony Fera late in the third quarter 

 Three moments 

 1. Backed up on its goal line with a 14-point lead, Ballard trailed Penn State quarterback Robert Bolden along the line of scrimmage. Just as Bolden attempted to dive over for the touchdown, Ballard flattened him just inches short of the end zone. After a review, Iowa earned possession at the 1. 

 "When I hit him, I hit him in front of the goal line, so I didn't know if he got the ball stretched out or not," Ballard said. 

 2. On one of the final plays of the first half, Bolden exposed a breakdown in Iowa's secondary and hit wide receiver Brett Brackett on a 49-yard pass. Iowa cornerback Shaun Prater, one of the players beat on the play, tracked Brackett down and tackled him at the 2-yard line. Following a delay-of-game penalty, Iowa held Penn State to a field goal. 

3. Prater picked off a Bolden pass at the 33-yard line and returned it for a touchdown with 1 minute, 27 seconds left in the game to give the Hawkeyes the deciding 24-3 margin. 

Report card 

 A-minus - My advice to the Hawkeyes: Take a few days off." 

Mike Hlas 

B-plus - That stripe thing looked fantastic, Hawkeye people. Especially considering the 12 hours of tailgating. 

Marc Morehouse 

A-minus - Iowa's football motto: If you can't be Penn State, beat Penn State. Pretty much every year.Scott Dochterman

Series tilts to the west

Iowa continued its mastery of Penn State, winning for the eighth time in the last nine games between the schools. Iowa now is ahead 12-11 all-time in the series.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz is 8-2 all-time against Penn State, and the Hawkeyes have won three straight in the series.

It was Iowa's largest margin-of-victory in the series. Iowa's previous largest win was 19-0 in 1930.

"I guess things have matched up for us, and I'm not counting a number, but I just know that our guys have played well," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "That's the only way you're going to beat those guys."

The schools will compete for the next two years despite not playing in the same division in the Big Ten's new realignment. Iowa will open its Big Ten season Oct. 8 next year at Penn State. The Nittany Lions return to Iowa City on Oct. 20, 2012. It's unlikely they will play the following two years.

Injury time

Troy Johnson replaced Jeff Tarpinian at middle linebacker to start the game. Tarpinian, who suffered a neck injury last week, entered the game in the second quarter but was reinjured and did not return. Johnson also left the game with an undisclosed injury and did not return.

True freshman James Morris finished the game at middle linebacker. The team's original second-team middle linebacker, Bruce Davis, suffered a season-ending knee injury at Arizona two weeks ago.

Ferentz said he planned to start Johnson because Tarpinian had missed too much practice time."Tarp tried to go. He passed his pregame test and tried to go and just couldn't finish," Ferentz said.

Get your kicks here

Iowa shook up its special teams units entering Saturday's game. On the opening kickoff, Iowa featured defensive backs Prater, Willie Lowe, Tom Donatell, Jack Swanson, linebackers Morris, Shane DiBona, wide receiver Don Nordmann, tight end Brad Herman and running backs Jason White and Anthony Hitchens, along with kicker Mike Meyer. Lance Tillison later replaced Morris, who took over at middle linebacker in the second quarter.

The punt return unit included: Prater, Nordmann, Tillison, Herman, DiBona, Donatell and Lowe on the front line. Backing up was Swanson, Micah Hyde and Nick Nielsen. The punt returner was Colin Sandeman.

Statistically speaking

Iowa dominated the first quarter, outgaining Penn State 148-1. By halftime Penn State had rushed for only 11 yards on 10 attempts and punted five times.

But Penn State mounted back-to-back drives that took a toll on the Iowa defense. The Nittany Lions ran 25 consecutive plays - broken up only by the second-half kickoff - but scored only three points. It was reminiscent of the Nittany Lions' 20-play drive last year in State College, Pa., that also resulted in three points.

Standing ovation

Former Iowa All-American linebacker Chad Greenway received one of the loudest ovations from the crowd last night just minutes before kickoff. Greenway was named the honorary game captain and starts at outside linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota drafted Greenway in the first round of the 2006 draft. Greenway's Vikings were on a bye this weekend.

Head man in charge

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany was a busy man Saturday. He and other Big Ten officials attended the Ohio State-Illinois game in Champaign, Ill., early Saturday, then flew to Iowa City for the Penn State-Iowa nightcap.

Up next

Iowa gets a bye and then travels to unbeaten Michigan on Oct. 16. It's the first time Iowa will play at Michigan since 2006 (the schools did not play in 2007 or 2008).

"Personally right now I'm thrilled we have a bye week," Ferentz said. "Normally I'm not a big fan of them, but we need a little time to regroup here and get some of our guys that are nicked up back."

Quotable

"They're a good, solid football team," Penn State Coach Joe Paterno said of Iowa. "They hustle. They're well-coached. You have to beat them; they don't beat themselves. The Arizona game was a fluke for them."