Penn State’s ranking may be a tad inflated

When you're name is Knowledge, you're expected to grasp the obvious.

Penn State cornerback Knowledge Timmons said Saturday that the Nittany Lions' 31-6 win over Temple was his team's “last exhibition game.”

Knowledge is wise. The Lions did what was fully expected in sweeping three overmatched foes in Akron, Syracuse and Temple by a combined score of 90-20.

Those aren't good teams. They certainly aren't Iowa, which brings its own 3-0 record to State College Saturday night for its Game of the Year (so far).

As David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News said Saturday, the Hawkeyes are “leagues and leagues beyond the mutts we've seen in here.”

Some more thievery on my part, this courtesy of the Altoona Mirror's Neil Rudel:

“The Lions remain perhaps the nation's most overrated team at No. 5 in the Associated Press and USA Today-ESPN polls, and at the worst, they'll enter Big Ten Conference play Saturday against nemesis Iowa with their offense in need of an oil change.”

This is how it goes when you play mutts, especially three in a row at home. The games look the same, and even a total of 90-20 seems stale.

Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark, perhaps the best at his position in the Big Ten, has eight touchdown passes. That's a bunch.

But Penn Staters see that Clark has thrown an interception in each game this year. They see that he got hit more often than one would want from Temple, of all teams. Clark got his throwing shoulder dinged in the game, and wasn't as crisp with his throws thereafter.

“When it happened, something just jolted through my whole arm,” Clark said.

“We had a couple drops and some protection issues, but we had some guys open, and I have to hit them.”

One of Clark's top targets this year, wide receiver Graham Zug (12 catches, 153 yards), took a hit on a punt return Saturday and was knocked woozy. He didn't play in the second half and his status for the Iowa game may be uncertain.

As if Clark's shoulder wasn't sore enough, he's carrying the weight of Mount Nittany this week. No one in the Alleghenies has forgotten how ineffective Clark's passing was in the wicked wind that blasted through Kinnick Stadium on a frigid November Saturday last year.

He was 9 of 23 for a paltry 86 yards. He overthrew a receiver late in the game, beginning remarkable run of interceptions Iowa safety Tyler Sash is currently enjoying.

That fourth-quarter pick gave Iowa the opening to steal the win, and Iowa's own quarterback took the team on a game-winning drive that will live in Hawkeye annals for a long time.

That, as they say, was then. This, as they say, is now.

The quarterback who got hosannas that day in Kinnick Stadium was Ricky Stanzi. If Clark is normal Clark this time around, Stanzi will have to be primo Stanzi.

Psychologically, this looks like a 50-50 deal for Iowa.

On one hand, the pressure is on Penn State to win. If it's a close game into the second-half, high anxiety may travel throughout the 110,000 seats. The whiteout may include blood draining from those fans' faces, knowing Iowa doesn't have a history of buckling in close games at Beaver Stadium.

On the other hand, it is 110,000 people under the lights, making it loud and clear the Hawkeyes are up against the world.

You might say this game has interesting elements.