Hawkeyes physical reputation takes some lumps

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Iowa's physical calling card is missing this season. It hasn't been there on either side of the ball and, after Saturday night and listening to Penn State players, you kind of wonder if teams aren't using it as motivation.

That physical debate started in week 3 when North Dakota State batted around the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium, holding Iowa to 34 rushing yards while running for 239 yards. The debate might've come to a conclusion in No. 12 Penn State's 41-14 victory over the Hawkeyes.

The Nittany Lions piled up 599 yards of total offense, including 359 rushing yards. That's the most yards PSU has put up in a Big Ten game since 1994 and 653 against Michigan State. Iowa recorded no three-and-outs, and Penn State went 7 of 14 on third downs.

Running back Saquon Barkley led the charge. He rushed for 167 yards and two TDs, including a 57-yard run and a 44-yard reception.

In the postgame, Barkley was asked if he thought Iowa's defense broke.

'Yeah, you can kind of see it in the defensive demeanor,' Barkley said. 'Just the way they can approach the field when you have a guy somewhere. That's the mentality we have and that's the mentality that coach (Joe) Moorhead (offensive coordinator) instills on offense, to have that killer mentality and finish.'

Oh, there was more. Iowa has gained a physical reputation during head coach Kirk Ferentz's 18 years. Penn State knew all about that and it wanted a piece of the Hawkeyes.

'We know Iowa's focused on being physical, being technically sound and blue-collar football,' Barkley said. 'We wanted to show that we were able to do that, too. We were able to rack up, I think, 300-something yards rushing the ball and almost 600 yards total offense.'

It was one of those games where the winners knew the stat sheet and could freely quote it.

Iowa's offense went nowhere, too. It was held to 30 rushing yards (it's lowest since 23 against Michigan State in 2013) and a season-low 234 yards of total offense.

The Lions knew that number.

'This week we focused on taking the run away,' defensive end Evan Schwan said. 'They rushed for 30 yards and Iowa has been known as a team that has been able to run the ball.'

The view from Iowa's locker room wasn't much different. No one was going to defend the performance. Penn State didn't unveil a new scheme on offense. Iowa knew what was coming and couldn't stop it.

'I don't know what the biggest issue was,' linebacker Josey Jewell said. 'They had a great scheme for us, played a great ballgame. They ran a bunch of stuff we thought they would. There were a couple small things, but we didn't come to play.'

Iowa was held to 2 of 10 on third downs and part of that problem is one of the emerging themes this season. Iowa's power formations on offense aren't all that powerful. More and more, third-and-short plays are ending up as punts.

What has worked in the past for the Hawkeyes isn't working this season, and so why keep doing that?

'Because we've had success with it, throughout,' Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said when asked about third-and-short personnel.

Iowa also has had success with the quick quarterback sneak in short yardage. It's worked probably 95 percent of the time, maybe more. Against Penn State, quarterback C.J. Beathard was popped and knocked backward by linebacker Jason Cabinda on a fourth-and-1 from Penn State's 34. This was Iowa's first drive of the game and the Hawkeyes already were trying to answer a quick PSU touchdown.

Iowa did what it does a huge percentage of the time and it got rejected.

'I figured they were going to sneak or they were going to hurry up and so I jumped up and was like I'm going to meet him on the other side or push him back,' Cabinda said. 'That was a huge stop and it was awesome.'

The physical debate is over for this year's version of the Hawkeyes. It's not awesome.