IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -If Penn State had been told in August that its season would include a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl bid, the Nittany Lions likely would have taken it.
After losing at unranked Iowa 24-23 on Saturday, that sounds like a consolation prize.
Penn State’s national title hopes are all but over now, it’s dreams of playing in the BCS title game in Miami crushed on a chilly November evening in Iowa City.
Alabama and Texas Tech are still unbeaten. The Nittany Lions are now stuck in the one-loss holding pen, which includes Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Southern California – all of whom are ahead of them in the rankings.
The Trojans, like Penn State, dropped a road game to an unranked opponent and also suffer playing in a league deemed inferior to the Southeastern Conference and Big 12.
n the Pac-10, the Trojans and Nittany Lions could meet in the Rose Bowl.
It might not be the scenario coach Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions had hoped for, but they still have a lot on the line heading into their final two games.
“We can’t start moaning about this one. Monday we have to go out and be ready to work,” Paterno said after the Iowa loss.
Penn State had survived its toughest test, at Ohio State, in part because they didn’t commit a turnover or a penalty. The Nittany Lions weren’t nearly as sound against Iowa, and the Hawkeyes unwrapped every gift the Nittany Lions left for them.
Penn State got off a short punt from its own 1 on the game’s first possession after quarterback Daryll Clark fumbled. Shonn Greene needed just two runs to make it 7-0.
The Nittany Lions dominated Iowa through three quarters, holding the ball for almost 30 minutes. But they let the Hawkeyes hang around because they had to settle for field goals on three trips inside the Iowa 15.
Greene then brought Iowa within 23-21 with a tough 6-yard TD run with 9:20 left, and Tyler Sash’s interception deep in Iowa territory gave Hawkeyes quarterback Ricky Stanzi an opportunity to pull off his late-game heroics.
ference call.
“We didn’t play well, but you have to be careful. I don’t want to take anything from Iowa. Those kids played tough. The quarterback played a heck of a game,” Paterno said.
In retrospect, it’s not all that surprising that Iowa toppled the Nittany Lions.
The Hawkeyes could be 8-2 just as easily as they’re 6-4. Their four losses are by a combined 12 points. They also have one of the better defenses in the country, which came in handy on a day when the weather played a major role.
And Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz seems to have Paterno’s number. The Hawkeyes have won six of their last seven against Penn State.
“Give Iowa credit. They played a really good defensive football game. They didn’t give us anything easy,” said Paterno, who spent another game working from the press box because of his sore leg. “We knew we were in for a dog fight. No one’s come in and blown these guys out.”
Most will remember Saturday’s game as the one Penn State lost. But folks in Iowa City see it as a sign that the Hawkeyes are back after two disappointing finishes and a 2008 season that, until Saturday, had been unusually frustrating.
and last season was even worse.
Iowa had one of the nation’s worst offenses and finished 6-6 and without a bowl bid.
Ferentz, one of the highest-paid coaches in the country, was being hounded by questions about his program’s disturbing string of arrests and it’s diminishing on-field returns. He kept insisting the Hawkeyes were on the right track this season even as they kept losing close ones.
“Every game we’ve lost has been close and, quote-unquote, “winnable,” Ferentz said. “The only way to get over the hump is to push over the hump.”
The theory heading into this weekend was that Penn State had a relatively easy path to an unbeaten season compared to Alabama and Texas Tech. The thinking now is that Penn State is still in great shape to win the Big Ten, with home games against Indiana and Michigan State remaining.
But great shape can turn bad quickly.
“You have to have the right kind of kids; they can start to go out and regroup and leaders come to the front,” Paterno said. “It’s not that tough. We’ve got to do better.”
Add A Comment