After a week off and a week on the road, the Hawkeyes return home to Kinnick Stadium Saturday night to host a now unranked Penn State squad that is at a cross roads. The Nittany Lions started the season ranked inside the top-5 nationally with a potential Heisman candidate at QB and a head coach who seemed closer to an extension than a termination.
But after stumbling at home in double-OT to #6 Oregon, the Lions have continued to slide for three straight weeks. They made history as the only top-10
team to lose to an 0-4 or worse team when they fell on the road to UCLA after the Oregon defeat. Then they followed it up with a home loss to Northwestern that saw starting QB Drew Allar lost for the season. Less than 24 hours later, James Franklin and $50M were gone.
Now Penn State comes to Iowa City not as a top-5 team with a massive target on its back, but as a 3-3 team searching for any signs of life before they face the gauntlet down the stretch of their Big Ten season.
They’ll be led by a redshirt freshman QB in Ethan Grunkemeyer who’ll be making his first career start, playing for interim HC Terry Smith, who will be head coaching his first game. That’s historically been a recipe for success for the Hawkeyes, and more specifically for Phil Parker’s defense.
Iowa comes into the day at 4-2 and seemingly finding their identity over the last few weeks. While they came up just short following Mark Gronowski’s injury against Indiana, the Hawkeyes showed stout defense against the Hoosiers before dialing it up a notch a week ago on the road at Wisconsin. Iowa came out of that with an historic win against the Badgers with domination on the defensive side and in the trenches.
The question this week is what version of each of these teams will arrive in Kinnick. The Nittany Lions are clearly loaded with talent. But will that talent rally around interim HC Terry Smith and new starting QB Ethan Grunkemeyer? Or will the changes at QB and head coach create turmoil in the locker room?
And for Iowa, the ability to lean into the defense and running game they did a week ago with Gronowski still recovering from his knee injury is critical. Just how well he will be able to run three weeks after sustaining the injury remains to be seen.
As we countdown to kickoff, here’s everything you need to know about tonight’s matchup.
Date: Saturday, October 18th
Time: 6:08 pm CT
Matchup: Penn State Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3) at Iowa Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1)
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa
TV: Peacock
Updated Weather Forecast: Partly cloudy during the day with temperatures in the mid-70s. Temperatures will remain in the 70s at kickoff, then cool to the mid-60s by the conclusion of the game.
Updated FanDuel Line: Iowa – 2.5, O/U 40.5
