A complete disaster for Hawkeyes at Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Down 10-0 in the second quarter against Penn State in a “White Out” at Beaver Stadium with light rain falling brought back some 2009 memories, for sure. In that game, the Iowa football team rallied and won in “a stunning development here in Happy Valley,” in the immortal-toHawkeye-fans words of Brent Musburger.

But repeating history 14 years later wasn’t in the cards. Not even close. That was visibly apparent when the puntteam breaks went Penn State’s way this time around. And then the “White Out” avalanche really snowed the Hawkeyes under.

In 2009, it was Adrian Clayborn’s blocked-punt-return touchdown that tipped the outcome in Iowa’s direction.

On Saturday night, one secondquarter punt by Penn State caromed off the back of Iowa special-teamer Brendan Deasfernandes for a demoralizing lost fumble. Another second-quarter punt by Iowa squirted away from the grasp of Penn State’s return man at the Nittany Lions’ 13, but the Nittany Lions barely beat Iowa gunner Cooper DeJean to the football and retained possession, 3:35 before halftime.

The breaks didn’t go Iowa’s way. Still, the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions (4-0) were clearly the better team on Saturday night, making Iowa’s offense look as bad as it ever has under offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz.

But the No. 24 Hawkeyes didn’t help themselves like they did in 2009 with crucial big plays and got humiliated, 31-0, before 110,830 fans — the secondbiggest crowd in Penn State history. That marked the first shutout of a Kirk Ferentz team since a 31-0 loss at Illinois on Oct. 14, 2000. That was during the 218 start to Ferentz’s tenure in Iowa City; in other words, this was a historic beating that goes back to some of the downtrodden times in the past 45 years of Hawkeye football.

“Nothing looked good tonight, really,” Kirk Ferentz said. “We’ll go back to the board tomorrow and push forward. We’ve got good players, we’ve good young people, and I think we’re going to have a good football team. But clearly, we have work to do.”

This game felt somewhat similar to the beatdown the Hawkeyes endured in 2016 to Penn State, a 41-14 thrashing in which the Nittany Lions gained 599 yards. But Iowa was down, 21-0, in the middle of the second quarter of that game. The Hawkeyes had kept it to 10-0 at halftime in this one, with the lone touchdown coming on a drive that was extended by a questionable ball spot (more on that later).

“Didn’t feel as bad (as ‘16), if that’s possible. It felt like a different scenario, different type of game,” Ferentz said. “It was a 10-0 halftime game. But when you lose by 30 or lose by one, it’s hard. We’ll get through the tape quick (Sunday) and move on to next week.”

Iowa came into this game with a 3-0 record and confidence, and it showed in the first few minutes. The Hawkeyes were moving the ball; pinned Penn State with a punt; then got the ball back in Nittany Lions territory and had a beautifully designed shovel pass working with Erick All. As All charged into the red zone, he fumbled after contact — with the ball coming loose just before his elbow hit the ground — and lost possession at Penn State’s 18-yard line. A costly turnover with 9:03 left in the first quarter. At that point, Iowa had gained 59 yards to Penn State’s 1.

From there, the Nittany Lions hogged the ball. They ran 80 of the game’s next 96 offensive snaps, an incredible demonstration of efficiency in the rain. Iowa netted minus-5 yards on the 16 snaps it had in that time, with Cade McNamara losing a sack-fumble on the first play after Penn State took a 24-0 lead and moving ahead 31-0 after a field-goal block was wiped out because Max Llewellyn was called for a leaping personal foul on the try. The block didn’t even come from Llewellyn; it was another mishap that led to seven Penn State points.

When it rains (which it did on this cold night), it pours.

“Sometimes that ball doesn’t slip towards our guys,” said linebacker Jay Higgins, who was tremendous with a game-high 18 tackles. “All we can do is continue to compete, continue to be around the ball and sometimes that ball will slip into our hands eventually.”

After the All fumble, Iowa would not gain another first down until the 5:52 mark of the fourth quarter when Kamari Moulton converted a first-and-5 on a 6yard run.

Iowa’s worst-ever performance under Brian Ferentz’s seven-year watch as offensive coordinator was 66 yards on 50 plays in a 38-14 loss at Wisconsin in 2017. (Both touchdowns were scored by Josh Jackson on interception returns in that game.) This was the second-worst, in terms of total offense.

The Hawkeyes had only run 28 plays for 61 yards with 6:11 left in the fourth quarter. They finished minus-4 in turnovers and ended up with with 76 yards on 33 total snaps and four first downs. (Iowa had five first downs in that 2017 Wisconsin loss.)

Meantime, Penn State ran 97 plays for 397 yards and had an incredible 45:27 of possession time.

Cade McNamara never had a chance in his Happy Valley return.

Iowa hoped its offense would be revived with the addition of McNamara, the Michigan transfer who threw for 217 yards and three touchdowns in a 2021 win at Beaver Stadium that launched the Wolverines on their way to a College Football Playoff season.

McNamara scampered 18 yards on a bootleg very early, giving Iowa a glimmer of brief hope. But he spent most of the key parts of his night on the sideline ... or getting hurried and pummeled by Penn State’s very fresh pass rushers.

“When you’re third-and-long, it’s difficult to block six guys when they’re bringing pressure,” McNamara said.

“I see this as a learning experience for our team,” he added. “I can promise you that this is not a reflection of our team. We will be better because of this. Our offense will be better because of this, too.”

McNamara finished the game 5-for-14 for 42 yards with one turnover (lost fumble). He was replaced by Deacon Hill at the 12:19 mark of the fourth quarter. Hill went three-and-out on his first possession, too.

McNamara’s stats through four games this season: 43-for-85 passing (50.6%) for 459 yards.

“(McNamara) was cramping up a little in his hand,” Ferentz said. “At that point, it was the smart thing to do.”

Replay officials made two curious decisions (or non-decisions) during a key sequence in the second quarter

First, an apparent 12-yard loss on what was intended to be a double pass to wide receiver KeAndre LambertSmith was reviewed and ruled incomplete. First of all, the decision to review the play was eyebrow-raising. But they reviewed it. On the replay, it sure looked like the Drew Allar pass went parallel to the line of scrimmage, which is indeed a lateral by the letter of the rule book. But the call was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass, a 12-yard benefit in field position.

Two plays later, a punt-return fumble gave Penn State possession at Iowa’s 39. Significant four plays later, when Allar tried a fourth-and-1 sneak and appeared to be stopped short of the 29-yard line. CBS announcers agreed Allar was likely short. But the line judge (no disrespect to him, it’s really hard to see where the ball is) marked the ball at the 29 when it looked like the ball go no further than the 291⁄

“It looked like that to me, too,” Ferentz said.

After a measurement, Penn State was given the first down by a matter of inches. Ferentz said officials told him they reviewed the spot.

“They said they looked at it,” he said. “Supposedly.”

But he didn’t throw a challenge flag. Each team gets one challenge per game.

“Challenges on short yardage plays … it’s hard for anybody to see. You’re probably betting the under on that one,” Ferentz said.

Anyway, instead of Iowa ball down 3-0, Penn State turned that first down into seven points on another fourthdown conversion — a fourth-and-1 touchdown pass from Allar to tight end Khalil Dinkins. That made the score 10-0 with 9:17 left in the second quarter. And remember, that fourth-and-1 would have been from Iowa’s 21 instead of the 9 if the earlier 12-yard loss hadn’t been overturned.

Later in the period when Iowa had good field position trying to score before halftime, it appeared pretty obvious that McNamara had his face mask grabbed while getting sacked by defensive end Adisa Isaac. CBS’ Gary Danielson remarked, “Again, for whatever reason, Iowa is not getting the calls.”

Officiating obviously did not cost Iowa the game. But going minus-2 on turnovers in the first half combined with some unfortunate officiating misses kept the defense on the field for a very long time and took its toll in the second half.

“There were some things that were out of control that didn’t go our way,” McNamara said. “It was tough to get momentum. There were some situations that were pretty unlucky, honestly … that kind of took the air out of us.”

Nico Ragaini gets warm family welcome in Happy Valley

Sixth-year senior wide receiver Nico Ragaini has certainly left his mark on the Iowa program, in terms of longevity and production. And with, unofficially, the most devoted long-distance family of all-time.

Ragaini’s big Italian family has followed his every move. Not a lot of Power Five college football players come from East Haven, Connecticut. And with this being Ragaini’s final regular-season game in the Eastern time zone, his contingent came out in full force. His aunt, Briana Ragaini, told the Register about 70 family and friends got tickets to attend Saturday’s game at Beaver Stadium. And the family made their presence known.

Ragaini’s grandmother, Maria (aka “Mimi”) crafted him a special sandwich for after the game: Prosciutto from his favorite deli back home, Liuzzi’s, along with fresh mozzarella, pickled eggplant and tomato on fresh Italian bread, of course.

The family regularly makes the expensive trip from Connecticut to Kinnick Stadium seven times a year. This trip, about 317 miles, was a cakewalk by comparison.

Ragaini entered the game with 130 receptions, 11th-most in Iowa history, for 1,402 yards and four touchdowns. Of course, one of those TDs was a memorable one, against Penn State in 2021 in the fourth quarter of a 23-20 win.

Could this be a Big Ten title-game rematch?

I know it’s not what anyone wants to hear after a humbling loss like this. But there’s certainly a chance. While second-ranked Michigan improved to 4-0 with a 31-7 win over Rutgers, it hasn’t looked like a world-beater. No. 4 Ohio State squeaked past Notre Dame, 17-14, on the final play — a great win, for sure. Penn State’s 4-0 mark stacks up well with that pair, and the Nittany Lions will visit the Buckeyes on Oct. 21 before hosting Michigan in November.

Meantime, the West Division race is just getting started. Sure, Iowa is 0-1, but this was its toughest game on the entire schedule. Wisconsin (3-1, 1-0) had its best performance of the season at Purdue on Friday night (a 38-17 win) but has been uneven over the first 33% of the schedule. Minnesota lost a 21point fourth-quarter lead and the game to lowly Northwestern. Illinois and Nebraska had to scrap to beat weaker opponents on Saturday. Iowa’s Oct. 14 game in Madison will be a major swing factor in who wins the West.

There is time to clean things up for Iowa. Who knows, maybe the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions face off again Dec. 2 in Indianapolis. If McNamara and his teammates are right, that Iowa will learn from this, it’s not that farfetched.

“This team will not divide,” defensive end Joe Evans said. “We’ll be together this whole season.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 28 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.