College Football Rankings: B/R’s Top 25 After Week 6

Penn State’s Keyvone Lee and Iowa’s Matt HankinsMatthew Putney/Associated Press

One quarter into Penn State at Iowa, the Nittany Lions clearly looked like the superior team.

Sean Clifford did throw a brutal interception on Penn State’s first offensive snap of the game, setting up Iowa at the PSU 8. But the defense dug in its heels, forced a field goal and the offense bounced back with a vengeance. The Nittany Lions went 75 yards for a touchdown on their subsequent possession, threw an interception in the end zone on the next drive and scored a second touchdown shortly thereafter.

Less than 18 minutes into the game, Penn State was up 17-3 and already had 193 yards of total offense against one of the stingiest defenses in the nation.

Unfortunately, on the next-to-last play of that field-goal drive, Clifford took a hit on an incomplete pass and suffered an undisclosed injury that kept him out for the rest of the game.

And that’s when Penn State’s O-line began to collapse into itself like a dying star.

On the first possession after Clifford’s injury, backup Ta’Quan Roberson fumbled (and recovered) the first snap, followed by the Nittany Lions committing three consecutive false start penalties. They didn’t commit a single penalty in those first 18 minutes, but they would wind up with eight false starts when all was said and done.

Even when they were able to snap the ball without moving first, the O-line was relatively helpless against Iowa’s pressure. The Nittany Lions only allowed one sack, but Roberson was in a constant state of running for his life. And even though he did have a few scrambles for first downs, Penn State managed just 60 rushing yards on 25 carries over the final 42 minutes (while Roberson went 7-of-21 through the air for 34 yards and a pair of interceptions).

So, to recap, 193 yards and 17 points in the first 18 minutes; 94 yards, three points and all of the false starts in the final 42 minutes.

Losing your starting quarterback in the middle of a game and needing to turn to a guy with eight career passing attempts over the past two-plus seasons is difficult. Doing so as the road team in a night game at Kinnick Stadium against an elite defense and a Top 5 Iowa is basically impossible. But the offensive line didn’t do Roberson any favors whatsoever.

For what it’s worth, this wasn’t a new problem for Penn State, which had allowed 37 tackles for loss through its first five games. On literally the first possession of its season, Penn State had a one-yard loss on a rush, committed a false start and allowed Clifford to be sacked during a three-and-out series.

When Clifford was on the field, though, they were able to persevere through that problem. Now we wait to find out how long he’ll be out.

The Nittany Lions are idle next week and host Illinois the following weekend, so as long as it’s nothing too serious and he’s back for the Oct. 30 showdown with Ohio State, there’s still a chance they could win the Big Ten.

Iowa, meanwhile, is now staring an undefeated season straight in the face with six games remaining against unranked Big Ten West foes. The road games against Wisconsin and Nebraska won’t be easy, but with a D that has now picked off 16 passes through six games, the Hawkeyes should at least get to the Big Ten title game with a goose egg in the loss column.