Following Micah Hyde's interception of Penn State's Matthew McGloin for Iowa, the Hawkeyes claw their way over midfield with a 24-yard pass from James Vandenberg to Marvin McNutt. That's the last play of the third quarter with Penn State still leading Iowa 6-3.
Speaking of McGloin's interception, it was his first on 88 attempts this season, and boy, was it ugly. His receiver in the far corner clearly wasn't open and with the Nittany Lions safely in scoring range, the obvious moves would have been to tuck and run or throw the ball away. He didn't do it, and now Penn State's defense is forced to bail the offense out again.
McGloin has been getting a lot of love from fans and media lately as Rob Bolden's performance has been admittedly worse than McGloin's, but McGloin's decision making still needs some work, clearly. That interception right there is probably an indication of why coach Joe Paterno is so torn about who to give the outright job to halfway through the season.
On third down following McNutt's big catch, the Penn State defense finally gets a big play, forcing a fumble and recovering in Iowa territory. The stadium is rocking as Zombie Nation blares. Let's see if that's what gets this Lion offense going.
McGloin is still the quarterback following the fumble. He hands off to Silas Redd for a gain of five yards to start the drive, and that gets Redd over 100 yards for the day. That's his third 100-yard performance of the season.
Penn State is now really pounding the ball on the ground now. Redd, Joe Suhey and Curtis Dukes all have carries on the drive. A holding penalty wipes a Silas Redd touchdown off the board, though, so that breaks the momentum of the drive a bit. Dukes wipes that penalty out with a pair of runs, though, and the Lions are now in the red zone.
I'm not sure Penn State has run the ball this well against an FBS opponent all season.
A couple more Redd runs give Penn State a first and goal inside the Iowa 5-yardline. McGloin finishes off the drive with a touchdown to Kevin Haplea in the back of the endzone. The masses at Beaver Stadium rejoice as the Nittany Lions take a 13-3 lead with 8:08 to play in the game.
Penn State scoring summary: 11 plays, 49 yards, 6:04 time of possession.