By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – They didn’t fold and kept giving good effort.

The offense finally scored a touchdown.

And the defense continued to perform at a high level.

That is the bright side of the Iowa football team’s much-anticipated matchup with No. 10 Penn State on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

The dark side, of course, is that Penn State escaped with a 17-12 victory and Iowa has now lost back-to-back games by a combined 12 points after having started the season with four consecutive victories.

Iowa still has a chance to win the Big Ten West Division with six conference games remaining, but it also trails Wisconsin and Minnesota by two games in the loss column and is currently tied with Purdue for fourth place in the division.

But it’s silly to even think about the division race, given how poorly the Iowa offense is performing right now.

Iowa was held without a touchdown during last Saturday’s 10-3 loss at Michigan, and scored its only touchdown against Penn State with less than 3 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

And it took an incredible diving catch by junior receiver Brandon Smith with a defender draped all over him for Iowa to finally reach the end zone on a 33-yard pass from quarterback Nate Stanley with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left to play.

Iowa tried for a two-point conversion that would have made it a 3-point deficit, but Stanley’s pass fell incomplete.

Penn State then ran out the clock to secure its sixth consecutive victory over the Hawkeyes, who fell to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten.

“Especially in the last couple games, we’ve put ourselves in position to make plays, but we just haven’t capitalized,” Stanley said.

Iowa defensive end A.J. Epenesa was asked after Saturday’s loss what has to happen to keep everybody on the same page.  

“We’re a team, we’re a family, we’re a brotherhood, we’re going to come back like every other week and just attack the next game,” Epenesa said.

Iowa will try to get back on track when it faces Purdue next Saturday on homecoming at Kinnick Stadium. Purdue has won the last two games in the series,

The first step in defeating Iowa is containing its running game and the Nittany Lions accomplished that for the most part on Saturday by allowing just 70 yards on the ground.

Penn State, on the other hand, had 177 rushing yards, and also had a quarterback in Sean Clifford who kept plays alive with his scrambling and running ability.

Iowa didn’t have that luxury with the 6-foot-4, 243-pound Stanley playing quarterback, and that made a big difference in the game.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was asked after Saturday's game how much confidence he has in his running game at this point.

"I've got confidence in our football team," Ferentz said. "I think we have a good football team. We didn't play good enough this week or last week against two really good football teams.

"I think we have a good team. We'll get better as long as we keep our attitude the way we need to." 

Iowa was trailing 10-6 heading to the fourth quarter, but also had the ball and a first-down at the Penn State 37-yard line.

But as so often has been the case in the last two games, the Iowa offense failed once again to deliver.

Iowa was forced to punt for the fifth time in the game and then Penn State drove into Iowa territory before having to punt for the seventh time in the game.

Iowa was buried on its own 4-yard line when it took over on offense with 10:13 left to play.

It probably was hard for Hawkeye fans to be optimistic at that point, considering that Iowa had gone the previous seven quarters without scoring a touchdown.

There still was plenty of time for the offense to finally do something, but then Stanley threw his first interception of the game, and his fourth interception in the last two games, and that gave Penn State a first down at the Iowa 35-yard line with 9:22 left to play.

The Iowa defense picked up where it left off against Michigan a week ago, holding Penn State to just 10 yards in the first quarter, including zero passing yards.

The Nittany Lions started clicking some on offense in the second quarter when they gained 111 yards, but Iowa still only trailed 7-6 at halftime, with Iowa’s points coming on two Keith Duncan field goals.

The defense was playing well enough to win, but as was the case at Michigan last Saturday, the offense was sputtering, although, Iowa did have 196 yards in the first half, including 147 passing yards from Stanley.

So there were some signs of hope at halftime, even with Iowa having gone six consecutive quarters without scoring a touchdown.

Penn State’s offense didn’t exactly light it up in the first half, either, compiling just 117 yards.

The Nittany Lions drove into Iowa territory to start the third quarter, but they chose to punt after the drive stalled near midfield.

Iowa took over at its own 3-yard line and gained one first down on a 17-yard pass from Stanley to receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette.

But then Stanley was sacked for a minus-8 yards on the next play and the drive ultimately fizzled, leaving Iowa to punt for the fourth time in the game.

Penn State did nothing on offense on its next possession and then punted for the sixth time of the game with more than six minutes still left in the third quarter.

The momentum was there for the taking, but neither offense could do enough to take it up to the point.

It felt like at that point that a turnover, or one or two big plays, would ultimately decide the game.

And then it happened as Iowa freshman running back Tyler Goodson fumbled on the first play from scrimmage on Iowa’s next possession in the third quarter.

Penn State recovered at the Iowa 16 with 4:46 left in the quarter and then drove to the Iowa 1. However, the drive unraveled as Penn State was penalized for holding on back-to-back plays.

The Nittany Lions settled for a 33-year field goal by Ankeny native Jake Pinegar, expanding their lead to 10-6 with 2:08 left in the third quarter.

Penn State 0 7 3 7 – 17

Iowa 3 3 0 6 – 12

I – Keith Duncan 47 FG

PS – K.J. Hamler 22 pass from Shawn Clifford (Jake Pinegar kick)

I – Duncan 24 FG

PS – Pinegar 33 FG

PS – Noah Cain 5 run (Pinegar kick)

I – Brandon Smith 33 pass from Nate Stanley