ALTOONA, Pa. -- Yes, that is a salty headline above. But it's true: The better team lost.
To be sure, Iowa does deserve credit for winning, as any team that ever wins any game deserves.
But let's be real here.
The better team did lose. And there's probably not a Penn State fan alive who would disagree.
It doesn't really matter, though, because No. 4 Penn State did lose at No. 3 Iowa, 23-20, Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.
I probably could have 50 takeaways from this game, but we'll stick with the usual 10.
1. Penn State with Sean Clifford would have won this game easily
The Nittany Lions were up, 17-3, with 12:31 left in the first half. Clifford was torching Iowa, having already thrown 25 passes by that point for 146 yards. Yes, he had thrown two interceptions by then, including a horrendous one on the first offensive play of the day, but he had settled in and was having his way with the Iowa defense.
Let's all give a score prediction if Clifford had been able to stay in the game.
I'll go PSU 34, Iowa 13.
Maybe even worse.
But then came the bad news that every Penn State fan had feared since the start of the season: Clifford was hurt. He had gotten drilled on a throw by Iowa's Jack Campbell and landed hard on the turf.
We all knew coming into the season and into this game that Penn State didn't have a very good backup quarterback. So when Clifford had to go into the locker room late in the half, one couldn't help but get a bad feeling.
That bad feeling eventually turned into a kick in the teeth later in the evening.
This was a good comment from PNCPark2k1 in our comments section:
If Cliffard doesn't get hurt this is not even a game, what a shame, and WTF are we doing running no huddle with the lead ???!!! We literally could have just killed clock if we had an even HALFWAY capable back up and not got like 7 False Starts
There was no update from James Franklin after the game. So it's anybody's guess how long Clifford will be out. The Lions have a bye this week, so we'll see if he heals up and can return after that.
He had better. Because if he can't, then Penn State is in big trouble.
Because ...
2. Ta'Quan Roberson -- and the Penn State program -- weren't ready for this situation
This was a really tough spot for the young man -- a road game against the No. 3 team in the nation in a hostile environment where lots of players have struggled over the years.
I don't want to be too hard on Roberson, a 4-star recruit who has barely played -- and had never played a meaningful snap prior to taking over for Clifford midway through the second quarter.
But I can't escape this comparison from Saturday.
Caleb Williams took over for struggling Spencer Rattler after Oklahoma fell behind big against Texas. Williams was the No. 1 QB recruit in the country, a 5-star guy with an enormous ceiling, but he is a true freshman. Yet Williams still led the Sooners all the way back for a 54-48 win that kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive.
Roberson, a 4-star recruit, has been at Penn State for three years. By this point, whether he's played much at all, he should be able to come into a game and at least give the offense a viable chance.
Now, Iowa has a terrific defense. Again, let's give the Hawkeyes credit.
But Roberson was not really a threat to throw the ball, and the Hawkeyes knew it. They adjusted accordingly. And Roberson finished with some terrible throwing numbers -- 7-of-21 for 34 yards and two interceptions.
YIKES -- a measly 34 yards passing in 2 1/2 quarters!
Roberson did have a nice series where he ran some, took advantage of a great decision by Mike Yurcich to go with tempo and led the Lions down the field for a field goal and 20-10 lead with 6:40 left in the third quarter.
The way Penn State's defense and Iowa's offense had been playing up to that point, it may have seemed like that 10-point lead would be insurmountable.
But Roberson and the offense did nothing after that. We'll get to the penalties in a bit.
The big question is this: How did Penn State get into this situation where it doesn't seem to have a capable backup quarterback at all?
There have always been questions about whether Roberson would be capable if his number was called. And everyone knew coming into the year that this season could go down the toilet if something happened to Clifford.
Yet Franklin and Yurcich did not go out and get another quarterback from the transfer portal. They put all of their faith in Clifford staying healthy. They rolled the dice going into a season with only three scholarship QBs -- the other being true freshman Christian Veilleux -- even though Franklin admitted long ago that three is not really enough.
Hey, it's not really Franklin's fault that Will Levis transferred. We think, anyway. Clifford was going to be the starter this year, and Levis figured he didn't really get a legit opportunity last season after Clifford was benched, then all he got to do was run the ball after Clifford was reinstated as the starter.
Could Franklin have done more to keep Levis around? I don't know. I doubt it. The kid wanted a chance to start, and he's doing well at Kentucky.
But I do think Franklin should have brought someone else in from the transfer portal. I wrote several times during the spring that I did not believe the backup quarterback was actually on the roster at the time, because I felt Franklin should have gone out and landed someone else who had some experience.
That didn't happen.
And what we saw Saturday was the result of that.
3. The defense finally broke -- after carrying such a huge burden
Once Clifford went out, it seemed obvious this game was going to depend almost entirely on the Penn State defense. And the Lions, who have been so good all season, were really good for much of the game Saturday. Daequan Hardy, in particular, had one sensational series after Iowa got first-and-goal at the 7 as he blew up the first-down run for a loss and had a sack on third down.
But after playing their bend but don't break style, the defense finally broke as Iowa scored the winning touchdown on a great playcall with 6:26 remaining.
As TV analyst Joel Klatt kept pointing out, the Penn State ends were going hard after the running backs, leaving them susceptible to play action. Franklin pointed out during the week that Iowa was really good at play action.
Play action doesn't matter when you're not running the ball well, and Iowa wasn't running all that well for much of the night. But once the Hawkeyes started running better in the fourth quarter, it opened up the play action possibility.
And so, when Spencer Petras faked a handoff and rolled to his right, he had all sorts of time and space against the confused defense. Then Petras found Nico Ragaini wide open on the other side of the field, and Ragaini ran it in for the winning touchdown.
TOUCHDOWN HAWKEYES ?
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 9, 2021
Nico Ragaini comes up HUGE for @HawkeyeFootball pic.twitter.com/COYqsyeR9T
Penn State was also dealing with injuries on defense, losing tackle PJ Mustipher and safety Jonathan Sutherland.
I can't be too critical of the Penn State defense, which has looked great this season. But on that play, the defense came up small. Now, it was a defense dealing with injuries after some guys had gotten banged up, but to lose on a 44-yard TD pass against a mediocre offense and quarterback really has to sting.
4. Iowa's playcalling was atrocious -- until it wasn't
I've always struggled watching Iowa because I love offense, taking chances, going for big plays and such. Watching the Hawkeyes be so conservative and methodical is not exactly what I call entertainment.
There were several situations during the game where offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz made typical Iowa calls, running in clear passing situations such as second-and-10 or so. It was like Iowa was just setting up to get ready and punt.
Iowa still might win this game with the worst offensive gameplan imaginable
— Mike Persak (@MikeDPersak) October 9, 2021
But if you think about it, Iowa was really playing the long con. By sticking with the run even in situations when it seemed counterproductive, the Hawkeyes were keeping Penn State's defense aware at all times that they would be committing to staying on the ground.
The long con paid off when Iowa caught Penn State's defense off guard on the game-winning touchdown -- again, because of the play action that had the defenders all biting to stop the run.
5. Penn State's offensive line embarrassed itself with so many penalties
Wow, that was brutal. I believe the final total was eight false start penalties by the Nittany Lions. It was a disaster out there, with those penalties killing drives before they even got started and changing field position.
We want to give Iowa's crowd credit for some of the false starts. But the bulk of them simply appeared to be because of the quarterback switch to Roberson and the team not being ready for that situation at all.
OK, so having to turn to a backup quarterback on the road in a hostile environment is a major challenge. But is it too much to ask for the offense to not embarrass itself because it can't even run plays because of so many false starts?
6. Two huge drops by Brenton Strange
Dropped passes are always killers. Dropped passes with a backup quarterback who's trying to build some confidence are devastating.
Tight end Brenton Strange dropped two passes that would have been first downs -- one on Roberson's first series of the game, the other on a very costly third down in the closing seconds of the third quarter.
There are usually a handful of plays that you can look at and say they led directly to a loss. Then there are other mistakes that eventually prove to be very costly, even if they didn't necessarily seem so at the time. The two drops by Strange fall into the latter category.
7. The first INT by Clifford was as bad as it gets -- but it didn't crush PSU
It looked horrendous. All of it. Clifford throwing the ball from his end zone, nearly getting sacked for a safety, letting loose an an ill-advised throw and then having it picked off by Iowa inside the 10-yard line.
Just like that, after we all talked all week about turnovers, Clifford had committed a terrible turnover on Penn State's first possession.
The defense, which has excelled at sudden change situations and in the red zone, bailed out Clifford by holding Iowa to a field goal. Arnold Ebiketie had a sack of Petras on third down that set up the field goal.
Penn State came right back with a long TD drive, sparked by Clifford throwing in the middle of the field. That was a great drive by the Lions, finished off by a tough run by Noah Cain.
Clifford threw another interception a few minutes later. But Penn State got the ball right back when Petras threw a terrible pass high over the middle that was tipped and picked off by Jaquan Brisker.
Clifford then ran it in for a touchdown and 14-3 lead.
This was an awesome tweet:
When was the last time a QB threw 2 INTs in the first quarter on the road against a top 5 team, yet still took a double digit lead in that quarter?
— Rob Polinsky (@poman927) October 9, 2021
8. Special teams come up big for both teams
The kicking games were outstanding, especially Iowa, which had phenomenal punt coverage to keep pinning Penn State deep. The Lions started three drives inside their 5-yard line.
Jordan Stout made a big 44-yard field goal for PSU and averaged 50.4 yards on five punts. Iowa's Caleb Shudak drilled a huge 48-yard field goal and made all three of his tries.
A lot of people felt special teams would play a big role in this game, and that certainly was the case.
9. Iowa's fans were awful for booing when Penn State's defenders got injured
Occasionally -- and I'd say rarely -- you'll see defenders fake an injury in order to stop the clock in college football. It does happen from time to time, so I will acknowledge that.
But on several occasions Saturday, Penn State had a defender go down with a real injury, and the overly cynical Iowa fans started booing, thinking the Lions were doing that for some strategic purposes.
It was ridiculous. And classless, to be honest. I understand that sports fans like conspiracy theories and believe other teams, officials and everyone else are out to screw them over.
But jeez, sometimes the guy is actually hurt. Show some class for the opposing team when that happens. It's an especially bad look to boo injured players at Iowa, the place where the crowd shows great class during the awesome feel-good moment after the first quarter of waving to sick kids in the hospital.
Were Penn State going to plant defensive injuries, it's unlikely it would choose PJ Mustipher, Jaquan Brisker and Arnold Ebiketie.
— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) October 9, 2021
10. This wasn't a must-win game, and Lions can still get to the College Football Playoff
This season was always going to come down to the game at Ohio State on Oct. 30. If the Lions win that game and all the rest, they'll be in the Big Ten championship game.
If they win that -- almost certainly against Iowa -- then Penn State will be 12-1.
And I have ZERO doubt that the Lions would be in the College Football Playoff in that scenario.
The strength of schedule in a 12-1 season would be tremendous for Penn State. And everyone would know that their lone loss occurred after they lost their quarterback in a road game against the No. 3 team.
Penn State still has a chance.
But only if Clifford can return.
If he can't, then you not only can kiss away the playoff possibilities, you'll also be looking at a team that still could lose two or three more games.
