Penn State’s defense with statement performance in shutout over Iowa

Throughout the week leading up to Saturday’s contest against No. 24, James Franklin showed his team clips of Iowa fans and coached mocking Penn State players getting injured in the program’s last matchup in 2021.

So after Chop Robinson destroyed Hawkeye’s quarterback, Cade McNamara, which forced a fumble that was recovered by Adisa Isaac, Robinson flopped onto the Beaver Stadium grass in front of a White Out crowd.

During the third quarter of the 2021 matchup, the blue and white’s Arnold Ebiketie suffered an injury.

Ebiketie was one of several Nittany Lions who went down with injuries in the contest, and Iowa believed they were faking the injuries.

Hawkeyes special teams coordinator LeVar Woods fell to the ground on the sidelines in protest as Kinnick Stadium rained down boos to the injured Ebiketie.

When given the opportunity for revenge, Robinson didn’t want to waste the chance.

“We don’t take that type of disrespect,” Robinson said. “I just had to do it for them, to be honest.”

Penn State was the fourth-best team in the nation the last time these two teams met up, but after suffering a 23-20, its season became derailed, and it finished the year with a 7-6 record and unranked.

In that contest, the Nittany Lions committed four turnovers, but the script was reversed on Saturday night.

Penn State’s defense racked up four takeaways — all fumble recoveries — in a 31-0 thrashing of the Hawkeyes.

Linebacker Curtis Jacobs recovered two fumbles, which allowed the blue and white to take an early lead. After his first fumble recovery, Penn State took a 3-0 lead after Alex Felkins drilled a 46-yard field goal.

The second recovery came after an Iowa muffed punt that Jacobs quickly scooped up, and Penn State notched its first touchdown of the night as Drew Allar connected with Khalil Dinkins for a nine-yard score, advancing the lead to 10-0.

A third fumble came in the second half, forced by Robinson and recovered by Isaac, and once again, the Nittany Lions took advantage of the mistake by scoring another touchdown.

“Manny (Diaz)’s doing a great job. He has done a really good job of coming in, embracing our culture and how we do things, but also bringing a perspective on his own as well,” James Franklin said. “We are athletic, we’re quick, we’re fast and we’re explosive, and we’re playing more consistent gap-sound defense.”

The Hawkeyes generated just four first downs and 76 total yards, while the Nittany Lions held the football for over 45 minutes.

The defense was all over the field, forcing turnovers and giving possession back to the offense, who was grinding down Iowa’s defense all contest long.

“Our defense played a suffocating style of D, and we’re able to get turnovers and we’re extremely ball-aware,” Franklin said.

The blue and white forced just two turnovers in the first two games of the 2023 campaign, but over the last two, it has forced nine.

While it was expected that the Nittany Lions were going to have one of the best defenses in the nation, many couldn’t have predicted the success it had so far in Big Ten play.

“It’s not a surprise because we’re capable of doing that as a defense,” Robinson said. “I feel like we’re gonna definitely be special this year.”

On the flip side, Penn State’s offense is the only unit to have not committed a turnover in the first four games of the season.

After Saturday’s game, Franklin detailed the football as “the program.”

“When Penn State has the ball, it wants to protect it. When it doesn’t have the ball, it wants to get it back,” Franklin said.

Franklin noted that the defense looks to create havoc, which causes the turnovers, and on Saturday, the defense created a lot of havoc with three sacks.

With Iowa’s offense struggling mightily for three quarters, Penn State captured its fourth victory in the 2023 campaign while enjoying revenge from two years prior.

“It was just an amazing feeling because the preparation we put in throughout the whole week has come to be successful, so I’m just happy for our whole team,” Reed said.

Alex Rocco is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email alex.rocco1702@gmail.com.