Penn State/Iowa thoughts.

I'm not going to even worry about the NFL games on slate today, but rather look into Penn State's disappointing loss against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

- The offensive line was horrible. Guys slipped through and pressured Clark all night. They'll get better in time though, and four of them will return next season. Other than Ohio State, Iowa has the best defensive line in the Big Ten, so there shouldn't be a defensive line in the conference that gives Penn State's offensive line trouble.
- Big props to Iowa. It's really hard to come into Beaver Stadium on a Saturday night and come out with a win. Forget that near loss to Northern Iowa, Iowa is a good football team, and is probably in the top three of the conference. However, in Iowa-esque fashion, they'll find a way to lose games they aren't supposed to and will end up probably with two or three losses in conference.
- Iowa must have something on Daryl Clark. Despite the first pass to Chaz Powell, Clark for the most part looked awful once again against the Hawkeyes. And this time, we couldn't say it was the after-effects of a concussion. He was overthrowing receivers left and right and even threw a pick right into the defender's hands. Kirk Ferentz did a great job disguising his defenses and confusing the fifth-year senior.
- Sean Lee was definitely missed in that game. The man that replaced him, Bani Gdabyu, couldn't shed blocks at all and took terrible pursuit angles. It really hurt that Lee's normal backup, Nathan Stupar, was also out. Although I give credit to Iowa's runningbacks for finding holes and running hard, no one wants to realize that they were consistently running towards the side of a special team player playing in his first high pressure situation.
- Once again Tom Bradley calls too conversative of a game. He had the defensive backs play too deep in coverage and the underneath routes were open all night. He just seems too scared to take any chances in a big game. You are allowed to call some man coverage every now and then, Mr. Bradley. Now you understand why I don't want him as the succeeding head coach to JoePa.
- Welcome back, Navarro Bowman. One of the few players on defense that played pretty well for the Nittany Lions. Iowa did a nice job though limiting his tackles, with runs to Gdabyu's side instead of Bowman's.
- Switching back to the offensive side of the ball, where the hell did the Spread HD go? For the most part it looked like Clark was under center most of the game, and even had a full-house backfield behind him for a few plays. Maybe it's because the receivers this year lack the speed of last year's; I don't know. Derek Moye looked pretty good again and established himself as the number one receiver. The Zuggernaut was MIA basically. Andrew Quarless did some nice things as well.
- I never have Penn State going to the national title game cause they always lose that one game to an inferior team. This year, I thought it would be Minnesota, but obviously I was wrong. If they can bounce back after this - instead of dwelling on it like the 2007 team when they lost to Michigan - the only team that should beat them is Ohio State. I still like their chances of capturing another Big Ten title, only if they shrug this one off.