Just the Stats: No. 7 Penn State vs No. 24 Iowa

No. 7 Penn St. Nittany Lions (3-0; 1-0 Big Ten East) vs No. 24 Iowa Hawkeyes (3-0; 0-0 Big Ten West)

7:30 p.m. ET, September 23, 2023—CBS

Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 106,572 / University Park, PA)

Note:

All of the above rankings are taken directly from the NCAA except for strength of schedule, which is taken from Power Rankings.

The Redzone TD% and Redzone TD% Defense are calculated by me and not ranked by the NCAA. Determining who has the advantage in these categories is strictly my arbitrary judgment.

Quick thoughts:

Don’t lie – this is about what you’d expect.

Iowa’s offense under Brian Ferentz has been notoriously conservative, and these numbers tell that story. Kirk Ferentz wants to win games by playing stout defense and solid special teams, and despite vaunted Michigan transfer Cade MacNamara, that’s exactly what the Hawkeyes have done this year. So it’s no surprise that they have an edge in special teams – and Penn State has a DECIDED edge when the Nittany Lions defense matches up against Iowa’s offense.

The stats are pretty balanced when Drew Allar and the PSU offense take the field, rankings that dropped somewhat after a lackluster performance on the road in a snoozer in Champaign last week. Nothing that a white out can’t fix, right?

Some key numbers behind these statistics:

• Iowa has returned ten punts to Penn State’s 7 through three games
• The Hawkeyes have had only five punts returned, to the Nittany Lions’ opponents returning four
• None of UI’s kickoffs have been returned
• Five of PSU’s kickoffs have been attempted to be returned, most of which were returned from inside the endzone
• Iowa has been called for 8 penalties total through three games
• Penn State has been called for 15 penalties total through three games – seven of which were called in the Illinois game alone
• The Nittany Lions offense has been in the red zone 18 times; Iowa’s offense has been in the red zone 12 times
• Iowa opponents have been in the red zone only 6 times through three games – but Penn State’s opponents have only been in the red zone 4 times

What say you all?