Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from important road win over Iowa

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PISCATAWAY, NJ – NOVEMBER 17: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions runs onto the field with his team before taking on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at HighPoint.com Stadium on November 17, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images) /

1. Penn State is the real deal

The narrative on the Nittany Lions is they are a really good team, but they aren’t elite. The challenge for Penn State is having to play Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State every season.

However, Penn State needed to win this game. They were on the road against a really good defensive football team. Iowa was going to limit what Penn State did offensively, and they were going to have to gut this win out.

These are the types of games that change the narrative about who you are as a program. We know the type of coach James Franklin is; he knows how to hire an outstanding coaching staff, and he’s one of the premier recruiters in college football.

As a result, he’s put together a phenomenal program, but it was missing one thing: a signature road win.

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Iowa isn’t an easy place to play, and not an easy place to win. On Saturday, however, Penn State proved it belonged in the conversation by gutting out this win. Gutting out tough wins is what elite teams do.

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