 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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PSU 38; Iowa 14 – The fireworks were nice
Penn State set a pace the Hawkeyes couldn't match
IOWA CITY — For the first time maybe ever, the Hawkeyes ran onto the Kinnick Stadium field to fireworks bursting in the air.
They should’ve turned around and ran right back up the tunnel. The fireworks were the highlight. Actually, Penn State took care of the fireworks from there.
The Nittany Lions (5-2, 3-0 Big Ten) rode quarterback Matt McGloin’s two TD passes to a big halftime lead and a 38-14 victory over the Hawkeyes (4-3, 2-1) before a Kinnick crowd of 70,585 fans, many of whom let their displeasure with Iowa spill out with 5 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter.
During one of Iowa’s many three-and-outs during a dreary first half that saw PSU run 50 plays for 304 yards to Iowa’s 29 for 99, the Kinnick crowd rained down boos while the Iowa offense was on the field.
The next big wave of boos came after the Nittany Lions opened the second half with a TD drive that took just 27 seconds, making it 31-0, and Iowa’s answer was cut short when quarterback James Vandenberg threw an interception right at PSU linebacker Mike Mauti. That gave the Lions first down at Iowa’s 14.
Iowa forced a fumble out of PSU running back Zach Zwinak to avoid further damage, but the Hawkeyes offense, down two offensive linemen and with running back Mark Weisman down to one good ankle, wasn’t in position to challenge PSU’s dominance.
Offensive tackle Brandon Scherff was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics with what appeared to be a broken right leg. The sophomore was put in an air cast and carted off the field. Two plays later, right guard Andrew Donnal was on crutches and headed up the tunnel with a ton of ice on his right knee.
You know all about Weisman. He suffered a sprained right ankle on the tying TD run last week at Michigan State. He didn’t start the game, yielding to true freshman Greg Garmon, but Weisman went in and didn’t have the burst a running back needs against a top-flight run defense, which is what the Lions have built themselves around.
That left Iowa with the passing game. You know all about that, too. That went like this: Vandenberg’s pass efficiency was 82.8 midway through the third quarter. Iowa’s play-action passing game was fooling no one. That tends to happen when you average 1.1 yards on 17 carries.
After the Hawkeyes fell to Central Michigan on Sept. 22, coach Kirk Ferentz started hearing questions about Vandenberg, who finished 15 of 32 for 167 yards, a TD pass, interception and a fumble.
“I’ll just say this: I’m glad he’s our quarterback, and I’m glad he’s going to be our quarterback the next eight games,” Ferentz said.
This week on his radio show: “A lot of people are worried about James, I’m not. That’s [the passing game] all going to work itself out.”
On the pregame radio show Saturday night, same deal, but it the games were six and not eight.
Don’t look for Iowa to change QB. Iowa’s offense has pneumonia. The whole thing is infected, and without Scherff and with a severely limited Weisman, this thing is going to need an IV and some bed rest.
This, as much as anything, said it wasn’t Iowa’s night. Kicker Mike Meyer entered the game with streak of 13 straight field goals. He missed 49- and 37-yarders in the first half. Penn State’s Sam Ficken, who entered the game 3-for-9 this season, connected on a 34-yarder during PSU’s 24-0 first-half blitz.
Iowa didn’t turnover the scoreboard until junior Jordan Cotton returned a kick 92 yards for a TD with 14:14 left in the game. That made it 38-7 and erased the possibility of Iowa’s first shutout at Kinnick since a 31-0 loss to Wisconsin in 1998.
Junior Nolan MacMillan missed an assignment and allowed a defensive end a free run to Vandenberg on a fourth down. It ended in a sack and Penn State took over.
But really PSU took over on the third drive when McGloin whipped a 31-yard TD pass to tight end Jesse James. The Lions ran their hurry-up “NASCAR” offense.
Their offensive line pushed Iowa’s front four around all night. Penn State finished with 215 rushing (first time Iowa has given up 200-plus rushing since 222 at Nebraska last season). McGloin threw the ball to nine receivers, finished 26 of 38 for 289 yards and two TDs.
The Lions finished with 504 yards total offense, the most against the Hawkeyes since Missouri put up 512 in the 2010 Insight Bowl. Iowa finished with 17 rushing yards, its worst output since 29 against Arizona in 2010. The 181 yards of offense was Iowa’s lowest since 171 in a win over Minnesota in 2009.
At the end of the game, there weren’t enough fans left in the Kinnick bleachers to boo the fourth-down sack. They did cheer Vandenberg’s 18-yard TD pass to wide receiver Keenan Davis, his first TD reception this season, making it 38-14 with 4:11 left.
According to HawkeyeReport.com, Iowa played host to 30 recruits Saturday night.
The fireworks were nice.
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Well, at least there is this…it could be worse for Iowa.
The NCAA has hit Penn State with a $60 million sanction, a four-year football postseason ban and a vacation of all wins dating to 1998, the organization said Monday morning. The career record of Joe Paterno will reflect these vacated records, the NCAA said. Penn State also must reduce 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period.
Wow, that makes me feel better about Iowa’s football team Lip.
This was a rank humiliation, and an absolute showcase for the wreck our “offense” has become. Whatever James Vandenberg was going to do in college ball, he has done it, and I don’t want to see any more. Any half-competent coach would realize this, and Vandenberg would be carrying a clipboard for the rest of the year, or bow-hunting, or on the chess team or SOMETHING. However, Ferentz has yet to learn from any of his mistakes for the last five years or longer. He will stay with Vandenberg. And we will be the joke of the Big Ten, that pit-scratching, backward bunch of rubes who pay a man millions for prolonged mediocrity and incompetent personnel and game management decisions. I should Iaugh because it hurts too much to cry.
Give credit to Penn State, they saw all of Iowa’s weaknesses and exploited them. Saw we rotated defensive lineman so they ran no-huddle. Faked blitzes and made Vandenberg throw early and often and they shut down our running game. McGloin showed what good coaching can do for a player. Made every read on Iowa’s defense. We could afford mutiple three and out’s against teams like Michigan State and Minnesota, but against teams like Penn State and the rest of the teams on our schedule that won’t work. The only reason I continued to watch the game was to see Iowa’s backup QB. Down 31 points late in the 3rd quarter and Vandenberg putting the ball directly in the hands of the defense I assumed we would see the back-up QB. Nope, Vandenberg took every snap for the entire ballgame. I would assume Kirk was playing James to try to win the game, but then we punted on fourth down 31 points behind. Watching James take hit after hit late in the game made me wonder what Kirk was trying to prove. Was he punishing James for his performance, is he so afraid of a QB controversy he is willing to let his starter get pummeled, or is he just that stubborn. The Iowa staff keeps staying that another QB would do worse. Is that possible? Look I wanted Vandenberg to do well as much as anyone, I admire his toughness, but when is it time to go another direction? I guess until we are technically out of bowl contention we will continue to start Vandenberg. Don’t write me off as a bandwagon jumper or a new wave fan, I’ve been die hard since 1981. This is pure stubbornness by a head coach. If your starter is not getting the job done you owe it to your team to make a change. If the next player can’t perform then it is possible beyond a coaches ability to control. Not opening a position to competition is contrary to everything a coach should stand for. We had many recruits at the game that saw a coach that will not play underclassmen and a coaching staff that plain got OUTCOACHED in every phase of the game. AND why isn’t Cotton playing running back, has speed, size, and strenth. He was quite a decent running back in high school I seem to have read somewhere.
This has nothing to do with playing underclassmen. Why would Cotton play running back? That’s a pretty absurd suggestion.
Cotton’s one of the leading rushers in Iowa high school history and looked awfully good returning kicks. You think he would be would be worse than a tenative true freshman Rupert?
What possible good did it do to play Vandenberg that late in the game? Why is this coaching staff so determined to never miss the opportunity to miss an opportunity? As bad as he has played and played tonight, I have no real animus towards Vandenberg. It just wasn’t our, or his, night. But what is inexcusable is Ferentz’s refusal, when the game was long-decided, to not let one of the backups get some reps at QB. Would playing a series or two create a QB controversey? I doubt it, it’s not like the fans are on Vandy’s side now. Instead of salvaging some small sliver of a bright spot, by using this debacle as a learning lesson for the younger QBs, we managed to make the failure complete. I’m just at a complete loss for what the rationale was here.
Several days before this disaster happened, I pointed out the many options available to Iowa’s offense and concluded that the Head Hawk would take advantage of none of them. Of course, that prediction was about as difficult as predicting who Mitt Romney will vote for.
Losing is one thing, losing big is another, but losing and being totally embarrassed in your own stadium in front of 30 recruits and those 70,585 folks in the stands (not to mention the prime time BTN audience) is a whole different matter.
Iowa’s 4-million-dollar man can stand by his QB. but nothing changes the reality that Iowa’s QB play is the worst in D-1 football. It’s hard to conceive of another coach who would stand idly by and watch this disaster unfold for over half a season and yet refuse to even consider the possibility of giving someone else a shot. Now that’s not stubborn. That’s crazy.
Iowa could give up 50 points or more to NW next week, and maybe 50 more to Indiana after that. Meanwhile, the Iowa offense under its present QB is unlikely to score 50 points total the rest of the season.
Frankly, the smart thing to do would be to forfeit. Save the time and effort. Prevent any more injuries. Now that may be a conservative opinion, but then that’s one thing the Head Hawk clearly understands.
I have to agree with Sanji – JVB plays as if he is coached by bookies in Las Vegas… fumbles the ball when he does not need to, throws to other jerseys, plays with hesitation. I cannot wait for this season to end. Iowa Basketball will be great to watch!
If I was one of the 30 + recruits at this game I would probably be thinking about going somewhere other than Iowa. What a sad display of team football, of course it all starts with the leaders ( Head Coach, QB).