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Penn State’s 3 Most Challenging Games of the 2023 Season

By Morgan Chapman

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 22: A general view of the stadium as fireworks explode before the White Out game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Beaver Stadium on October 22, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 22: A general view of the stadium as fireworks explode before the White Out game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Beaver Stadium on October 22, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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September 23rd @ Home vs Iowa

Penn State Football, Sean Clifford
Quarterback Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

The first big challenge of the season for Penn State this fall will come from the Iowa Hawkeyes. The game theme that has been announced for the Iowa game is the 2023 whiteout, which is a massive advantage for Penn State.

No matter what year it is or how good/bad the opposing team’s offense is Penn State and Iowa play close games mostly coming down to one final stop. The Hawkeyes always play very sound defense, they will look to replace first-round draft picks Lucas Van Ness and Jack Cambell as well as Riley Moss from the secondary. But even when Iowa has offensive struggles it has been their defense that keeps them in games.

The last time these teams matched up was during the 2021 season when the Nittany Lions had the Hawkeyes on the ropes until a Sean Clifford game-ending injury allowed them to come back and defeat Penn State. There was a lot of trash talk between the two fan bases on social media as the Iowa fans and coaching staff booed any Penn State injury. That still gets brought up to this day, which makes me believe James Franklin still remembers that game very clearly.

The reason why I think this game will be a challenge is if Iowa can find a way to slow down the Penn State rushing attack and force Drew Allar into a bad decision or two we could find ourselves in a very close game late into the 4th quarter. Iowa has upgraded their QB position bringing in former Michigan QB Cade McNamara who has beaten Penn State in Happy Valley before. The Nittany Lions are currently 10.5-point favorites over Iowa, if they can cover that spread during this game I think Penn State will have a very successful season in 2023.

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