Rain and blustery winds could not dampen the mood for the second-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history on Saturday night. Not when the defense was dominant in pitching a shutout and [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] passed for four touchdowns in a 31-0 victory over Iowa. Penn State’s dominant victory was a performance that put on display Penn State’s championship-caliber defense and a strong efficient and steady offensive performance against a program that typically plays some of the best defense in the Big Ten.
How good was the Penn State defense? The Nittany Lions not only didn’t allow Iowa to score, but the Hawkeyes were held to just 76 yards of total offense, including 20 rushing yards as a team.
Penn State’s offense got off to a bit of a slow start against a stingy Iowa defense, but the running game continued to chew up yardage on the Hawkeyes. [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] carried the football 21 times for 72 hard-earned yards and [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] rushed for 49 yards on 17 carries. The ground game was especially solid in the second half as Penn State continued to wear down the Iowa defenders.
Penn State may still be on the lookout for a second receiver to really step up into a reliable role, but Allar was in sync with his tight ends. Tyler Warren was on the receiving end of two of Allar’s four touchdown passes. [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] and [autotag]Khalil Dinkins[/autotag] each added another. Lambert-Smith led the Nittany Lions with 8 receptions and 66 receiving yards.
Allar’s night came to an end in the fourth quarter with Penn State up 31-0. As he left the game, making way for [autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag] to get some time running the offense, Allar completed 25-of-37 passes for 166 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He has still not thrown an interception in his young college football career. Allar also rushed for 22 yards on eight attempts.
Penn State’s defense was all over the Iowa offense, which was playing without three of its top players due to injury. Penn State’s defense only sacked Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara twice in the game, but they made for a long evening for the former Michigan passer (who won with Michigan in his last trip to Beaver Stadium in 2021). [autotag]Curtis Jacobs[/autotag] was all over the action with 2 fumble recoveries and a tackle for loss in the game. [autotag]Adisa Isaac[/autotag] also landed on a loose football after [autotag]Chop Robinson[/autotag] knocked the ball out of the hands of McNamara on a sack.
Penn State will continue Big Ten play next week with a road trip to Northwestern.
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