Far more nightmares than dreams for Iowa football in blowout loss to Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — One could hardly tell there were still more than 20 minutes until kickoff in Beaver Stadium as Penn State’s students in the south end of the stadium waved their pom-poms in a back-and-forth motion in unison.

It was to the beat of rapper Meek Mill’s hit song “Dreams and Nightmares” as some of the students — all dressed in white for the “White Out” game — even sang along.

Once game action actually began in front of the raucous crowd of 110,830, No. 24 Iowa football’s nightmares far outnumbered its dreams in a 31-0 loss to No. 7 Penn State.

“We really never got in position to put any stress on our opponent,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Costly turnovers and an overall nonexistent offense promptly removed any chance Iowa had of pulling off the upset.

Tight end Erick All fumbled the ball at about the Penn State 18-yard line in the first quarter. It ended what turned out to be the Hawkeyes’ only drive that reached Nittany Lion territory until the fourth quarter.

Later in the first half, a Penn State punt bounced off the back of Iowa’s Brenden Deasfernandes, and the Nittany Lions’ Curtis Jacobs recovered it.

Jacobs also recovered the All fumble. It was the first time in more than three decades that a Penn State player recovered multiple fumbles in one game.

Both turnovers also preceded Penn State scoring drives.

Iowa lost another two fumbles in the second half.

“I don’t want to say we helped them along, but certainly turnovers didn’t help and some penalties didn’t help,” Ferentz said. “But outside of that, really not a lot to say.”

Even without the turnovers, Iowa’s offense struggled in seemingly every phase.

Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara was 5-for-14 for 42 yards before being subbed out for Deacon Hill with the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

It marks the second consecutive game in which the Michigan transfer completed less than half of his passes.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” McNamara said. “I got to play better, too. ... Tonight was a tough night from a defensive standpoint that we were facing, and also there are some elements too, but they will get better.”

Iowa’s rushing attack averaged a paltry 1.2 yards per carry, picking up 20 yards on 17 carries.

McNamara’s 18-yard scramble with no Penn State defenders anywhere near him was a rare bright spot for the ground game. No other player had a rushing attempt that netted more than 7 yards.

It did not help that Iowa was without two of its top three running backs. Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson are both “week-to-week,” Kirk Ferentz said earlier in the week.

Iowa was 1-of-9 on third down, with an average of seven yards to go on those attempts.

“If we were to move the ball a little better on first and second down, I think we could have put ourselves in some better situations,” McNamara said. “We kind of played into their defense a little bit.”

Iowa’s defense kept the Hawkeyes competitive for a while. At one point in the first half, Penn State was 1-of-7 on third downs and averaging 2.5 yards per carry.

At halftime, Penn State had only 10 points despite getting seven drives.

But the formidable Penn State offense broke through in the second half, scoring touchdowns on each of its first three drives after intermission.

“I thought we did a great job in the first half ... of just being able to come out and put the fire out,” Iowa defensive end Joe Evans said. “We knew that we needed to come out and have a good first drive, and we weren’t able to do that. So all starts there, and that’s on us. That’s not on anyone else.”

The defensive letup was an inevitability with the high workload. Through the first three quarters, Penn State had 77 offensive plays. Iowa, on the other hand, had 25 plays during that span.

“The biggest thing right now is we’ll go back to work tomorrow and see what we learn from this,” Ferentz said.

Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, their schedule is about to get much easier.

Iowa’s next opponent, Michigan State, is coming off a 22-point loss at home to Maryland. Iowa will then play Purdue, which suffered a 21-point loss to Wisconsin at home on Friday.

In the meantime, Saturday’s loss in State College is a “tough pill to swallow.”

“I don’t remember the last time I’ve ever felt this bad about a game, let alone a day in my life,” McNamara said. “So I think it’s going to be some serious motivation for us, but I do have an extreme amount of confidence that this team will see success this season.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com