October 07, 2007

Hawkeyes Pierced

By Todd Sponsler

It’s hard not to get excited about a 27-7 win over a rival that has beaten you 5 straight times, but Penn State fans need to keep this game in perspective.  Iowa is not a very good football team this year, having lost to the likes of Iowa State and Indiana.  They did keep within three points of an over-rated Wisconsin team, but let’s be honest. . . they were a touchdown and an onsides kick of pulling off a 21-20 upset this weekend.

How does that happen in a 27-7 game? 

The whole scenario began with Penn State driving into Iowa territory late in the third quarter.  The Lions got into a fourth and a short two from the 26.  Let’s pause the tape and review here.

Kevin Kelly had booted a 53 yarder at the end of the first half.  He has the leg for a 43 yard kick, but his accuracy has not yet been established.  He is not money in the bank—he’s maybe a twenty you might find on the street, but how often does that happen?

The team has just driven from their own 16 yard line deep into Hawkeye territory, somewhere between Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.  They are averaging about 5 yards per carry on the day.

Obviously, at 20-0, a FG puts you up four scores (assuming they can’t make three two-point conversions.) But a touchdown now, seals the deal.

I can’t really argue with the FG decision though.  It is how it went down that bothers me.  It appeared that someone on the sideline had the balls to go for it, but until the play came in, the clock was winding down.  So PSU took a time out.  After the TO, they lined up to kick and subsequently missed.

We might not have made the first down, but the message sent was a lack of confidence in this team that had just moved the ball down the field.  We rushed for almost the whole drive between Royster and Kinlaw, save for a PI penalty on the only attempted pass play.  They couldn’t stop us.  We had them back on their heels and we were about to deliver the death blow, when all of a sudden, we stopped and pulled back.  We let them catch their breath.

What happened next is the stuff that nightmarish Minnesota upsets are made of.  Anthony Morelli threw the first of his two required interceptions and Iowa took the ensuing drive for seven points.  20-7.  It is still the fourth quarter now, so no need to get worried, right?

Penn State gets the ball back and starts driving.  Six plays later, Morelli throws his second pick of the fourth quarter at the Iowa 36.  The Hawks have momentum.  They are only two scores down with time to manage the TD and pull within a score of upsetting Penn State.  There’s 9:47 on the clock.

The difference in the game at this point?  Our defense was there to play.  The Hawks have to punt after 3 plays, including a false start penalty that hurt them.  Penn State’s offense kept to the ground, grinding down the clock and maintaining field position.  Iowa’s upset dreams slip by the wayside.

They should never have been dreaming in the first place!  This team should have been put away in the first quarter.  We were up 10-0 but it seemed like we scored three times.  Well, we sort of did.  One TD was called back on replay and we settled for a FG.  And Chris Bell flat out dropped a pass as he stood wide open in the end zone, his defender having fallen.  Morelli actually threw the pass too well!  It bounced off his chest!

I guess the point I am trying to make here is that although the score looks good and I am glad to have the win, nothing has really changed all that much.

Yes, the running game looked better against a decent Iowa defense.  The loss of Austin Scott, details still obscure, may not be that big of a loss from the team’s standpoint.  Hopefully, Royster’s injury isn’t serious. 

The offensive line looked pretty good.  But we still find ways to shoot ourselves in the foot and make the statistics look lopsided.  And most of that falls on our attention deficit afflicted QB who can’t get through a fourth quarter without making critical mistakes.  Two interceptions in the final 15 minutes are not acceptable.  He threw the ball away on a play in the fourth and got a sarcastic cheer from the crowd.  At least it wasn’t another INT.

That’s not to say that others aren’t making mistakes.  Kinlaw had another fumble on the first drive of the game!  Here we go again, Penn State!  Justin King gave up a big pass play on Iowa’s lone scoring drive—he’s had lapses in a couple of games this year.

What I can’t understand is why we punish Quarless by not starting him because he dropped a pass Joe thought he should have caught last week.  I don’t think Bell returned to the game after his drop for a TD.  Yet, Morelli can make mistakes week after week after week and still get the nod.  Maybe if he had to ride the pine a bit, he’d keep his freaking head in the game.

There was an appearance by Daryll Clark.  He is now turning into one of the consummate knee takers in the country.  He is 2-0 on the knee taking and critics agree that he does it better than anyone they’ve ever seen.  He owes much of his success at this to his mentor, Jay Paterno.  I can see he will be ready to lead us next season.

BY THE NUMBERS:

The stats looked good for Penn State.  We outgained them 489 to 194 yards on the day, with 256 yards coming on the ground.  The Penn State D held them to a mere 48 yards.

Morelli was 18-32 with two INTs and 233 yards.  Not a bad day, but certainly not a great one either.  Of course, the drop by Bell didn’t help.

Morelli did not complete a pass in the fourth quarter, unless you count the two that Iowa caught.

We had 26 first downs to 8.  Controlled time of possession by 13 minutes, and went 9 of 17 on third down whilst holding them to 3 of 16.  Iowa was 0-2 on fourth downs.

We should have won this game by 40!

INTANGIBLES:

The day started off poorly.  Blue Sapphire missed her baton throw, and the drum major missed the first flip.  PSU lost the coin toss.  Still won the game, though.

JoePa notched win #367.  Iowa had a five game streak against us.  The Hawkeyes have now lost eight Big Ten games in a row.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

• The Buckeyes steamed over Purdue 23-7.
• THEM beat eastern Michigan 33-22.
• Northwestern upset Michigan State 48-41 (OT).
• Indiana doubled up the Gophers, 40-20.
• Illinois beat Whisky 31-26
• PSU beat the Hawkeyes 27-20.

The Buckeyes, THEM and the Illini lead the league, undefeated in conference play.  Penn State is tied for third with Northwestern at 1-2.  Iowa and Minnesota bring up the rear at 0-3 in conference games.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  The Trojans—upset by Stanford
2.  The Badgers—I predicted they’d lose some games!
3.  Florida—Urban Meyer can’t tame any tigers this year
4.  Kentucky—glass slipper shatters at South Carolina
5.  KState—Jayhawked one week after appearing in the Top 25
6.  For UCLA—the team that finally lost to Notre Dame

LOOKING AHEAD:

Next Up:  Da Badgers.  Wisconsin has struggled this year.  As I said in my preseason analysis, I was not that impressed with them.  The Illini upset them 31-26 this week.  They are a beatable team.  We have them at home in front of a homecoming crowd. 

The good news for us is that the Badger defense is not as overpowering as it has been in recent years.  Their rushing D is 62nd in the nation (ours is 8th.) Scoring Defense is 57th (5th) and Total defense is 50th (6th for PSU.)

It all comes down to controlling the line of scrimmage and protecting the ball.  If we do that, we will beat the Badgers.  If we make mistakes like we have been making, we might just pull another Illinois.

Your Comments

Please keep your comments clean and on topic.

Past Articles

• Aggies Alamo-de
• A Greek Tragedy
• Owl Be Darned
• The Little Engine That Pur-didn’t
• White Out Can’t Cover This Mistake
• On The Road Again
• Unlucky Bucky
• Hawkeyes Pierced
• Making Me ILL
• Hart-Broken