Iowa Football: 3 bold predictions against Penn State

1. Trace McSorley will struggle

This isn’t a knock on Trace McSorley himself, he’s by far and away one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in college football and is a tremendous talent. This has more to do with the Iowa defense combined with the conservative playcalling of the Penn State offense as of late. Iowa’s defense, outside of the Wisconsin game, has not allowed a team to rush over 100 yards in Big Ten play and has not allowed a 300-yard passer all season.

Penn State offense in terms of total yardage hasn’t struggle per se, averaging 435.3 yard per game, but scoring has definitely been an issue, averaging only 25.3 points per game. Another issue for the Nittany Lions offense is that their receivers are having a tough time catching the football. Pro Football Focus had a stat, released prior to the Michigan State game, that McSorley had more receivers drop open passes than anyone else in the Power Five conferences.

A third component that will come into play is the forecasted weather on Saturday in Happy Valley. The forecast calls for temperatures in the 40’s and rain throughout the entire game. Rain has shown to be a great equalizer when spread teams face more pro-style offense. It’s hard to exactly point out where McSorley will struggle, but this will definitely not be his best game.