Today marks the 10th anniversary of the infamous Iowa-Penn State slopfest that mercifully ended with a 6-4 scoreline.
PennLive's David Jones remembered the offensive struggle earlier today and wondered if such a game could ever again happen. Click here to read Jones'memorial.
But what was our take back in 2004? Here are some choice snippets from the team of Jones, Bob Flounders and Geoff Morrow:
- Yesterday's Big Ten battle at Beaver Stadium in front of 108,062 fans on homecoming had to be one of the most brutal, sluggish, disgusting offensive performances in the history of college football.
- It doesn't get any weirder than 4. And you can't add anything else to it and make it stranger.
- This wasn't football, this was an offensive tickle-fight.
- The last time a defense this good went this unrewarded was the Alamo.
- How secure did Kirk Ferentz feel with a 6-2 lead midway in the fourth quarter? So secure that he halved it.
- This offensive battle was like Ali vs. Frazier. Circa 2025.
Still hurting for more? Below are our three games stories from Penn State-Iowa 2004.
Hey, it isn't easy to finish with 4
By David Jones
Penn State football fans spent three hours yesterday grumbling and staring at gridlock.
Then they had to drive home.
You can take a lifetime watching football and only hear about something that 100,000 fans witnessed in person in Beaver Stadium. People will inevitably lie and say years from now, "I was there. I saw the 6-4 game!"
In football, it's hard to come up with 4. The only way to get it is two safeties, singularly rare themselves. Then, there can be no more scoring by the offense. Merely, weighing odds, it's the football equivalent of getting dealt a straight flush.
It doesn't get any weirder than 4. And you can't add anything else to it and make it stranger.
The only score weirder than 4 is 1, which the Nittany Lions have not yet figured out how to do. Give them time.
Finishing with 4 usually takes a crazy mix of ingredients. A team almost always has to be one of two things:
1. A really good defense paired with a really, really bad offense.
2. Based in the 19th century.
Penn State fans might not be entirely sure which applies to their team.
Yes, you see a mismatched combo like this one and a few teams of the past come flooding to mind:
* The '71 Pittsburgh Steelers, the genesis of the Steel Curtain, with a still fledgling Terry Bradshaw.
* The '78 Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Lee Roy Selmon and a powerless offense led by a kid Doug Williams.
* The '91 Philadelphia Eagles with Clyde Simmons and Reggie White and Jerome Brown (wow) and an offense designed by Rich Kotite and directed by Jeff Kemp.
* Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
These were hopeless, yet perversely entertaining teams. Resolute defenders obviously playing for their coordinator -- as this one is playing for Tom Bradley -- and laughable offenses with no direction.
Maybe the most fascinating aspect of yesterday's game is what utter disdain Iowa had for Penn State's offense.
How secure did Kirk Ferentz feel with a 6-2 lead midway in the fourth quarter? So secure that he halved it. Split his lead in exchange for ensuring that the Penn State punt return team couldn't block a punt and recover it for a go-ahead touchdown. You just don't very often see a coach willingly carve his team's lead to two points inside nine minutes.
You also don't often see a side with a two-point lead eschew a 23-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-two and nearly two minutes still left. A chip-shot kick, practically an extra point, to force the enemy to drive the length of the field for a TD rather than the enemy having a chance for a field goal to win it. This is not common.
But that's just how little Ferentz thought of the Penn State offense. He was more afraid of a virtual act of God -- a blocked kick and 90-yard return for a touchdown -- than he was of Penn State's offense taking over and driving 70 yards in two minutes for a winning field goal.
This is how little respect Penn State's offense now demands. And how pitiful a situation the Lion defense finds itself in. The last time a defense this good went this unrewarded was the Alamo.
It got so ridiculous that the conventional rules of strategy were thrown out. As Penn State set up shop on what would be its final possession, trailing by two on its own 20 with 2:41 to go, you began to think outside the box:
Like, what if Mike Robinson just faded back, ran three receivers into a cluster at about the Iowa 10, and then just heaved it as far as he could? And told his receivers not to catch the ball, but wait for one of Iowa's safeties to catch it and immediately tackle him? Then let the defense play for a third and tying safety. Wouldn't it have been a more sensible tack than actually asking the offense to score?
Aside from their pure astonishment at seeing such ineptitude, the 108,062 present had to be asking this question above all others:
How much more of this product do you expect us to pay for?
I asked Paterno this question in the post-game session:
"If you were to address the fans directly, paying what they do to watch this product, what would you say to them?"
Paterno, one part indignant to two parts resigned -- no, not that type of resigned -- seemed at first not to grasp the question: "The fans were great. The last couple games they've been great."
When I made it clear I was talking about the offense he was putting on the field as a product people pay good money to see, he had nothing to say to you at all. Only something dismissive: "You write what you want to write."
Sure. How about this:
Robinson was asked afterward, "Who's running the offense?" He eventually responded: "A combination of Coach Hall and Jay Paterno."
As if the 63-year-old Galen Hall needs this -- a tag team. Wasn't he brought in as an experienced coordinator to run the show?
Before answering the question seriously, though, Robinson smiled and answered it with an existential joke.
Who's running the offense?
"God."
In that case, God help them.
***
PSU offense snoozes // 4 points 6 first downs 5 turnovers 147 total yards 4-16 3rd down 2 missed FGs
By Bob Flounders
Confused and astounded by what took place yesterday at Beaver Stadium, there was only one place for some of us to go.
The dictionary.
Quite a few words came to mind following Penn State's offensive implosion in a 6-4 Big Ten loss to No. 25 Iowa before 108,062 on homecoming weekend.
These are the ones that best described Zack Mills & Co.:
Rudimentary.
Godforsaken.
And, of course, Paleolithic.
The Nittany Lions' offense was so bad it masked the less-than-stellar play of its Iowa counterpart.
That wasn't so easy to do, considering Kirk Ferentz's Hawkeyes averaged one yard per rush and accumulated 10 first downs in gaining 168 total yards.
But that unit actually ran circles around the PSU version, which stunk up the joint on each and every one of its 15 possessions.
This wasn't football, this was an offensive tickle-fight.
All that was necessary for Iowa (5-2, 3-1) to steal victory was a pair of 27-yard Kyle Schlicher field goals in the first half.
"I don't think we can play much poorer than we did today," said Lions head coach/Master of the Obvious Joe Paterno, whose slumping 2-5 team dropped its fourth straight.
"We just didn't play very well offensively."
Really, coach? REALLY????
The final numbers for PSU:
Six first downs.
One hundred and forty-seven total yards.
One play longer than 12 yards.
Five turnovers.
Quarterbacks Zack Mills and Michael Robinson, equal parts hurried and horrible, combined to complete only nine of 28 throws for 96 yards.
Two safeties, one on a bad Iowa snap early and the other an intentional play with the Hawkeyes protecting a lead, was all PSU had to show for its 60 minutes of work.
Only slightly less disappointing than the Lions' offensive display was the performance by senior kicker Robbie Gould, who missed field goals of 51 and 25 yards.
His 25-yard miss, early in the third, convinced Ferentz to take a second safety midway through the final quarter, with the Hawkeyes pinned at their own 1.
Normally with a four-point lead, that kind of conservative approach is unthinkable. But he did his homework. A two-point lead might has well have been six points with Gould on the other side.
The entire season has been a struggle for the kicker, who has made just three of eight tries.
"I just missed them, it's on me," Gould said.
Wasted, for the fourth straight week, was a superb effort by Tom Bradley's defense, which held the Hawkeyes to 11 drives of four plays or fewer.
At least somebody showed up.
PSU's defensive line controlled an Iowa side that pummeled Ohio State for 33 points the week earlier. The Lions registered 11 tackles for loss -- including three sacks -- and swatted down six of Iowa quarterback Drew Tate's passes.
PSU was simply too fast and determined.
The group is playing on another level. It is championship-caliber.
If only the offense had its back.
But in the team's five losses, to Boston College, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Purdue and Iowa, the Lions' offense has compiled 30 points.
That number is borderline criminal.
PSU rush end Matt Rice, ferocious off the corner for the fourth straight game, was asked how the season would be different if the Lions' offense could consistently score 17-20 points.
"We'd be undefeated," he said quickly.
Both Mills and Robinson tossed two interceptions and both were knocked around by the Hawkeyes.
Robinson relieved a woozy Mills late in the third quarter and, at one point, committed turnovers on three straight plays. Interception. Interception. Fumble.
His first interception might have been the costliest play of the day.
Down four, Lions end Tamba Hali forced Tate to fumble at midfield early in the final quarter.
Slowly, and painfully, PSU drove to a first down at the Iowa 10.
Two plays lost 4 yards, and on third down, Robinson tried to force the ball to wideout Terrance Phillips in the left corner of the end zone.
Where Iowa had two defensive backs waiting.
Corner Antwan Allen intercepted and returned the ball to the 8.
The Lions' defense forced the Hawkeyes to retreat seven yards to the 1, and Ferentz chose to have punter David Bradley step out of the end zone for the second safety with 8:04 to play.
PSU's offense would be on the field for two plays the rest of the game, a Robinson interception and fumble.
The fray ended with Iowa on the PSU 5. The Hawkeyes ran four plays inside the Lions' 10 on that final drive with the game secured, and PSU's proud defense would not give in.
It counts for something.
Just not much, the way Paterno's offense is moving this month -- backward.
"We're playing real well on the defensive side of the ball," said Hali, who had two tackles for loss to go with his forced fumble.
"On the offensive side, we might need to step it up a whole lot. I don't know if they come out to play every game.
"It's kinda sad that they can score on Purdue, and I don't think Iowa has such a great defense that we can't score [a touchdown].
"We can take some of the blame," Hali added.
"If [Iowa] didn't score, we win the game 2-0."
After yesterday's disgusting offensive display, that might be PSU's approach to this week's road game at Ohio State.
Rack up a safety ... and pray.
***
Say it's ugly;Iowajust fine with the win
By Geoff Morrow
This offensive battle was like Ali vs. Frazier.
Circa 2025.
Yesterday's Big Ten battle at Beaver Stadium in front of 108,062 fans on homecoming had to be one of the most brutal, sluggish, disgusting offensive performances in the history of college football.
At least one of the worst since players traded in their leather helmets for something a little tougher.
And you know what?Iowais OK with that.
Sure, it helps that the Hawkeyes left Centre County with a 6-4 victory, but coach Kirk Ferentz's club seemed content with two field goals.
It's as ifIowaknew six points would hold up.
Three times in the second half the Hawkeyes (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) made decisions that wouldn't have made much sense in any other game.
Situation No. 1: Leading 6-2 with roughly 8 minutes to go in the game,Iowadecided to take a safety instead of punting from its own end zone.
With the ball being inside the 1-yard line, the decision to take a safety at this point is only mildly questionable, and that's because it meant Penn State needed only a field goal to take the lead.
However, the Nittany Lions' offense, which managed six first downs, 147 total yards and five turnovers, didn't seem a likely candidate to even get into scoring position. And if they did, kicker Robbie Gould (0-for-2 in field goal attempts, including a costly 25-yard miss in the third) certainly wasn't a lock to knock it through the uprights.
"The safety was a no-brainer," Ferentz said. "If you punt from your own end zone, it's like guaranteeing three points" because of the expected short field for the opponent.
Situations No. 2 and 3: Later in the fourth quarter,Iowahad two chances to kick a field goal that, if made, would have demanded Penn State score a touchdown to win the game.
Both times, the Hawkeyes decided against adding points.
Apparently a two-point lead was plenty.
The first opportunity came with 2 1/2 minutes left and Iowa planted at Penn State's 30. On fourth-and-10, Ferentz took a 5-yard penalty before punting, opting against a 48-yard try.
And on fourth-and-two from the 6 in the game's closing minute, Iowa was prepared to go for it instead of adding three. An offsides penalty on the Lions' defense gave the Hawkeyes a first down anyway, and they were able to run out the clock.
Coach Ferentz explains: "We wanted to take the field goal, but it's like in baseball. If you have a pitcher who's hot [like Iowa's defense], you stay with him. You go with what you see and believe."
Kicker Kyle Schlicher, always looking to put up some points, said he never felt slighted by the decisions. After all, his only two field goal attempts (two 27-yarders in the first half) stood up.
"On making the right call, I trust the coaches," Schlicher said. "Yeah, I'm always 100 percent ready to go. It's like, 'Come on, let me score some points!'"
Did Schlicher feel bad that Gould, after his two misses, wasn't called upon to try a 37-yarder on fourth-and-three early in the fourth?
"I do," Schlicher said, "but he's on the opposing side, so I can't really say, 'Oh, too bad.'"
For very different reasons, the coaches didn't try late field goals that could have made big changes in such a low-scoring game.
That has everything to do with the defensive dominance (or offensive ineptness) on display.
The truth is, Penn State's defense was slightly better than Iowa's -- and not just because it limited Iowa to 2.4 yards per play and totaled 11 tackles for loss.
Penn State's defense made things happen. It attacked the Hawkeyes from the get-go.
"Both defenses did a phenomenal job," said Iowa QB Drew Tate, who was sacked three times and completed 14-of-31 passes for 126 yards. "We got pretty lucky because they did an unbelievable job stopping us. They were jumping us sometimes. They're strong, physical, aggressive."
Tate added that Penn State showcased one of the better defenses he's faced this year, if not the best.
Iowa's defense, spectacular in its reads and coverages, wasn't as aggressive. It more or less waited for Penn State's offense to make the mistakes. Many, many mistakes.
"Mainly it's reading formations, knowing the routes they can run," said corner Jovon Johnson, one of four Iowa defensive backs with an interception.
"I don't know if you can put a number on [how often we knew exactly what they were doing], but we had to be close to 40 percent."
All of which helps explain why, when faced with conservative vs. aggressive decisions, Iowa went exclusively conservative.
It's almost like the Hawkeyes planned to win by the unreal score of 6-4.
***
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