Grudge match?  You betya.  JoePa takes on Ferentz in the Big Ten opener for both squads in a raucous White Out atmosphere in Beaver Stadium.

The Most Anticipated College Football Games of 2009: #16, Iowa Hawkeyes @ Penn State Nittany Lions

Location:
Beaver Stadium, University Park, PA
September 26th, 2009
Kickoff: 8 p.m.  ABC/ESPN/ESPN2

Beaver Stadium.  Under the lights.  The top ranked Student Section in the country according to ESPN.  Against a team PSU has trouble beating.  Yeah, I think this might be a fun one to watch.

Why to watch:
Can you say grudge match?  Penn State was riding high at 9-0 last season, and then they went to Iowa and suffered a national championship crushing defeat.  To say that Penn State is looking forward to this matchup, under the Beaver Stadium lights in the Big Ten's best night game atmosphere (and maybe college football's best night time atmosphere) would be an understatement.  The crowd will be pumped, the infamous white out will be in effect, and it's the first big time game of the Big Ten season.  It's going to be an electric atmosphere for sure.

History:
This series dates back to 1930, and the Lions lead the series 11-10 overall.  PSU is 4-6 at home and 7-4 on the road in it.  Iowa has dominated as of late, winning 6 of the last 7 and completely crushing JoePa's title hopes a year ago.  The worst game of the last 7 was probably the most dreadful college football game played since Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4 in 1869 in the first ever college football game.  Incidentally, that game ended 6-4 as well.  Take a look at the video, if you dare:

The matchup:
I highlighted Penn State a few entries ago.  Here's some of what I had to say:

Coming into '09, the Nittany Lions have a lot of personnel to develop.  They've got the talented recruits in place but lose a lot of senior leadership from last years squad.  3/5ths of the o-line, 3/4ths of the Dline, the entire WR corps and the entire starting secondary are all gone from last years squad.  They lose a lot, but have some good players looking to step up and step in for the departed.  SO CB D'anton Lynn and FR S Gerald Hodges could make a big impact in the secondary.  RS SR Sean Lee returns from injury to solidify the LB corps.  Derek Moye, Graham Zug and Brett Brackett offer size and stability at the WR position, but will they have the explosiveness to exploit the MSU secondary the same way they did in '08?  The good news is PSU returns a 5th year senior at QB in Darryl Clark.  Clark has gone through a lot to become the Penn State starter, and his fire and emotion was evident all year last year.  If he's healthy up until the MSU game, look for PSU to be at 9-2 or 10-1 headed into this game with their horrible non-con schedule and home games vs Iowa and OSU.

This game is early on, and Ricky Stanzi should be better in '09.  He picked apart the secondary of Penn State in the 4th quarter, specifically on the game winning drive, albeit with the benefit of an iffy pass interference call against safety Anthony Scirrotto.  The secondary for the Nits should be very untested at this point, with their first 3 at home vs super teams Akron, Syracuse and Temple.  While all 3 are OK teams, none of them are on par with anyone in the top half of the Big Ten.  I see the Hawkeyes trying to test the PSU secondary first, while mixing in the run.  I know, I know - Iowa loves to run the ball.  But, they're going to be going up against one of the best front 7's in the Big Ten, and maybe one of the top 3 LB crews in the country (Sean Lee and Navarro Bowman will make a nasty combo at the LB spot).

Iowa, on defense, loses the heart and soul of their D in DT's Mitch King and Matt Kroul.  These 2 were an absolute force last year, causing Darryl Clark to force throws, rush throws, etc etc.  They will be sorely missed on the defensive side of the ball, and with Penn State breaking in 3 new starters on the OL, pressure up front will be key in forcing the Lions O to make mistakes.  Without that pressure up front, the Hawkeyes will be running around all day trying to catch Clark, Royster, and co.  DE Brod Binns, DT Karl Klug and DE Christian Ballard all need to step up big time to fortify the holes left by King and Kroul.

On O, Jewel Hampton takes over for the departed Shonn Green, who ran all over the Lions last year.  Hampton is a solid back, and with Iowa's maulers on the OL coupled with Iowa's offensive scheme, he'll probably have a big season this year.  Stanzi needs to play solidly and not turn the ball over, especially in this matchup.  Many QB's in recent years have called Penn State the toughest atmosphere to play in, in terms of crowd noise, especially at night.  For the Hawkeyes to have a chance, Stanzi needs to stay calm, not turn the ball over and move the chains steadily to take the crowd out of the game.  If he can't, things can quick get out of hand, a la the PSU-Michigan game last year, where Penn State stuck it to the Wolverines in the 2nd half, aided by a defense which feeds off of their crowd.

Fun Facts / Stats:
Penn State has last 2 games at Beaver Stadium in the last 4 years.  Michigan in '06 and Ohio State in '07.
Iowa has dominated the series since Penn State joined the big ten, especially in the 2000's.  Iowa leads the series 6-1 in the 2000's, including 2 OT victories in Beaver Stadium.

Prediction:
So, here's the thing.  Penn State played its absolute worst game of the year last year in Iowa City.  Iowa, on the other hand, played their best game of the '09 campaign.  And they ended up winning by a point on the last second of the game.  Think Penn State's angry about that game?  You're right.  Couple PSU anger and an absolutely hostile crowd, and you've got the recipe for a great payback game.  All signs point to a Penn State win in my book, even with the green secondary of the Nittany Lions.  Iowa doesn't have the playmakers on offense to keep up with the spread HD, and the PSU D will do enough to keep Stanzi and Hampton contained.
Penn State 27, Iowa 17

Previous games:

17. 12/5 - West Virginia @ Rutgers

18. 9/18- Boise State @ Fresno State

19. 11/21- Penn State @ Michigan State

20. 9/7 - Cincinnati @ Rutgers

21. 9/3 - Oregon @ Boise State

22. 9/19 - Cincy @ Oregon State

23. 11/21 - OSU @ Michigan

24. 10/17 - USC @ ND

25. 12/12 - Army vs Navy