Ballard's stop holds up under review

IOWA CITY -- The middle linebacker was new, brand new. Adrian Clayborn had a broken helmet. Iowa's defense fell apart, almost literally.

Then, it was fourth-and-goal at Iowa's 1. Penn State stood a yard from making it a game Saturday night.

There was some confusion. Some of the Hawkeyes said they were in the right defense. Some said the call was wrong. It didn't matter, really.

Fourth-and-goal from the 1 simply boils down to beating the guy across from you and making a play.

"We went from our 'whip' call to our 'bomber' call," defensive tackle Christian Ballard said. "The fans were so loud it was hard to tell what was going on, so it came down to who was going to make a play."

Penn State quarterback Rob Bolden took the handoff and bolted to his right. The play was open for a second.

"I personally thought they were going to run a quarterback power play up inside," linebacker Jeremiha Hunter said. "But when I saw them pull the tackle and guard, I'm like, aw damn, I gotta get outside." 

Defensive end Broderick Binns penetrated and forced Bolden to take a few extra steps to the outside. Hunter got his arms on him and turned Bolden. Ballard flew in and finished him just short of the goal line.

The play went up for review, but it stood up.

First down, Iowa. And, eventually, 24-3 victory for No. 17 Iowa over No. 22 Penn State.

"They had the ball for eight minutes, 13 plays something like that," defensive tackle Karl Klug said. "I think whenever an offensive is on the field that long and doesn't score, it's [a big deal]."

It was the Nittany Lions' first sustained volley. They were shut down almost completely in the first quarter, gaining just 1 yard of offense, and fell behind 17-3 in the first half.

They took the opening kick of the second half and drove 70 yards on 14 plays. After being dominated for a half, Penn State looked to make a game of it right off the bat in the second.

“It looked like somebody came off from the inside [on the fourth-down play],'' PSU assistant coach Jay Paterno, the quarterbacks coach and the passing game coordinator, told the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News. “It looked like we had numbers. It was close, but we've got to get in there."

Adding to Iowa's degree of difficulty was the revolving door at middle linebacker. Senior Troy Johnson got the start. He suffered what looked to be a concussion in the second quarter.

Johnson got the start because senior Jeff Tarpinian missed a lot of practice this week with a neck stinger. He went into the game when Johnson got hurt. Tarpinian lasted one series before the stinger flared up.

In went true freshman James Morris.

"He came in and said, I got this guys, let's go," safety Tyler Sash said. "He didn't make any wrong checks. He made all the right calls."

Including on fourth-and-goal from the 1, when the call doesn't matter as much as the effort.

"To stop them on fourth down, that was a huge play," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "Nothing easy, again, in this game."

The play was reviewed. It held up. So did the Hawkeyes.