Penn State Football: 5 players who earned game balls vs. Iowa

Penn State football survived its trap game at Iowa on Saturday evening. Here are the five Nittany Lions that earned game balls in the narrow victory.

When they headed to Iowa City on Saturday evening, it looked like the spitting definition of a trap game for the Nittany Lions. Penn State was pushed to the limit by the Hawkeyes, and James Franklin’s team was a late touchdown from dropping their first game of the season. But the Big Ten champions prevailed thanks to Trace McSorley’s touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson on the final play of the game.

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It wasn’t the easiest of victories, but the defending Big Ten champions moved to 4-0 on the season despite an underwhelming performance. Who stepped up biggest to help the Nittany Lions pull out the tight win on the road? Keep reading to see our picks for which Penn State players earned game balls for their performances in Week 4 at Iowa.

Penn State struggled for much of the day on offense against the Hawkeyes. On the road, Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley averaged just 5.9 yards per attempt passing the ball. Without the hard running of all-purpose threat Saquon Barkley, Penn State would never have been in position to seal a surprise win on the final play of the game.

Barkley rushed for 211 yards and a touchdown, putting up 7.5 yards per carry as he dominated the Iowa front seven. But it wasn’t just on the ground that Barkley did his damage on Saturday. He also led the team in receiving, hauling in 12 of McSorley’s 31 completions for 94 yards. And on special teams, Barkley fielded three kickoffs and returned them for another 53 yards on the day.

With 358 all-purpose yards on the day, Barkley boosted his standing as the most productive player in college football this season. Just as he does on most weekends, the tailback earned himself a game ball this weekend after one of the most dominant performances across the country.