Iowa Recap: Lions fall to 0-5 for first time in school history

Penn State’s habit of starting slowly and mounting furious but ultimately unsuccessful comebacks continued Saturday against Iowa.

The Nittany Lions spotted the Hawkeyes a 24-point third-quarter lead, and it proved too big to overcome, even after Sean Clifford came off the bench to spark a short-lived rally. Clifford burned Iowa for two quick touchdown passes, but the Hawkeyes came up with a pair of late interceptions, including an unlikely pick-six, and coasted to a 41-21 victory at Beaver Stadium.

While Penn State’s uncertainty at quarterback was the focal point of most game week commentary, one of the most decisive factors on Saturday was Iowa’s dominance at the line of scrimmage. In earning their first win in this series since 2010, the Hawkeyes built up a 175-62 advantage in rushing yards and scored four touchdowns on the ground to the Lions’ one. Iowa did average a modest 3.8 yards per carry, but Penn State averaged 1.8.

Will Levis, making his first start of the season in place of the struggling Clifford, couldn’t get much going after a first-quarter touchdown drive. He finished with 13 completions in 16 attempts for 106 yards, and added 34 yards on 15 rushes. But he also fumbled at the Penn State 41-yard line while under pressure early in the third quarter, squandering a chance for PSU to climb back into the game after falling behind 24-7. That turnover, coupled with another Levis fumble that Penn State recovered, prompted a switch back to Clifford. He got off to a spectacular start, but the turnover problems that had prompted the change last week at Nebraska quickly resurfaced, and that spelled doom for Penn State.

“We’re not playing well enough in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams,” coach James Franklin said. “We’ve had times in the past when we’ve struggled. We’ve started slow on offense, and our defense has played well, or vice versa, or our special teams have come through for us. But we’re not doing it really in all three areas.”

The loss dropped Penn State to 0-5, the first time in the school’s football history that the Lions have opened a season with five consecutive losses.

Here’s a look at the good and the bad:

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• Clifford came into the game in the third quarter and threw touchdown passes on his first two snaps – first a 28-yard pass to Brenton Strange, then a 68-yarder to Jahan Dotson.

• Dotson, the one unequivocal bright spot in Penn State’s offense this season, had another huge afternoon, finishing with eight catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. He also had a punt returns of 15 and 17 yards.

• Penn State’s quarterback switch didn’t fix anything. Except for one first-quarter drive in which everything went right, the offense struggled throughout the first half. Then, early in the second half, the Hawkeyes came up with a key takeaway when Levis fumbled while under pressure.

Clifford came on in relief and started out hot, but quickly cooled off. He was intercepted twice, the first time on a batted ball, the second time with Penn State seemingly in good position to cut into Iowa’s lead in the closing minutes. Defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon nabbed a short pass toward the right sideline and rumbled 71 yards to the opposite end zone, clinching the victory for Iowa.

While Penn State appears to have problems all over the field, the turnovers – especially from the quarterback position – have been the costliest. The Lions have now thrown eight interceptions and lost five fumbles in five games.

“The whole reason for the change was the turnovers,” Franklin said. “We made the change to go with Will, and he did some good things with the quarterback running game, some of the stuff with how he was managing it. But then we started to turn the ball over again, and the whole reason for change was the turnovers. So I felt like we had to do something, go back to Sean. It initially helped us, but then the turnovers came back again.”

• Penn State’s offensive line got caved in on two crucial short-yardage situations late in the second quarter. On the first of those two possessions, the Lions weren’t able to convert on third-and-2 and fourth-and-1. On the next possession, Caziah Holmes got shoved backward on third-and-1, and Levis threw incomplete to Dotson on fourth-and-2. The incompletion gave Iowa the ball at midfield, setting up a touchdown that sent the Hawkeyes into the locker room with a 24-7 lead.

“We knew that running the ball against this team was going to be difficult,” Franklin said. “It always is. We’ve always had challenges running the ball against this crew. Most people do. But we wanted to stay on schedule, and on one drive with Will, we were able to do that, mixing the run in there, but we weren’t able to do it consistently enough. And it can’t just be [running the ball] with the quarterback.”

• The Nittany Lions have now surrendered 30 or more points in their past six games dating back to the Cotton Bowl. They continue to struggle with missed tackles. Jesse Luketa missed Tyler Goodson in a one-on-one opportunity early in the second quarter, and the sophomore tailback slipped into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.

• The Nittany Lions have now surrendered 30 or more points in their past six games dating back to the Cotton Bowl. They continue to struggle with missed tackles. Luketa missed Goodson in a one-on-one opportunity early in the second quarter, and the sophomore tailback slipped into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.

• Injuries continued to hinder the Lions. A season that was already looking bleak got a whole lot worse on Saturday when it was learned that tight end Pat Freiermuth will undergo season-ending surgery. His absence deprived the quarterbacks of their most reliable target against Iowa, and he will be greatly missed in the team’s final four games.

Also, Devyn Ford didn’t see any action on Saturday after halftime. If he misses any playing time going forward, the Lions will be down to true freshmen Keyvone Lee and Holmes.

Next up: a trip to Michigan. A month ago, this looked as though it was going to be one of the more consequential games of the Big Ten season. Now, though, that’s not the case, due to the profound and ongoing struggles that both of these traditional powers have faced in 2020.

The Wolverines had looked briefly like they were going to be legitimate Big Ten East Division challengers, as they opened with a 49-24 rout of Minnesota. But a 27-24 loss to Michigan State in week two sent the Wolverines into a tailspin. They followed their upset loss to the Spartans with back-to-back pratfalls against Indiana and Wisconsin, dropping those games by a combined score of 87-32, and they went into this weekend’s action ranked 10th in the Big Ten in scoring offense (26.3 points per game) and 11th in scoring defense (34.5 ppg).

Like Penn State, the Wolverines have a dilemma at quarterback. Redshirt sophomore Joe Milton was up and down in Michigan’s first four games, with a 58.7 percent completion rate and a 4-4 touchdown-interception ratio. Redshirt freshman Cade McNamara came on in relief of Milton in the second half of last week’s 49-11 loss to the Badgers and got some first-team reps in practice heading into Saturday’s game against Rutgers.

The Nittany Lions haven’t won at the Big House since 2009, and their past two losses there have been by a combined margin of 91-17. So even with the Wolverines struggling, Ann Arbor is an unlikely spot for a turnaround. Still, the Lions have no choice but to continue trying to find ways to regroup.

“We’ve got to stick together as a family and as a team and stay positive,” Franklin said. “We’re being challenged right now. We’ve had to learn how to handle success, and now we’re having to learn how to handle adversity, and it’s even more challenging when [players] don’t have the normal support system around them that they would typically have. That’s all of us. We’ve got to stay together as a family and be closer than we’ve ever been and find a way through this.”

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