Penn State-Iowa: Four Nittany Lions Who Will Shine Against the Hawkeyes

After coming away with a close 22-13 victory over the visiting Temple Owls this past Saturday, it's time to look ahead to Penn State's Big Ten Conference opener against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

This game will take center stage, as Iowa is coming off a 45-0 victory over Ball State. It will be interesting to see how each team responds after emotional victories the weekend before.

Joe Paterno stresses after each game day that his entire team needs to continue to "get better." With three expected victories and one expected loss, Penn State has done enough to get by. It's time to prove that they have indeed gotten better this Saturday against Iowa.

Iowa will be a good test for this young football team, especially with the game being in Iowa City in an environment that gets extremely rowdy and noisy. 

Despite entering a hostile environment, there will be a few Penn State players who will shine in one of the biggest games of the season.

Brett Brackett

Although Derek Moye has developed into Robert Bolden's favorite target, the bigger Brackett will come to play against Iowa. Brackett is the Nittany Lions' leader in touchdown receptions with two so far this season and will look to find the openings for Bolden in the red zone.

Brackett is a big, physical body that will be a huge threat against Iowa and will give Bolden a reliable option, as Iowa will certainly look to bring the house to disturb Bolden's poise in the pocket.

Stephfon Green and Evan Royster

A large reason for Royster having a monster game against Temple is because he realizes that Green is pushing hard for the starting position at running back.

Paterno insists in press conferences that he doesn't trust Green's reliability and Royster will remain the starter. However, Green is proving that he can handle the carries in the big games, and if the two can run with consistency together, they will be a nightmare for opposing defenses.

Robert Bolden

The true freshman has had a lot of growing up to do in a short amount of time. Being the first ever freshman quarterback to start under Joe Paterno is enough to make anyone panic, but Bolden has taken everything in stride and has led this team tremendously given his experience.

With his first Big Ten Conference matchup this Saturday, look for Bolden to massive strides in his leadership of this football team.

Bolden is extremely mature for this stage in his career, and he is going to have to grow up even faster as the season progresses and the matchups get more difficult.

The Alabama game taught Bolden a lot about the speed of play against highly ranked opponents, and there won't be much of a difference in the game against Iowa.

He will show up on Saturday; look for him to have his first career game with multiple touchdown passes against a tough Iowa Hawkeye defense.

Game Story Line

Both the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Iowa Hawkeyes are 3-1, and both lost non-conference games against ranked opponents.

The Nittany Lions dropped a contest with No. 1 Alabama, and the Hawkeyes dropped a contest with Arizona 34-27.

This is about as even a matchup as you are going to get this weekend, so get ready for a wild one in Iowa City, Nittany Lion fans.