Purdue/Iowa

I expected Penn State’s defense to be good this season, I’m not sure I expected them to be THIS good. 

Purdue — albeit without its best player in Rondale Moore and senior quarterback Elijah Sindelar — couldn’t get anything going in Saturday’s 35-7 win for Penn State. Backup quarterback Jack Plummer was under duress all day long, with the Nittany Lions collecting 10 sacks. The Boilermakers mustered a measly 104 yards of total offense. 

In Penn State’s first two conference games, the defense has given up just seven points. The highest total it’s surrendered this season was in the Week 2 win over Buffalo (13 points). 

With the meat of the Big Ten schedule ahead of it, Penn State knows it has one of the elite defenses in the conference to count on.

Looking Back

Star of The Game: DE Shaka Toney

I was going to start off this section by saying Shaka Toney was basically unblockable against the Boilermakers. But there’s no “basically” about it. He was unblockable. Toney was in the backfield repeatedly, using speed and quickness to burn Purdue’s offensive line. He tallied three sacks and helped the Nittany Lions record their most sacks in a conference game since 2007. He and Yetur Gross-Matos give Penn State a terrific tandem of starting pass rushers. 

Moment of Magic: Dotson sprints 72 yards to the end zone

With the Nittany Lions on top 14-0, wideout Jahan Dotson blew the game wide open on Penn State’s third possession of the game. He corralled a pass from over the middle, juked one Purdue defender before speeding ahead down the left hand side of the field. A key block by KJ Hamler at the 10-yard-line cleared the path to the end zone and Dotson scored his third touchdown of the season to put the home side up three scores. 

Looking Ahead

Hawkeyes offensive falters

Facing a Michigan team that got gashed on the ground just a few weeks ago by Wisconsin, Iowa’s offense produced just one rushing yard on 30 carries in Saturday’s 10-3 loss in Ann Arbor. That’s the fewest yards the Hawkeyes have managed on the ground since 2011. Up next? A date with Penn State’s dominant front seven. 

Stanley’s turnovers

Quarterback Nate Stanley returned for his senior season in Iowa City with a lot of expectations, with some even regarding him as an NFL prospect. Stanley was efficient, if unspectacular through Iowa’s first four games, but fell flat against the Wolverines. He threw for 260 yards, but was also picked off three times and sacked eight times. He has to be better against Penn State for Iowa to have a chance at the upset.

Primetime at Kinnick

Penn State doesn’t have the best track record in primetime games at Kinnick Stadium, but then again neither do a lot of top-ranked teams. I’m not even going to get into the 2008 heartbreaking loss for a then-undefeated Penn State squad. It’s still too soon. 

In recent years, the Hawkeyes have managed to pull off some incredible upsets at home, including wins over Ohio State in 2017 and Michigan in 2016. The Nittany Lions, thanks to a gutsy last-second connection from Trace McSorley to Juwan Johnson, won at the death under the lights of Kinnick in 2017.