Penn State Football: Week 9 Studs and Duds against Iowa

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STATE COLLEGE, PA – NOVEMBER 05: Penn State Nittany Lions players and fans sing to celebrate the team’s win over Iowa Hawkeyes on November 5, 2016 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State defeats Iowa 41-14. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /

K – Jake Pinegar

This space has been quite critical of true freshman Jake Pinegar and his inability to finish off drives for the Nittany Lions. However, Pinegar showed everyone on Saturday by making not one, not two, but three field goals from beyond 40 yards. On the season Pinegar was 6-for-10 coming into the game, with a long of just 39 yards.

As Coach Franklin noted in the post-game press conference, Pinegar is starting to feel confident in what he can do to help the team. After Saturday’s three-for-three day, Pinegar has now made six of his last seven field goal attempts. What’s more, he made all three field goals, not only from beyond 40 yards, but also during a wet mist — not exactly ideal placekicking conditions.

Pinegar, a native of Ankeny, IA, is beginning to show the leg and confidence that led the Nittany Lions to offer him a scholarship and name him the starting placekicker from the outset.

Games like the one against Iowa are the type of contests where pressure placekicking impacts the final results. Lately Pinegar has been extremely cool under that pressure. Keeping him confident will go a long way to providing Penn State another offensive weapon going forward.

Now let’s take a look at this week’s Duds list.

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