Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503568
8 2 A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 I t might seem to many fans like a hazy memory from a by- gone era, but there was a time not so long ago when Penn State's most vexing football rival was Iowa. That time was the early 2000s. An on-the-rise coach named Kirk Ferentz had quickly shaken the Hawkeyes out of their mid-1990s torpor, and one of the most striking aspects of his early success was that he absolutely owned Penn State. Playing the same brand of straightforward power football they still play to this day — the brand that PSU strived to play throughout Joe Paterno's long reign as head coach — Ferentz's teams took eight of nine at one point, including a 24-23 upset in 2008 that knocked the then-No. 3 Nittany Lions out of na- tional championship contention. The Hawkeyes had figured out a way to out-Paterno Pa- terno, and Penn Staters hated them for it. When the Nittany Lions welcomed Iowa to Beaver Stadium in 2009, they thought they finally had gained the upper hand. The Lions were in the midst of an 11-game home winning streak, and this one was going to be a White Out, meaning that the disruptive potential of the crowd would be amplified. On Penn State's first play of the game, Daryll Clark threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to Chaz Powell, causing the volume to go from booming to deafening. Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi later described it as sounding "like a new type of loud, almost jet engine loud." Vengeance was seemingly at hand. But after Penn State's game-opening thunderclap, nearly everything went Iowa's way. The Hawkeyes shut down PSU's offense, pouncing on 4 turnovers and turning the miscues into a 21-10 win. "We didn't play particularly well in some phases," Paterno said afterward. "We just didn't get it done." After that game, Iowa fell out of the White Out rotation, giv- ing way to Michigan, Ohio State and a couple of high-profile nonconference foes. But this year, the Hawkeyes are back. When they return to PSU on Sept. 23, it'll be a White Out. That deflating matchup in 2009 probably won't be top- of-mind for many fans when Ferentz leads his Hawkeyes onto the field, but the most recent meeting between the two teams might. Iowa won 23-20 in Iowa City two years ago, rallying back from a 14-point deficit after knocking quarterback Sean Clifford out of the game with an injury in the second quarter. Iowa fans booed when several other Penn State players had to be helped off the field late in the game, and Ferentz later said the crowd had "smelled a rat," insinuating that the Lions were faking injuries in order to slow down the Hawkeyes' offense. James Franklin took issue with both the accusation and the boos. "I don't think it's the right thing for college football, booing guys when they get hurt," he said. While everyone moved on after a few days, the controversy is sure to be relitigated in the days leading up to Iowa's impend- ing visit, lending some added intensity to the proceedings. Penn State has won five of its past six White Out games, with the only loss in that span coming to Ohio State, 27-26, in Penn State's 2023 slate will feature a succession of exciting matchups, including a White Out clash with Iowa M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M WHITE NOISE WHITE NOISE Penn State has gone 10-8 in White Out games since the tradition started in 2004 but has won five of the past six. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL