Blue White Illustrated

N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 9 Respect. That's what Penn State's 41- 14, demolition of Iowa this past Satur- day brought the program. When the first College Football Playoff poll was released to the public on Nov. 1, there were a lot of skeptics across the country who believed the Nittany Lions didn't deserve their No. 12 national ranking. A number of football analysts argued that Penn State was the most overrated team in the rankings. To be honest, I had my own doubts, even aAer the Lions' 62-24 thumping of Purdue. How could a team that lost to Michigan by 39 points and allowed 341 rushing yards in a 42-39 loss at Pitt end up being rated as the 12th-best team in the country? The answer to that is quite simple: Right now, PSU is playing like one of the 10 best teams in college football. The Lions have won five in a row, in- cluding victories over a 7-2 Minnesota team and an Ohio State team that is still in contention for the College Football Playoff. When I sat down last week to watch film of the Hawkeyes, it became quite evident that Penn State would have a unique opportunity to prove its case that it deserved to be considered one of the top dozen teams in the country. I came away convinced that all the im- portant matchups on offense and de- fense favored the Nittany Lions. Everyone knew that early in the game, Iowa would try to control Saquon Barkley by closing down his running lanes. The Hawkeyes were going to sta- tion free safety Brandon Snyder and strong safety Miles Taylor within 5 to 7 yards of the line of scrimmage, forcing Penn State to respond by throwing the ball vertically. As it turned out, that's exactly what the Lions did. Trace Mc- Sorley's first pass downfield on first down came on PSU's initial drive of the game. It resulted in a 19-yard TD pass to Saeed Blacknall and a 7-0 lead. McSorley's second pass downfield came on Penn State's second offensive series of the game. On the first play of that drive, he threw a 45-yard comple- tion to Chris Godwin on a post pattern that set up a first-and-10 situation at Iowa's 20-yard line. When it was all said and done, McSor- ley completed 6 of 8 first-down passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, av- eraging 16.3 yards per pass and 21.6 yards per completion. McSorley's final pass on first down against the Hawkeyes ended up being his best. It was a 44- yard touchdown pass to Barkley early in the fourth quarter. Chris Godwin, who finished the game with four catches for 87 yards, said he loves the way Joe Moorhead's offense creates chunk plays. "It definitely helps our team's morale, because we under- stand that, at any point in the game, we are going to continue to attack," he said. "We are never going to let off the gas. We are going to keep moving forward." Moorhead's offense isn't dependent on chunk plays, but its design creates them. On the offensive line, freshman guards Ryan Bates and Connor McGovern needed to get to the second level for Penn State's running game to be effec- tive. That is exactly what happened. Bates and McGovern didn't let defen- sive tackles Jaleel Johnson and Nathan Bazata physically dominate the line of scrimmage. Barkley and Penn State's three other scholarship running backs all averaged at least 6.0 yards per carry. Barkley rushed for 167 yards on 20 carries (8.4 ypc) with a rushing TD. Mark Allen rushed for 31 yards on five carries (6.0 ypc), Andre Robinson rushed for 18 yards on three carries (6.0 ypc) and Miles Sanders picked up 34 yards on five carries (6.8 ypc). And even though Tommy Stevens isn't a running back, you can't overlook his 70 yards on five carries [14 ypc]. Penn State ended up rushing for 359 yards on 52 attempts (6.9 ypc). McSor- ley ran the read option to perfection. Barkley said it best in an interview aAer the game. "You just put [the defense] in tough spots," he said. "If you want to come at me, you give Trace an opportu- nity to beat you with his feet. If you want to stop us both, you give us a chance to throw the ball on the outside and have to cover, in my opinion, the best and deepest wide receiver corps in the Big Ten." On defense, Penn State controlled Iowa's running game on first down. The Hawkeyes rushed 12 times for only 31 yards and averaged 2.6 yards per carry on first down, with their longest run covering only 6 yards. For the game, LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley were held to 46 yards on 19 carries. Iowa threw the football on first down four times in the first half. Senior quar- terback C.J. Beathard completed two of those passes for 31 yards. In the second half, he threw the ball on first down six times for only 11 yards. It seemed de- fensive coordinator Brent Pry's game plan worked to perfection. Beathard finished the game with 18 completions in 26 attempts for 204 yards, with two touchdown passes and one interception. But more than a third of those passing yards came on Iowa's final drive, by which time the game had been decided. The Iowa game was Penn State's most complete performance of the season. The Lions followed Moorhead's script on offense and Pry's script on defense. And the most exciting news for Penn State is that it's very likely the best is yet to come. Nittany Lions show in win over Iowa they are starting to fulfill their potential PHIL'S CORNER

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