Iowa Football: Heartbreak At Kinnick In Valiant Effort By Hawkeyes

In a game where the Hawkeyes had an edge to win yet again another major upset in Kinnick Stadium, it ended in the blink of an eye.

Coming into this game, myself and most people thought this was going to be a lopsided, over-hyped game in Penn State’s favor. Turns out, I was wrong… again. I had a little bit of faith because of what happened to Michigan last year under Kinnick’s bright lights, and well, it nearly did. If you weren’t even a Hawkeye fan, or Penn State fan, watching this game, you would’ve felt some pain as well. Imagine being so close to a giant upset against a playoff-contending team and ending immediately, in heartbreaking fashion.

As I am not complaining necessarily about the game as a whole, it just tears your heart out. The thought of what could have happened if this game would’ve been a bright green W. The game was played great and shows a promising future for the team. A truly heartbreaking closing to a fantastic, classic Big Ten hard-fought game.

Let’s not get too worried because at the end of the day, we played great. The Hawkeyes’ defensive performance against the Heisman contender was magnificent. Even though he did cause us some problems here and there, it could have been a whole lot worse. Saquon Barkley ran for 211 yards rushing (longest 44 yards). He ran 7.5 yards per carry, and also accounted for one of PSU’s two touchdowns. He carried the ball a whopping 28 times this game (rushing).

QB Tracy McSorely threw for 284 yards with a touchdown throw on the last play of the game. McSorely’s passes were caught 31 times out of the 48 attempts. He threw one interception to LB Josey Jewell. With an offense that has put up 144 points total coming into this game, the Hawkeyes did a very impressive job defensively.

Overall, we maintained the threats exceptionally well. A very impressive defensive performance for Iowa. Although, McSorely’s game winning TD pass to Juwan Johnson will forever hurt.

Offensively, Iowa did a magnificent job moving the ball through the air and the on the ground.

The Hawkeyes’ offense continues to improve and get better week in and week out. Akrum Wadley was impressive this game, as every game. He accounted for a touchdown… of 70 yards. The touchdown was a pass from Stanley for 70 yards and a “superman” dive into the end zone. With only 80 yards rushing for Wadley, it seemed like a thousand. Wadley carried the ball 19 times with a 4.2 yards per carry average. Akrum Wadley is a human video game, according to the entire country and Hawkeye fans.

Nathan Stanley had himself a day as well, throwing for 191 yards with zero interceptions against the Nittany Lion defense. Out of the 22 passes, Stanley’s throws have been caught 13 times. Stanley averaged 8.7 yards per pass, with a 50.4 QBR. WR Nick Easley accounted for a touchdown pass by Stanley as he also racked up 27 yards receiving total on the day. Out of the positives of this game, there were also some negatives.

Dropped passes were a big threat in this game offensively, and would’ve been a difference maker in many points in this game. The running game wasn’t necessarily pretty, although the Hawkeyes did in fact move quite well against this defense.

Overall offensively, this proved to me, and most people, that the Hawkeyes can match with anyone. I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, but this Penn State team is deadly. They’re a playoff contending team, and the way we handled them was incredible. Especially coming off a slow, ugly game against North Texas, therefore, let’s keep up this great play style.

At the end of the day you cannot get frustrated at this hard-working Iowa football team. The dedication showed how much Iowa wanted to win this game, and it was beautiful.

The passion and the grit this team holds is something special, and always will be. The determination to succeed and excel in games and win is something Iowa is known for. It showed in this game. With basically the entire country, including us Iowa fans, having no faith, they came out and stunned the country. You don’t have to win a game to impress, it’s all about the fight and determination to play against big time teams. Even though this game was a loss, it was a win in many, many categories.

This game shows a lot of hope and promise for the future of Iowa football, and the rest of the season. I cannot wait for Wisconsin/Ohio State in the next following weeks. Let’s continue this amazing play for the rest of the season, Hawks. I was insanely impressed at the fight in this game, and hope this continues.