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O T H E R M A T C H U P S THE LOWDOWNIowa has an excellent kicker in Miguel Recinos. A fiBh-year senior, Recinos has hit 10 of 13 field goal attempts so far this season, with a long kick of 48 yards. Two other special teams standouts are P Colten Rastetter and PR Ihmir Smith-Marsette. Rastetter is fourth in the Big Ten with a 43.6-yard punting average, while Smith- Marsette is averaging 33 yards per kick return to rank second. Iowa leads the country with a 30.89-yard kick return average. Penn State is also strong in the kick-return game, averaging 28.41 yards to rank seventh nationally. Hamler and Johnathan Thomas provided two big jolts of electricity with long returns against Indiana. But in most other respects, the Lions' special teams have been up and down this season. // EDGE Iowa SPECIAL TEAMS THE LOWDOWNIt's been a while since Iowa has been in the kind of road environment that it will face on Saturday. The Hawkeyes have only played two road games all season (at Minnesota and Indiana) and haven't been subjected to the wall of noise that will greet them at Beaver Stadium. The Lions have lost their past two games at home, but before that, they won 16 in a row, including a 41-14 romp over Iowa in 2016. // EDGEPenn State THIS 'N' THAT THE LOWDOWN With a 149-98 record since his hiring in 1999, Kirk Ferentz is the winningest coach in Iowa history, having surpassed Hayden Fry in September. He has an 8-6 record against Penn State, but all eight of those victories were against Joe Paterno-coached teams. Since 2011, the last year of Paterno's tenure, he is 0-4 against the Lions, with two losses (41-14 in 2016 and 21-19 last year) to James Franklin-coached teams. // EDGE Even COACHING STAFF 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 5 Stanley threw for only 86 yards. T.J. Hockenson is Iowa's leading pass-catcher with 424 yards and three touchdowns on 25 receptions, and fellow TE Noah Fant has 26 catches for 312 yards and six scores. Pass protection has been one of the Hawks' biggest strengths. Despite starting a pair of sophomores at offensive tackle (Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs), Iowa has given up a Big Ten-low six sacks. Penn State is coming off a game in which it totaled six sacks, includ- ing four by DE Shaka Toney. As a team, the Lions lead the Big Ten with an average of 3.6 sacks per game, but they rank sixth in passing yards allowed. One potential problem: S Garrett Taylor will miss the first half due to a targeting penalty he received at Indiana. // KEY MATCHUP Jackson and Wirfs will be charged with keeping Toney, Yetur Gross-Matos and Shareef Miller out of the backfield. Iowa likes to use the play-action passing game to complement its rushing at- tack. If Stanley is comfortable in the pocket, he, Hockenson and Fant will do some damage. // EDGE Even

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