Iowa football prepares for hostile environment at Penn State in ‘always exciting’ matchup

IOWA CITY — Iowa football is trying not to make too big of a deal of playing at Penn State on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a great atmosphere, but it’s just another game,” Iowa wide receiver Seth Anderson said.

But in reality, Saturday’s game under the lights of Beaver Stadium and the spotlight of a national CBS broadcast is not just any other game for the Hawkeyes.

Penn State, ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press poll, has been one of the blue-bloods of the Big Ten Conference and currently stands as the only ranked opponent on Iowa’s schedule.

“If you’re past probably eight or 10 (in the rankings) right now, it really doesn’t matter at this time of year,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “It’ll be more significant in November. But if you’re in the top 10, you’re probably a top-10 team. I don’t think anybody’s surprised Penn State is up there.”

Despite Iowa and Penn State not having geographic proximity that many rivals have, it has been an especially competitive series in recent years. Four of the last five games had one-possession scoring margins, and Penn State was a top-10 team in three of those five games.

“It's always exciting to play Penn State just because of what we know and what we can expect from them,” said Iowa defensive lineman Logan Lee, one of the few starters left from the memorable 2021 game.

Iowa’s 2021 win over Penn State in what was a top-five matchup — along with Ferentz’s comments about how Iowa fans “smelled a rat” amid Penn State’s frequent injury timeouts — added fuel to the rivalry although Ferentz said Tuesday he does not anticipate the controversy having an impact on the 2023 game.

“I don’t know how many of their players were here in ’21, and I don’t know how many of our guys were here either,” Ferentz said. “Then probably like me, not many of them remember much about it other than it was a tough game.”

Penn State picks one game each year to be its “White Out” game. As the name suggests, an above-capacity crowd of 107,000-plus almost entirely wears white in what becomes a raucous environment.

"Not very often do you get an opportunity to play in front of 100,000 fans, so it’s super exciting,“ Lee said.

The Nittany Lions have won five of their last six “White Out” games, with a 27-26 loss to then-No. 4 Ohio State in 2018 being the exception.

Even without the special “White Out” treatment, Beaver Stadium is not an easy place to play.

Excluding the COVID-19-curbed 2020 season, the Nittany Lions are 45-6 in front of their home crowd since 2015. They are 25-19 in neutral or road environments during that span.

The Hawkeyes have not won in front of a full Beaver Stadium since 2009. (The 2020 game only had 1,500 people in attendance because of the pandemic.) Iowa’s 41-14 loss in 2016 serves as a “real good reminder of what it can be like if we’re not really ready to go,” Ferentz said.

“That was really ugly, really fast,” Ferentz said.

Cleveland.com’s Big Ten media poll asked reporters across the conference what the “toughest road environment” in the Big Ten is. Beaver Stadium was the overwhelming favorite, getting more votes than second-place Ohio Stadium and third-place Kinnick Stadium combined.

Iowa’s offense has pumped in crowd noise while the offense has practiced to try to replicate the communication challenges that can come while playing in a hostile environment.

“Obviously nothing can quite simulate 100,000 fans screaming out their hearts,” Iowa tight end Steven Stilianos said. “But we have the speaker pretty close up to the huddle, so Cade (McNamara) is having to like yell and stuff.”

McNamara has experienced success in Beaver Stadium during his Michigan tenure. He went 19-of-29 with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Wolverines’ 21-17 win over Penn State in 2021. The victory kept Michigan’s Big Ten East title hopes alive — hopes that turned into reality two weeks later with a win over rival Ohio State.

An apparent weakness in the Big Ten West — Iowa is the lone ranked team, and only one AP voter included Wisconsin on their Top 25 ballot — means Iowa’s shot at Indianapolis is not totally dependent on the result in Happy Valley, unlike what McNamara’s Wolverines experienced.

But with ESPN Analytics giving the Hawkeyes odds of 65 percent or greater in all but one of their remaining games, Iowa’s ceiling would be particularly high with a win in State College.

Iowa players are trying not to get caught up in the long-term what-ifs of Saturday’s game, however.

“This is the biggest game we’re going to play this week,” Lee said. “We take it one week at a time. Everything in the past is the past. Everything after this week, nobody’s even thought about.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com