The No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes boot up Big Ten play in a big way tonight as they invade Beaver Stadium to take on No. 7 Penn State.
It’s the Nittany Lions’ annual White Out night where everyone in the crowd wears white. That tends to rev up an already-excitable Happy Valley faithful to another notch. The Hawkeyes decided to mix things up and wear black for the occasion.
There’s plenty of keys and questions entering the contest. Namely, how does Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara perform and can the Hawkeyes’ offense muster up enough to swing the upset?
Those questions will soon be answered. Ahead of the contest, Iowa released its Week 4 availability report.
As Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz noted in his press conference earlier this week, running backs Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson are listed as out for tonight’s contest.
Patterson was a key figure in Iowa’s Week 2 win over Iowa State, rushing for 86 yards and a score on 10 carries in the Hawkeyes’ 20-13 Cy-Hawk victory. Meanwhile, Johnson was Iowa’s leading rusher last season, tallying 779 rushing yards and six scores during his freshman campaign.
Listed as “Out” for tonight’s game ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/WAipW8N25X
— HawkeyeFBNotes (@HawkeyeFBNotes) September 23, 2023
Of course, Ferentz revealed earlier this week that star junior tight end Luke Lachey would likely miss the remainder of the season as he deals with a “significant injury.”
Joining the two backs and Lachey as out on the availability report are redshirt freshmen wide receivers Jacob Bostick and Reese Osgood, junior offensive lineman Asher Fahey and senior defensive lineman Chris Reames.
Iowa kicks off at Penn State at 6:40 p.m. CT on CBS.
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