Know Your Penn State Football Enemy: Iowa Hawkeyes
During Penn State football’s winning streak the Iowa Hawkeyes were one of the Nittany Lions’ easy victims. 2017 shouldn’t see much of a difference.
It’s nothing personal Iowa Hawkeye fans, but Penn State football just showed a complete dominance of the game in 2016. The Nittany Lions had just found their way and took the momentum through for a 41-14 cruiser.
Although the game happened almost a full year ago and the losses from last year’s team were minimal, they were key. Two-year starting quarterback C.J. Beathard, running back LeShun Daniels Jr. and corner Desmond King are all gone. Those three pieces aren’t easily replaceable.
Nevertheless, there’s a strong team building back for Kirk Ferentz and company. And if the past holds true, Iowa could come out of nowhere and become a Big Ten Title contender. However, those aforementioned players leave some big holes.
Don’t doubt Wadley
To start off, the offense is in good hands. Senior running back Akrum Wadley returns after a 1,000-yard season. Wadley began receiving significant time in his sophomore year and became a shifty runner for Iowa. He’ll have the backfield mostly to himself after Daniels’ departure. He’s going to be a great runner behind an experienced offensive line group.
The Hawkeyes’ hog mollies return fives contributors with at least seven starts from last year making them one of the better O-Lines in the country (Courtesy of Hawk Central). They’ll need to establish a quality run game to ease a new quarterback in the starting lineup.
Last year’s backup QB Nathan Stanley likely has an inside edge to start. He’s got prototypical size and adds a dual threat element to this offense. He’s not as refined as Beathard, but he’ll be difficult to stop, assuming he gets the job. Stanley will have a key target out wide returning as well in Matt Vandeberg. After missing nine games due to a season-ending injury last year, he returns for his senior year.
Penn State football’s defense did a nice job of containing the Iowa offense across the board, and it should do the same with a deep defense returning.
It’s a group effort
Iowa returns the second most defensive starters in the Big Ten with eight. The Hawkeyes lost major pieces in King and defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson. But, they return the majority of the defense including leading tackler Josey Jewell.
Jewell recorded 124 total tackles in 2016 and has 301 total tackles in his career. With his speed and coverage ability, he’s a terror for offenses to game plan around. Jewell spearheads a three-headed monster at linebacker. All three of the Hawkeyes’ starting linebackers are back with fellow seniors Bo Bower and Ben Nieman joining Jewell. Those two combined to record 170 total tackles.
Up front, the same can be said as the team’s second and third-leading pass rushers return in Matt Nelson and Anthony Nelson (no relation). The two combined for 11 sacks last year and are both strong rushers. At the other defensive end spot, Parker Hesse is back after a 36-tackles, 3.5-sack campaign.
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Even with such a strong crop back, it’d be tough to see Iowa jumping 28 points back for a win. Penn State’s strong offense and loaded defense give them the edge in this one. Such big pieces are gone – that it’s hard to see Iowa overcoming that.