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KEY MATCHUPS P E N N   S T A T E   V S .   I O W A | B Y P H I L G R O S Z W H E N P E N N S T A T E H A S T H E B A L L PENN STATE RUNNING GAME 161.5 YPG, 4.3 YPC // IOWA RUN DEFENSE153.8 YPG, 3.9 YPC THE LOWDOWNPenn State's running game has been trending up. Last week against Purdue, the Nittany Lions were able to get all four of their scholarship running backs involved in the game, with Saquon Barkley rushing for 207 yards and two touchdowns, and Mark Allen, Andre Robinson and Miles Sanders adding 30 yards and three TDs between them. Barkley is the Big Ten's leading rusher with 888 yards on 147 carries and 10 rushing TDs. QB Trace McSorley is Penn State's second-leading rusher with 251 yards on 91 carries and four TDs. Because of its slow start, PSU is 10th in the Big Ten in rushing, but the ground game has really picked up steam in the team's past three games, with Barkley alone accounting for 508 yards against Maryland, Ohio State and Purdue. With eight starters back on defense, Iowa has not been as strong against the run as expected. Through eight games, the Hawkeyes rank seventh in the Big Ten in rushing defense, a decline from last season when they ranked 15th in the country. Their leading tacklers are junior linebackers Josey Jewell and Bo Bower with 72 and 61 stops, respectively. Redshirt sophomore FS Brandon Snyder and junior OLB Ben Niemann are tied for third with 50 tackles apiece. Senior DT Jaleel Johnson leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss, while redshirt freshman DE Anthony Nelson next with five negative-yardage stops. // KEY MATCHUP Penn State guards Ryan Bates and Connor McGovern will face Johnson and fellow DT Nathan Bazata, while RT Brendan Mahon will battle Nelson. // EDGE Penn State PENN STATE PASSING GAME 230.5 YPG, 14.9 YPC // IOWA PASS DEFENSE 223.6 YPG, 13.5 YPC THE LOWDOWN Penn State put together a very balanced offensive performance at Purdue, rushing for 257 yards and passing for 254. Going into Saturday night's game with the Hawkeyes, Penn State ranks fourth in the Big Ten in passing. Trace McSorley has completed 123 of 223 passes (55.2 percent) for 1,818 yards and 12 touchdowns. He's averaging an impressive 14.8 yards per completion. WR Chris Godwin is Penn State's leading pass catcher with 30 receptions for 422 yards (14.1 ypc) and five touchdowns. TE Mike Gesicki is next with 28 catches for 346 yards (12.4 ypc) and two TDs. Through eight games, McSorley has completed passes to 12 receivers. Iowa's pass defense hasn't been up to preseason expectations, as the Hawkeyes rank 12th in the Big Ten. One big disappointment has been the lack of takeaways. A year ago, CB Desmond King had eight interceptions by himself and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the top defensive back in the country. This year Iowa has just five interceptions as a team, only one of which was by King. Redshirt sophomore FS Brandon Snyder leads Iowa with two interceptions. Iowa also has only 19 sacks. Johnson leads the Hawkeyes with five sacks. // KEY MATCHUP McGovern will face Johnson, while LT Paris Palmer will try to keep redshirt sophomore DE Matt Nelson out of the backfield. // EDGE Penn State PENN STATE PASSING GAME VS. IOWA PASS DEFENSE IOWA RUNNING GAME 167.9 YPG, 4.6 YPC // PENN STATE RUN DEFENSE183.4 YPG, 4.5 YPC THE LOWDOWN Iowa's running game ranks ninth in the Big Ten. It's a two-pronged attack, with junior RB Akrum Wadley totaling 636 yards and eight touchdowns on 90 carries (7.1 YPC) and senior RB LeShun Daniels having amassed 624 yards on 119 carries (5.2 ypc). Between them, Wadley and Daniels account for 157.5 of Iowa's 167.9 yards per game rushing. The Hawkeyes run exclusively from a pro-set I formation behind redshirt junior FB Drake Kulick. Penn State's defensive front struggled in September and for a while was allowing more than 200 yards per game on the ground. But the unit has been more successful lately and is up to 10th in the Big Ten. Safeties Marcus Allen and Malik Golden are the Lions' top two tacklers with 69 and 49 stops, respectively. Despite the fact that Brandon Bell has played in only four games and fellow linebacker Jason Cabinda in three because of injuries, Bell is the team's fourth-leading tackler with 40 stops, while Cabinda is sixth with 33. LB Manny Bowen is the Lions' third-leading tackler with 46 total tackles and is second on the team with six tackles for loss. Garrett Sickels leads the team with eight tackles for loss, while fellow DE Shareef Miller is next with 5.5. // KEY MATCHUP Iowa red- shirt junior LT Boone Myers will take on Sickels, while Kulick will battle Cabinda. // EDGE Even IOWA RUNNING GAME VS. PENN STATE RUN DEFENSE IOWA PASSING GAME VS. PENN STATE PASS DEFENSE W H E N I O W A H A S T H E B A L L PENN STATE RUNNING GAME VS. IOWA RUN DEFENSE N O V E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 4 IOWA PASSING GAME 180.3 YPG, 11.7 YPC // PENN STATE PASS DEFENSE197.0 YPG, 9.3 YPC THE LOWDOWNFor the most part, Iowa's passing game has been less productive than it was a year ago, ranking 10th in the Big Ten. Senior QB C.J. Beathard has completed 118 of 201 passes (58.7 percent) for 1,380 yards. He's thrown 11 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. One of the major reasons why the Hawkeyes' passing game has struggled is because senior WR Matt VandeBerg is out indefinitely with an injury aBer leading the team in recep- tions through its first four games. Senior WR Riley McCarron is Iowa's leading pass catcher with 30 receptions for

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