OK, that was a tough one for Penn State on Saturday, and the hopes of an undefeated season came to an end for the Nittany Lions against the Iowa Hawkeyes. But was it really all that bad in the grand scheme of things?
As difficult as it may have been to watch Penn State slowly lose its grip on a double-digit lead in Kinnick Stadium before having to escape a field-rushing of Iowa faithful at the bitter end, there may have been some signs of hope for the rest of the season.
Losing Sean Clifford was literally a game-changing moment
There is no overlooking the single biggest difference in the game, no matter how many angles you choose to look at it. Penn State losing Sean Clifford was a huge momentum swing in the game. Clifford headed to the locker room with Penn State owning a 17-3 lead (it would be 17-10 by the time the offense returned to the field, however), and the offense never looked the same again.
Ta’Quan Roberson was put in a bad spot and the play-calling and field position didn’t really give him much of a chance. Do you know what could have helped out Roberson a little bit? A competent running game.
The lack of a running game hurt more than the backup QB
One of Penn State’s biggest weak point this season has been its lack of a running game. After seemingly taken some steps forward a week ago against Indiana, Penn State’s running game was never able to get going against the Hawkeyes.
Sean Clifford was the team’s leading rusher with 36 yards on three carries, and he missed most of the game. Perhaps this is more evidence of the importance of Clifford’s impact on the game, but Roberson was able to rush for 27 yards on 10 carries and Keyvone Lee added 30 yards on 10 carries. But Noah Cain was contained and John Lovett was banged up. As a team, 107 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns against Iowa doesn’t sound terrible. But Penn State needed a stable running attack to power its way out of bad field position with an inexperienced backup quarterback, and it was unable to deliver.