Iowa Hawkeyes Football: 4 Things to Watch When Iowa Plays Penn State

After a bye week, Iowa opens up their conference play against Penn State in Happy Valley and looks to stay alive in the race to win the Legends division.

The bye week allowed the Hawkeyes to practice their quick transition to the high-flying offense we saw against Louisiana Monroe. The high flying offense that we saw run a hurry-up, go for it on fourth down, and make some beautiful air it out plays. 

The bye week allowed Kirk Ferentz to step back and take a deep breath for the plunge he was taking off his own deep end. Ferentz is one of the most conservative coaches in the country, and we saw a real change of heart against Monroe.

Iowa will be showing us many new things against an injured Penn State secondary and an inexperienced offensive line. Here are four things to watch for against Penn State. 

1. Iowa Comes out and Runs the Hurry Up, Air-It-out Offense

Iowa came out in the opening drive against Louisiana Monroe in the hurry up and expect them to have the same approach with their talented receiving corps.

First, Marvin McNutt is one TD catch shy of the Hawkeye all-time record held by Tim Dwight and Danan Hughes. McNutt has 100 yards receiving in all of the Hawkeye wins, only earning less than the 100-yard mark in Iowa's loss to Iowa State.

The number of targets and receptions by McNutt will have a direct outcome of the game. If he ties or breaks the all-time record he puts the Hawkeyes chances at a victory very high.

James Vandenberg looked very comfortable in the hurry up and Kirk Ferentz even commented in The Gazette, "You know, James, since he’s gotten here, has always seemed pretty comfortable in that mode, if you will, and then he did that in high school. I think he’s pretty comfortable for that part of it."

Ferentz obviously believes that Vandenberg is highly effective in the hurry up and will continue to use it as the season goes on. Expect to see the hurry up a lot against a Penn State secondary that has been depleted to injury. 

Currently their best cornerback, D'Anton Lynn, is uncertain for Saturday after being taken to the hospital after a neck injury. The matchup between Lynn and McNutt would be interesting but if he doesn't suit up or play we can expect McNutt to have a field day. 

Another injury is that of leading tackler for the Nittany Lions Mike Mauti, he is out for the season with a torn ACL. That should leave the TE game open for the Hawks.

A strong passing performance in the hurry up should be expected.

2. Marcus Coker Will Split Carries in the Backfield

Marcus Coker has been solid this year with 380 yards and four touchdowns. It's definitely not the same performance we saw during the Insight Bowl but solid. 

After putting the ball on the ground multiple times, Kirk Ferentz has looked to his other options. In Week 1, true freshman Mika'il McCall suffered a broken ankle and was sidelined for the season.

The other Hawkeye backs include Damon Bullock, Jordan Canzeri and Jason White who combined for 13 Carries and 58 total yards against Louisiana Monroe. Canzeri showed flashes of brilliance when the first two carries he received were more than 10 yards. 

Canzeri allows the Hawkeyes to go with a speed and strength attack, allowing Coker to bruise up inside players while Canzeri uses his quickness to get to the outside. 

Expect no Hawkeye running back to receive more than 20 carries.

3. Defense Shows Improvement over Previous Performances

The Iowa defense has made average quarterbacks look great, we can draw that conclusion from the spectacle Steele Jantz put on against the Hawkeyes in a triple overtime loss to the Cyclones 44-41. 

Micah Hyde has made the transition to corner and has looked pretty good while the new Iowa safety Tanner Miller has done a good job not letting up the deep ball.

It's hard to complain about the Iowa defense except something seems to be missing.

Emotion—the defense has looked abysmal in must stop situations and seems happy to bend and not break instead of forcing the early three-and-out. Iowa had plenty of chances to stop the Cyclones and finish the game off, but allowed third down conversions over and over because of the lack of emotion.

How often this year have you seen the Iowa defense celebrating, jumping around and getting excited about making a play? Very seldom. 

Look for the bye week to have instilled some sort of emotion in the defense especially as the ante is upped during Big Ten play. 

4. The Usual Great Game Between the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions

The Hawkeyes have dominated the last few years of the series and Kirk Ferentz has dominated Joe Paterno during his tenure as the Iowa coach.

With an inexperienced offensive line I expect the defense to hold strong and allow two or less touchdowns while the Hawkeye offense scores three or more touchdowns. 

Iowa has had some of its most brilliant defensive or special teams plays in the last few years against Penn State and I expect at least one defensive or special teams score when it counts for the Hawks.

Predicted Score: 27-14 Hawkeyes

Overall, it should be great game and a statement that the Hawks are contenders in the Legends division. They should escape the game with a (4-1,1-0) record and look to the next game against a Northwestern team that has given them trouble in the past few years.