Iowa football: Run game is one of three keys to beating Penn State

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 23: Quarterback Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions runs on a keeper during the second quarter past defensive end Matt Nelson #96 of the Iowa Hawkeyes on September 23, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Iowa’s defense vs Miles Sanders/Trace McSorley

This is a huge test for Iowa’s front seven. The Iowa football team is ranked third in the nation in total defensive yards allowed and third in total rushing yards allowed, but so are the Michigan State Spartans and Penn State carved the Spartan defense up. The junior running back from Pittsburgh, PA, Mile Sanders, rushed for 162 yards on just 17 carries against Michigan State.

That’s pretty impressive against a top-ranked defense.

For Iowa’s season, they have really faced three strong running teams or good running backs: Iowa State, Wisconsin, and Maryland. The Iowa football team held Iowa State’s David Montgomery (who may just be the first back taken in the 2019 NFL Draft) to a season-low 44 yards on 17 rushes.

Against the nation’s second leading rusher, Jonathon Taylor, the Iowa Hawkeye defense held the Wisconsin rushing attack to its third lowest output of the season (210 yards on 44 carries), and held Taylor to his third worst yard per carry output (4.5 YPC) of his entire career.

The best performance, however, came last week when Iowa stopped the Maryland Terrapins rushing attack in its tracks. For the season, the Terrapins are averaging 219.9 yards per carry. Against Iowa, they only managed 68 yards on 23 carries.

If the Iowa football team can stop Penn State’s rushing attack, it will force the inaccurate Trace McSorley to win with his arm and not his legs, which may be the difference in a game that is expected to have some nasty weather.

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