Penn State Football 2017 Season Rewind: Nittany Lions pull out dramatic walk-off win at Iowa

Penn State football won its first road game of 2017 in dramatic fashion

With three straight home wins in the bag to start the 2017 season, Penn State went on the road in Week 4 for its first road test of the season. Kinnick Stadium in Iowa is always a tough place to play, especially at night, and that was absolutely the case when the Nittany Lions came to town.

Penn State headed to Iowa City ranked as the No. 4 team in the nation. With one of the top offenses, the Nittany Lions were a tough matchup for any opponent. However, known for recent upsets over top-ranked teams, Iowa wasn’t going to be an easy out.

The Nittany Lions struggled from the onset in not only their first road game of the season, but their first Big Ten game of the year.

A Tyler Davis field goal and a safety by Shareef Miller was all Penn State could muster in the first half. Meanwhile, Iowa scored the first touchdown of the game with just seconds remaining before halftime, giving the Hawkeyes a 7-5 lead at the break.

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Sticking with a recent trend, Penn State came out of the locker room and looked like a different team. Davis connected on his second field goal of the game and Saquon Barkley ran one in from eight yards out to put the Nittany Lions up 15-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately, the Penn State defense that was tough all night got burned early in the third quarter when Iowa running back Akrum Wadley scored on a 70-yard pass play from quarterback Nathan Stanley.

A missed two-point conversion kept the Penn State lead at two points.

Despite leading late in the game, the Nittany Lions appeared to be in danger, as Iowa was driving. With just over 90 seconds remaining, Wadley broke a 35-yard touchdown run. The Hawkeyes again missed the two-point conversion and led by just four points.

While going down late in the game seemed like a bad situation, the Wadley score was a blessing in disguise. Instead of Iowa being able to milk the clock before a game-winning field goal, the touchdown handed the ball back to Trace McSorley and the potent Penn State offense.

McSorley struggled for much of the night, but led a 12-play, 65-yard drive to win the game. Facing a fourth down from the seven with just seconds left, he threw a strike to Juwan Johsnon in the back of the end zone to cap the thrilling 21-19 Penn State victory.

Despite scoring just 19 points, the Penn State offense moved the ball all evening and racked up 579 yards. McSorley finished with 284 through the air. Barkley had his best game of the early season, racking up 211 rushing yards and 94 yards receiving.

Johnson had a strong game, making seven receptions for 92 yards to go with the game-winning score.

Although it wasn’t exactly pretty, it ended up being a very good win for Penn State. Teams with championship aspirations have to go through adversity throughout the course of a season. The Nittany Lions showed that they could handle a game in a tough environment and do whatever necessary to come out on top.

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