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A complete team effort by the defense caused a historic flop by the Hawkeyes offense.
For the second consecutive week, Penn State put on a complete defensive effort that made it impossible to single out an individual MVP performance. It’s a great problem to have as the Nittany Lions are now 4-0 with maybe the best defense in the nation residing in Happy Valley.
According to the box score, linebacker Curtis Jacobs had the best individual performance - with a total of three tackles and one TFL. It’s hard to put up numbers though when the defense is constantly forcing the offense off the field. Iowa only had 33 offensive snaps the entire night in the Nittany Lions 31-0 victory, compared to 97 for Penn State. It’s the first time such a discrepancy has been seen in more than five years in college football. Penn State’s defense made the offense of a ranked opponent look more like a Division III squad that just began its football program this past spring.
Let’s take a look at some of the other numbers:
- Penn State’s defense forced more fumbles (5) than allowed first downs (4).
- Iowa had nearly five times the amount of punting yards (366) as they did total yards on offense (76)
- The defense held Iowa to just 20 yards rushing on 17 attempts, allowing just 1.18 yards per carry.
- Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara, who has a Big Ten title and victory in Beaver Stadium under his belt, threw for just 42 yards despite playing from behind most of the game.
- The defense allowed Penn State to win the time of possession battle to the tune of 45:27 to 14:33.
Simply put, the Nittany Lion defense was relentless throughout the night. Outside of two moderatly successful plays (with one ending in a lost fumble for the Hawkeyes), Iowa was barely able to reach the line of scrimmage when they chose to run. When they were forced to pass, McNamara was barely able to drop back before a slew of Nittany Lions were in his face.
The offenses will get better as the season progresses, but it’s easy to see the sky-high potential of this defense. There is elite speed and physiciality across the board, with no drop off from a deep rotation on all three levels. There is also maximum effort from all 11 players on every snap. If you hapen to observe a player loafing on the defensive side of the ball this season, you probably won’t see them back out on the field for a while.
Penn State has come a long ways since the days when we described one of two players on each side of the ball as “the fast one” and relying on them to make big plays needed to earn a victory. The 2023 version of the Penn State defense is filled with guys flying to the ball and making play after play.
This is about as much fun as you can have watching a defense. Enjoy all that is yet to come.
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By: Jared Slanina
Title: Penn State Defense Smothers Iowa: BSD MVPs
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2023/9/26/23890982/penn-state-nittany-lions-football-iowa-hawkeyes-2023-bsd-mvp-chop-robinson-abdul-carter
Published Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2023 18:41:00 +0000
