Young runs

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- On paper, on pedigree, the running backs weren't supposed to go the way they went.

This was supposed to be center stage for Penn State's Evan Royster, he of the all-Big Ten honors, Doak Walker Award list and mountain of laurels going into Saturday night's matchup with Iowa. This was ABC and ESPN's "College GameDay," the perfect home setting for a back many consider to be the best in the east.

Royster was the top gun. Iowa's freshman duo of Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher were the young guns.

Score one for youth.

Robinson rushed for a game-high 88 yards on 19 carries and Wegher 73 yards on 14 carries to lift Iowa's offense in the Hawkeyes' 21-10 upset of No. 5 Penn State. They combined for 161 yards on 33 carries. That's 4.8 yards a carry and that's a winning stat, especially against a defense ranked No. 4 in the country against the rush going into Saturday night.

"Most definitely not, we haven't arrived yet," said Robinson, whose 13-yard TD run with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter gave Iowa an 18-10 lead. "We have a long way to go. We're two young backs. We still have a lot of work to do and we'll see that on film tomorrow.

"We definitely haven't arrived, but I am just really proud of this whole team."

Once again, Iowa's running game stabilized what was a semi-shaky offense. In the first half, it wasn't quarterback Ricky Stanzi. It was four drops from wide receivers. When it wasn't a drop, it was a penalty. When it wasn't a penalty, it was an interception.

It was shaky, but then Iowa's defense started beating turnovers out of Penn State and quarterback Daryll Clark -- three interceptions and a fumble -- and Iowa's running game came to life.

"We were able to control the ball, running it when we needed to," said Stanzi, who completed 11 of 26 for 135 yards and two interceptions. "Credit to the O-line and credit to those guys. They were finding holes, running tough and had great ball security."

The Hawkeyes averaged 4.4 yards a carry Saturday night with two freshmen running backs and a freshman left tackle. Riley Reiff made his third career start, with junior Bryan Bulaga (undisclosed illness) still sidelined.

 "Riley's got three games of experience now," Ferentz said. "Wegher's got three and Robinson's got four. You watch those guys out on the field, they act like they belong. They compete, they show good mental toughness, and they're all improving. That's pretty exciting.

"If you'd have asked me a month ago, would I have counted on that or would I be worried about them coming in here tonight, absolutely. I'm not saying I'm not worried about ball security, but I was hugely worried about that a month ago. I'm not as worried now.

"Both those guys compete and compete hard. They don't look like they're overwhelmed."

Meanwhile, Royster's night was overwhelmingly bad.

He got his hands on a Clark pass in the fourth quarter, tipped it in the air and Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer intercepted. This eventually turned out to be Robinson's TD. Then on the next series, Royster broke free on the outside deep in Iowa territory, but Angerer caught him from behind and popped the ball out from under his arms. Defensive tackle Karl Klug recovered at the Iowa 18.

Royster finished with 69 yards on 17 carries, averaging a decent 4.1 yards a carry but the tipped pass and fumble were the big numbers.

Of course, he didn't have to play Iowa's defensive line, which turnstyled Penn State's O-line all night long, racking up six tackles for loss including two sacks.

"I just told them we win as a team and we lose as a team," Clark said when asked about the Penn State O-line after the game. "There were a couple mistakes here and there from everybody. What we do after this will determine what type of football team we are."

Going into Saturday night, on paper, on pedigree, the Nittany Lions had the running game to win.

Going into Saturday night, Penn State was a lot of things. Coming out, Iowa is.