Penn State Football: Week 10 Review and Week 11 Preview

Week 11 Preview

Penn State plays their final road game of the regular season this Saturday as they travel to Iowa to play the Hawkeyes at 3:30 pm. 

Iowa has started to show a lot of promise lately in their games, mostly behind the great success of running back Shonn Greene.  The Hawkeyes are coming off of a tough loss to Illinois last week, but they are looking to pull off a major upset of Penn State this weekend.  A win for Iowa would make them bowl-eligible.

In my article from the beginning of the summer, I had predicted Penn State to win this game by a score of 24-20.  While I think Iowa may hang in with Penn State for a while, I think the Nittany Lions will be eager to make a statement to BCS pollsters in this game and will win by a larger margin.  My new prediction is for Penn State to win this game by a score of 37-10.

While both of these teams feature very talented and successful running backs, I think the key to the game for both teams lies with the quarterbacks

Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark is expected to play after suffering a concussion in the win against Ohio State on Oct. 25.  Clark has been the leader and major difference-maker for the PSU offense all season, and his ability to lead the offense will play a big part in determining how many points the Nittany Lions can put up on the board.  I expect Clark to rebound very nicely and have a big day through the air.

Receiver Jordan Norwood has been relatively quiet since a hamstring injury before the Big Ten opener, but if he is healthy, he should be ready to have a very big game. 

On the other side of the ball, Penn State is very good at stopping the run.  They will focus their attention on the Hawkeye running attack, and Greene will not find the same success against the Nittany Lions as he has had in other games this season.

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi has been successful at times this season but has only thrown for over 200 yards in a game once this year.  Penn State will force Stanzi to beat them, and he won’t be able to sustain a reasonable level of success for an entire game

Finally, look for PSU running back Evan Royster to also have a big day.  Penn State’s success in the passing game should help open up the running attack late in the game especially.  Royster should also have benefited from the bye week.  As this is his first full season, the starting running back may have begun to tire physically.

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