Iowa and Penn State will battle in front of a sold out crowd at Kinnick on Saturday

The Iowa Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) battle the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) at Kinnick Stadium this week.

Last weekend, the Penn State program shocked the college football world by firing long-time head coach James Franklin.

The Nittany Lions have struggled against ranked teams during Franklin's tenure, including a 4-21 record against top 10 teams.

After a hard-fought loss to Oregon at home, Penn State dropped two-straight games to 0-4 UCLA and 3-2 Northwestern, both unranked opponents.

Following the loss to Northwestern, the program sacked Franklin the next day and named Terry Smith as interim coach.

In equally upsetting news for Penn State fans, starting quarterback Drew Allar has played his last snap for the Nittany Lions after suffering a season-ending injury in the loss to Northwestern.

If it is not already bad for Penn State, they have to go on the road to Iowa City to take on Iowa in front of a sold-out crowd on Saturday night.

The Hawkeyes are coming off a dominating 37-0 win over rival Wisconsin in the annual battle for the Heartland Trophy and welcome a Penn State team that is reeling after this weekend's loss to Northwestern.

The Hawkeyes will look to repeat their solid performance against the Badgers and take advantage of a struggling Penn State squad that will likely turn to freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer.

Grunkemeyer was ranked as the No. 8 overall quarterback in the 2025 recruiting class and was a very productive high school quarterback, but has not played any meaningful football at the college level.

With a night game in front of a sold-out crowd, Grunkemeyer and Penn State are primed for a fourth-straight loss.