Why the importance of Penn State football’s win over Iowa goes beyond the win/loss column
James Franklin lingered on the field at Kinnick Stadium, high-fiving students and wringing out the emotion of every pressure-soaked moment in his first-ever Penn State road win against a ranked team.
He paused at one student wearing a Nittany Lion costume and leaned forward to tussle his ears. In the tunnel, he jumped up to continue smacking hands with screaming fans. And, when the railing rose some 10 feet above his head, he still jumped — straining to touch their fingertips without any luck. But he never stopped jumping and pointing and smiling.
For a coach who doesn’t believe in signature wins, Saturday night’s 17-12 win over No. 17 Iowa sure felt like one.
“I don’t know if you guys have seen the movie ‘Soul Plane,’” Franklin told reporters, not long before the buses took him and his No. 10 Nittany Lions to the airport. “It’ll be like we’ll be part of the next ‘Soul Plane’ the whole way back to State College.”
Franklin never likes to spend too long waxing poetic on a win with the media. Every win is the same, he likes to say. A win against Ohio State feels the same as a win against Idaho, he insists.
But there’s no denying how important Saturday’s victory was to the Penn State program, one that that last beat a ranked team on the road in 2013, with a 31-24 upset over Wisconsin. And there was no clamping down on the ecstasy of his players; they didn’t try to pretend this felt like any other win.
“Every win is crucial — but this one especially,” defensive tackle Robert Windsor said, “because, up to this point, I felt like we haven’t played a worthy opponent. And, this one, we came in here on the road playing a ranked opponent in their house and took the win from them.
“And that was crucial to how we’re going to play the rest of the season.”
Penn State entered Saturday night’s game with question marks tattooed on their backs: Can the offense be consistent? Will the Nittany Lions show up against a talented team? Will the road atmosphere be too much for a young squad? And while every question wasn’t answered in Iowa City, every answer that did come back proved this team belongs among the best in the nation.
This was Penn State’s first real test of the season. When it trailed, it rebounded. When the officials made some ... interesting ... calls, it persevered. And when the game was on the line, it stepped up.
Maybe after the game, Penn State’s players didn’t tear off their helmets, shouting and running onto the field with the awareness of the national statement they made. But they still sensed this game was different.
“It’s huge,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “Obviously on national television, it’s awesome to get that win in a crazy environment at Kinnick Stadium. I remember Ohio State, Michigan and all those guys where they got rocked — and we’re happy we came here and got the ‘W.’ It means a lot.”
When the clock finally reached all zeros, Freiermuth ran onto the field yelling at the top of his lungs. When the smattering of Penn State fans started chanting “We Are ... Penn State!” in an empty stadium, he sprinted over to embrace them. Franklin hugged freshman running back Noah Cain, and safety Lamont Wade twirled a towel like a fan in the crowd.
Saturday night’s emotional win means Penn State deserves an early spot in the College Football Playoff discussion. Sure, the committee won’t meet for three more weeks — but, until then, it means the Nittany Lions earned one of the few October spots in the debate involving the country’s top-4 teams. And it means, right now, that only Ohio State and Wisconsin can really compete with Penn State in the Big Ten.
Penn State will be favored in all but one game from here on out — the Nov. 23 game against the Buckeyes. So, for a team whose playmakers mostly consist of underclassmen, Saturday’s result went beyond adding another mark in the win column
“This is probably one of the hardest games we’ll face all year,” redshirt sophomore wideout KJ Hamler said, “and Iowa is great, to be honest, and they gave us a back-and-forth game. But those are the games that legends are made.”
Penn State played a near-perfect game against Maryland and started off hot against Purdue. But those two opponents boast a combined record of 5-7 — and plenty of critics and fans wondered how the Nittany Lions would survive against a better tier of talent.
Penn State still has more to prove, but it aced its first test Saturday night. And, in a lot of ways, that first test is often the biggest unknown.
“I hope the fans are happy with what we’re putting out there,” defensive tackle PJ Mustipher said.
He quickly added, matter-of-factly: “They can expect much more.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2019 at 2:53 AM.