Iowa Football: Way-too-early game-by-game predictions for 2018
Iowa’s second biggest challenge of the season will come in a road trip to Happy Valley against a very talented Penn State team. The Nittany Lions stole the game from Iowa a year ago on a last-second touchdown from Trace McSorely to Juwan Johnson.
James Franklin helped complete a fantastic turnaround of the Penn State program last year with a win against Washington in the Fiesta Bowl. The Nittany Lions finished 11-2 behind the play of McSorely and All-American running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley has declared for the NFL Draft and will likely be a top 10 pick, however, McSorely returns for his senior year and is ready to be the catalyst for another run at a Big Ten Championship.
In Kirk Ferentz’s tenure at Iowa, the series between the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions has been neck and neck. The series have provided memorable games in 2002, 2008, 2009 and last year’s game. There will not be a shortage of fireworks, even though Iowa’s last trip to Happy Valley in 2016 was a dud.
This game will be a war, both teams will likely be playing some of their best football heading into the game, unfortunately the home-field advantage that Penn State possesses will be a little too much for Iowa to handle.