Iowa Football: 3 bold predictions against Penn State

3. Combined point total

There’s a lot of scenarios that come into play with this, so we’ll start off saying there will be no more than 45 combined points in this game. That’s not to say this is because the game will be a tight one (Even though many, including myself, think it will be). This could end up being a 27-9 defensive slugfest or something along those lines and it wouldn’t shock me in the slightest way, especially with the weather conditions.

Another reason for this prediction is the history of the Iowa-Penn State series. Since the turn of the century, very few times has there been a high-scoring affair between the two teams. The two that are the outliers was Iowa’s 42-35 overtime win against the Nittany Lions in 2002, which really legitimized Iowa under Kirk Ferentz. The other one was Penn State’s demolition of Iowa in 2016.

Other than those two games, when Iowa plays Penn State, the defense are usually in the spotlight. No more so than the famous (or infamous depending on which side you’re on) 6-4 Iowa victory in 2004. Yes, Iowa gave up two safeties in their win, one of which was a calculated safety to dare Penn State to drive the field on a legendary Iowa defense, a strategy which Ferentz likely learned from his former boss, Bill Belichick.

Saturday appears to be a gritty showdown, and we are all ready for some classic Big Ten football.