Saturday night was a difficult night to be an Iowa fan. Penn State handed Iowa its first shutout since 2000, routing the Hawkeyes, 31-0.
After three seasons full of them, the Hawkeyes’ trip to Happy Valley turned into another offensive low point that will have college football fans and pundits laughing from coast to coast.
The Iowa Hawkeyes arrived in State College as the nation’s No. 22 team. They exit as victims of a complete embarrassment at the hands of No. 7 Penn State.
Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar wound up throwing four touchdown passes, including a pair to tight end Tyler Warren.
That’s not the story, though. Once again, the story is a Hawkeye offense that was less than inept on a prime-time stage.
Relative to how the rest of the night played out, it started with some offensive promise. Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara connected with tight end Erick All on a third-down snap for a 20-yard pickup to move the chains. Then, Iowa was promptly forced to punt.
On Iowa’s next possession, McNamara scrambled for a first down on an 18-yard run. It looked like Iowa might be about to deliver the game’s first score when a shovel pass to All netted another 12-yard gain.
But, as All was contacted and flipped over, he fumbled the football. That was the start of the real White Out nightmare for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa proceeded to go three-and-out on its next five drives. Then, McNamara was hit and fumbled, Iowa went three-and-out again and then backup quarterback Deacon Hill was hit and fumbled.
All of it added up to just 76 yards of total offense for the Hawkeyes.
Naturally, Hawkeye social media wasn’t in the best of spirits. Here’s all of the reaction from a tough night for the black and gold.