I think the Hawks handle them pretty comfortably. I'm no good with actual score predictions, but I could see a 7-10 point Iowa win as a likely outcome.
I hope I don't live to regret saying this, but I'm pretty sure Penn State is overrated - perhaps significantly. I think Iowa could give them fits on both sides of the ball, honestly.
The line right now is PSU -2 points, which is really kind of funny (both "haha" and "kinda weird" funny). The old rule of thumb is home field is worth a FG. Given that this is Iowa and we're pretty well known to have an above-average home field advantage, the home field factor is likely even a couple points more than a FG for us. So really, I'm taking that line to be an assessment that PSU is more like a TD better than us on a neutral field.
I think that's way off, possibly even flipped.
PSU moves the ball, but doesn't score many points. I think that plays right into our defensive tendencies.
I also suspect PSU to be vulnerable to the run. We don't need 200 yards and 6 ypc, but if we can be just effective enough to make PSU have to work to stop the run, I think our passing game can and will find production.
I've done a bit of digging into how PSU's games have played out, I really think they may be a bit of a paper tiger.
I'm unconvinced Iowa is the 3rd best team in the country, but I have a suspicion we are good enough to start PSU on their spiral towards a top 15-25 type final ranking.
