The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 25-24 loss to Iowa
Penn State’s nightmarish 2025 season got worse Saturday night in Iowa City when the team lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 25-24, in Kinnick Stadium.
Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Nittany Lions’ fourth straight loss.
Good
Terry Smith’s aggressiveness: One of the most important ways a head coach can impact a game is with their decision-making on fourth downs, and interim head coach Terry Smith said and did (for the most part) all the right things against the Hawkeyes. Smith said he was following the book (following the percentages based on probability data) in those types of situations, which will always give a team an edge. Generally speaking, aggressiveness is better when it comes to fourth-down attempts (Penn State fans got an up-close view of that in the White Out when Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was hyper-aggressive) and Smith displayed that against the Hawkeyes. It’s only one game, but there’s a chance that the interim head coach’s decision-making could swing a game in his team’s favor if he keeps it up.
Kaytron Allen: Eventually I’m just going to start copy-pasting this in every week. Kaytron Allen hasn’t just been the best offensive player Penn State has — he’s been the best player on the entire team. And on Saturday, he finally got the level of workload that he deserves. Allen had 31 touches in the game and was the clear lead back over Nick Singleton, which should be the case moving forward. He’s a decisive runner who takes on defenders and plows through them for extra yardage, which is increasingly important for an offense that doesn’t really have anyone else contributing right now. Allen’s play has been the lone consistent bright spot through the Nittany Lions’ first seven games.
Ethan Grunkemeyer handling the mental aspects of the game: The last time Penn State played a backup quarterback in Kinnick Stadium, the entire offense was a complete disaster. The Nittany Lions took several false starts because they struggled to hear Ta’Quan Roberson and it led to a blown lead and a loss. While Penn State still lost with Grunkemeyer, he didn’t have any issues with the crowd or the spotlight of making his first start. The redshirt freshman was composed throughout the game, and had a firm grasp of what the offense was trying to accomplish. He won’t face many environments like the one he did at Kinnick, so he should be able to handle the rest of the Nittany Lions’ schedule as they try to play out the string on the season.
Bad
Everything else for Grunkemeyer: This isn’t really Grunkemeyer’s fault, largely because he had very little chance of succeeding Saturday night. Senior quarterback Drew Allar was struggling to get anything going in the passing game through six games, and he was projected to be one of the top passers in the country heading into the season. It should be no surprise that Grunkemeyer was left with very little to work with, and ended up struggling mightily. He averaged only 3.3 yards per attempt in the game, and was unable to eclipse 100 passing yards despite attempting 28 passes. Grunkemeyer turned down too many throws and held onto the ball for too long, stalling out several drives for Penn State. While he was under control when it comes to dealing with the environment, he looked exactly like you’d expect a first-time starter who’s a redshirt freshman to look in a bad offense.
Nick Singleton: Allen’s performance came at the expense of Singleton, who looks like he’s clearly the backup for the Nittany Lions at this point. He went from being one of the most explosive running backs in all of college football in 2024 to an indecisive runner who has failed to break off the big gains that would drastically shift he’s stats. The senior has never been the runner Allen is, who is looking to find every single yard he can on every run, but he’s been unable to be effective as an explosive play creator this season for the offense. There’s still plenty of reason to keep him involved in the offense, because he’s a good pass-catcher for a running back and could still create a big play on any given carry, but it’s time for him to be the clear No. 2 to Allen the rest of the season.
Iowa’s obsession with kicking: I give Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz credit — he’s committed to the bit. I’ve never seen a team that is seemingly so obsessed with kicking at every opportunity. Ferentz does not care if his team is in opponent’s territory in a short-yardage situation — he’s going to kick. It’s just a matter of if it’s a field goal or a punt. His continued passivity with game management and offense in general is a key reason why Iowa has been unable to take a step forward despite being a consistently solid program in his tenure. The way he has his teams play — with a strong defense and a passive offense — will keep the floor high and the ceiling low as long as he’s the head coach. I do appreciate the pure comedy of Ferentz deciding to attempt a 66-yard field goal with six seconds on the clock in the first half. Even if the kick wasn’t blocked and returned for a touchdown like it was, it was possible that Penn State could’ve returned it if it was short — or let it fall and have some time to try to score in Iowa territory with a second left on the clock. It didn’t cost them against Penn State, but if the Nittany Lions had any passing game to speak of, Ferentz’s passivity likely would have led to an Iowa loss.
Ugly
Penn State’s receivers’ ability to separate: There were signs that the Nittany Lions could be better at receiver this year. Devonte Ross is a legitimate playmaker with how good he is in the open field. Kyron Hudson had a strong offseason. Trebor Peña was one of the most productive receivers in the country last year at Syracuse. But seven games in, it’s clear this group isn’t going to help this offense as much as it needs to. Ross is who he is — a dynamic weapon who can be a playmaker when he’s schemed open — but the other two have not lived up to the billing. Peña’s route-running has not been as good as it needed to be, and Hudson has proven to be the same receiver he was at USC — an inconsistent player who isn’t great at anything, despite hitting a solid floor at most things. It’s time for young players like Koby Howard and Tyseer Denmark to get more reps to determine if they can be a part of the future. Because that’s what this team is playing for at this point.
