Iowa football: Three most disappointing performances from Penn State

Nate Stanley

The junior quarterback has played pretty well in his second season at the helm of the Iowa football team, and it’s important to remember before placing hate and blame, that Nate Stanley is just a kid. He’s barely legal to drink. So while I am about to explain why his performance was incredibly disappointing against Penn State, I also want to make sure if you are reading this that you remember that he’s still a kid so let’s collectively cool it on the complete hatred and remember some of the awesome stuff he has done for the Iowa football program thus far.

Against Penn State, Nate Stanley turned in one of his worst outings as a member of the Iowa football team. His quarterback rating of 63.7 was the second lowest of his career (behind last year’s loss to Wisconsin when he posted a 39.4 quarterback rating). He completed just 18 of 42 passes for a dismal 205 yards. Stanley’s yard per attempt average of 4.2 was nearly four yards lower than his season average of 7.95.

The statistics don’t tell the full story though. It doesn’t show you that he missed a wide-open TJ Hockenson for a guaranteed touchdown on a beautiful play-fake. The Hawks would eventually go on to punt the ball. It doesn’t tell you that one of his interceptions was thrown right into the hands of Penn State and set them up for a touchdown moments later. Lastly, it doesn’t tell you that the large majority of his 24 incomplete passes were not a result of great defense or bad catching but rather incredibly inaccurate passes.

He did manage to pull it together late in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late and he would ultimately throw an interception with the Iowa football team on the four-yard line ready to score the go-ahead touchdown. Although the interception itself was not necessarily all on Stanley, he tried changing the play just a few seconds before the play clock expired and then rushed the throw. Just having the awareness to call a timeout in that situation might have been the difference between the Hawks winning and the actual result.

I know Hawkeye fans aren’t happy and rightfully so, but this is an anomaly on an otherwise solid season. Let’s see if Stanley can pull it together next week in another crucial matchup versus Purdue.