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totaled 22 sacks and ranks third in the Big Ten with an average of 3.1 sacks per game. How have the Hawkeyes managed to be so effective? In part by being just plain big. Iowa's defensive front wouldn't look out of place on the floor at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tackles Matt Nelson and Sam Brincks stand 6-foot-8 and 6-5, respec- tively, while ends Anthony Nelson and Parker Hesse stand 6-7 and 6-3. Backup ends Chauncey Golston and A.J. Epenesa are both 6-5. Epensea was a Big Ten All- Freshman player last year, and although he hasn't been starting, he's leading the team with six sacks and five quarterback hurries. McSorley said he expects to face a thicket of outstretched arms whenever he tries to throw the ball on Saturday and predicts that it will be like trying to aim through a forest of redwoods. "They're big, tall dudes, physical, and they're able to get their hands up and even affect the passing game when they're not getting rushes," he said. "They're really good, and they do a really good job of play- ing within their scheme, holding their gaps in the run game and things like that. They're a really good defensive front, and they're going to be a big challenge for us." James Franklin said Iowa's defensive line is "by far the best front that we've faced in two years. They're long, they're physical, they're stout. They make a bunch of plays." Those players will be taking aim at Mc- Sorley this week in hope of ending a four- game losing streak against Penn State that dates back to a 13-3 loss at Beaver Stadium in 2011. Ferentz is wary of the senior's ac- curacy and mobility, but in describing Mc- Sorley's game, he keeps coming back to those intangibles. "A really good quarterback brings a lot of value to the team, is meaningful to a team's success," Ferentz said. "I think [McSorley] epitomizes that. You have two quarter- backs who are good quarterbacks in this game, very different quarterbacks, but nei- ther one of them went to elite camps. I don't think they got any awards coming out of high school for being great quarter- backs nationally or on the recruiting front. They're good football players who have blossomed into good college players. "[McSorley's] case is really an illustration of that. I think he was probably being looked at more as a defensive player, as I understand it, in the recruitment phase. He's a tremendous quarterback. Bottom line, he's a winner. Every time he's out on the field, they have a good chance to win." O C T O B E R   2 4 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 3 NATE BAUER 5-2 | Bearing in mind everything that Penn State has put on display since the final eight minutes of the Ohio State game, including the lackluster performances against Michigan State and Indiana, I'm not convinced that this is a team in a free fall. Rather, the Nittany Lions continue to have explosive playmakers on both sides of the ball and on special teams. The issue, of course, is finding a way to corral all of that talent into a coherent product. Given the similarities year aBer year between Michigan State and Iowa, I'm looking at this game as an opportunity for Penn State to redeem itself from its per- formance against the Spartans, a game in which the Nittany Lions consistently got in their own way. | PENN STATE 28, IOWA 24 PHIL GROSZ 6-1 | Here's the question that I find myself asking as Penn State gets set to play host to Iowa on Saturday: Does anybody know how good these two teams really are? Iowa comes into the game ranked 18th in the latest Associated Press poll. To date, the only real test the Hawkeyes have faced is Wisconsin, and they lost to the Badgers, 28-17. Their wins have come over Northern Illinois, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, Min- nesota, Indiana and Maryland. Iowa's strengths are its defensive line, which averages 6-foot-6, 285 pounds per man, and an emerging quarterback in junior Nate Stanley whose completes 61 percent of his passes and loves to throw the football to the two best tight ends in the conference, T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant. Between the two of them, Hockenson and Fant have totaled 51 catches for 736 yards and nine touchdowns. Penn State has faced a lot of skepticism in recent weeks, but it's only a couple of plays away from being 6-0 and ranked among the top six teams in the country. Looking at the sta- tistics, Iowa might be considered the favorite in this game, but I just can't believe that Trace McSorley and company will allow Penn State to lose its third home game this sea- son. | PENN STATE 34, IOWA 24 MATT HERB 6-1 | It's entirely possible that the Hawkeyes aren't as good as their record would indicate. Their nonconference schedule was played entirely at Kinnick Stadium and featured only one Power Five opponent (Iowa State). The only upper-echelon Big Ten team they've played so far has been Wisconsin, and the Badgers won, 28-17. Still, it's possible that Penn State isn't as good as its record, either. The Lions looked sloppy and tentative at times even in victory at Indiana. Although the windy field conditions undoubtedly had a hand in their performance, it feels as though they are trending in the wrong direction heading into the toughest three-game stretch of their season. The biggest problem for Penn State right now is the play of its wideouts. Aside from K.J. Hamler, everyone has been dropping passes. If the Lions are going to have any success against the likes of Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, they are going to need much more productivity from this posi- tion group. And that presents a conundrum. Are any of the freshmen more dependable than any of the veterans? If the answer to that question is an unqualified yes, then it's probably time to make some changes. But what if the answer is maybe? Does it make sense to pull someone out of a redshirt for only a marginal gain? I'm not sure the staff would want to make that bargain, and I'm not sure it should, even if the short-term effect is to leave the depth chart intact and hope for a turnaround. | IOWA 28, PENN STATE 21 TIM OWEN 5-2| Another one that could go either way, especially with a wet forecast ahead. It'll be sloppy with some back and forth from both teams, but I'm going to side with the home squad in a close one. | PENN STATE 28, IOWA 24 RYAN SNYDER 6-1 | If Wisconsin can rack up 415 yards of offense against Iowa's de- fense in Kinnick Stadium, I see no reason why Penn State shouldn't have similar success at home. The Nittany Lions need some momentum before their trip to Ann Arbor. I think they get it this weekend. | PENN STATE 27, IOWA 21 S T A F F P R E D I C T I O N S

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