By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If Penn State isn’t Iowa’s biggest rival in football, Kirk Ferentz might be on the verge of changing that.

Ohio State has Michigan.

Michigan State has Michigan.

Purdue has Indiana.

Nebraska has Oklahoma from the 20th century.

Wisconsin has Minnesota.

Illinois has Northwestern.

Iowa and Penn State, on the other hand, have nobody.

They both have some intriguing rivalries, including Iowa’s instate rivalry with Iowa State, but not one that really stands out on either side.

Iowa and Iowa State aren’t even in the same conference, and with the Big Ten now in an alliance with the Pacific-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference, the future of the Iowa-Iowa State series could be in serious jeopardy.

So why shouldn’t Iowa and Penn State join forces and become each other’s rival?

The series already is ultra-competitive with Penn State clinging to a 14-17 advantage after last Saturday’s 23-20 loss to Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa won nine of 11 games against Penn State from 1996 to 2010, while Penn State won six games in a row from 2011 to 2019.

Kirk Ferentz also spent most of his childhood living in western Pennsylvania and cheering for the Nittany Lions, adding another piece to the rivalry puzzle.

But what seals the deal is how Ferentz perceives the rash of injuries that Penn State apparently suffered during last Saturday’s game.

To say that Ferentz is suspicious would be an understatement.

Ferentz rarely says anything that isn’t totally respectful about an opponent, especially a Big Ten opponent.

But he stepped out of his comfort zone on Tuesday when asked about the Iowa fans booing when Penn State players on multiple occasions caused play to stop due to an apparent injury.

There were some legitimate injuries, including the one that caused Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford to leave the game in the second quarter and not return.

But there were also some suspicious injuries in which a Penn State player left the field and then quickly returned, sometimes after missing just one play.

Ferentz was asked at his weekly press conference on Tuesday if he had heard the chatter, which includes Penn State coach James Franklin having voiced his displeasure about fans booing in his post-game press conference. Penn State fans also have lashed out on social media, calling the booing classless.

“Yeah, heard a little bit,” Ferentz said. “Football’s a hard competitive tough game and fans are into it just like everybody else is into it and, first of all, I know a couple players were legitimately hurt, I know that, I saw one sitting on the bench, for whatever reason, there was an opening and I saw him and I know he had an ice bag on his leg. Obviously, the quarterback didn’t come back. So, I hope those guys are well, I don’t know what their status is, nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. Nobody.

“But I think probably it’s a reaction to there were a couple guys that were down for the count and then were back a play or two later and our fans aren’t stupid, they’re watching, they know what’s going on.”

Ferentz already had said enough at that point to raise eyebrows, and make Penn State fans even more angry, but he wasn’t finished. He mentioned without being specific two of his staff members having worked for a college football program that used faking injuries as a strategy, and the fact that Iowa Director of Recruiting Tyler Barnes, who is also Ferentz’s son in law, worked under Franklin at Vanderbilt in 2013 hardly seems a coincidence, and adds a whole bunch of spice to the gumbo.

“I’ve been here 23 years I think that’s only the second time we have seen that kind of stuff going on,” Ferentz said. “I know it’s a topic nationally right now, it was one of the discussions of the rules, they don’t quite, nobody knows the answer to it, but it’s — and I also know for a fact that people — I’m not saying, I just, there are two people in our building that have been places where that was “scuba” or “dive” — no “scuba” and “turtle” were the code words.

“So, it goes on, we don’t coach it, haven’t really been exposed to it and our fans, I thought they smelled a rat, I guess, I don’t know, so they responded the way they responded.”

To say that Iowa fans smelled a rat is a major shot at Penn State and so out of the ordinary for the 66-year old Ferentz.

But it’s also nice and refreshing to hear Kirk Ferentz tell us how he really feels about something.

Because some of the injuries did look suspect, and that coupled with what Kirk Ferentz knows about code words is cause enough to question the validity.

Ferentz must truly believe that Penn State faked some of the injuries, or he wouldn’t have said what he said to the media.

Franklin voiced his displeasure with Iowa fans in his post-game press conference.

But what is he going to say under the circumstances?

“I do have a little bit of a hard time with our players getting hurt, and the fans and the coaches and the staff booing our players,” Franklin said. “They don’t run a tempo offense. It was not part of our plan.”

Franklin brings up a good point about Iowa not running tempo offense because it’s true.

That’s why it seemed weird that Penn State was trying to slow the tempo when Iowa was on offense.

But most of the injuries, fake or real, occurred after Iowa had gained substantial yards on a play.

So again, it looked suspicious.

Much like it did when Notre Dame had some suspicious injuries while facing Iowa in the 1953 season finale. Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 at the time, but was trailing 7-0 late in the second quarter.

An offensive tackle for Notre Dame fell to ground screaming and the clocked stopped with just seconds remaining in the first half. Notre Dame was able to run a play before time expired and completed a touchdown pass.

And then with just seconds left in the game, two more Notre Dame players on offense fell to the ground at the same time. Notre Dame had driven deep into Iowa territory, but had no timeouts remaining.

Notre Dame was able to complete another touchdown pass to salvage a 14-14 tie, and the tie score didn’t sit well with Iowa head coach Forest Evashevski, who had no problem speaking his mind.

Critics called Notre Dame the “fainting Irish” and Evashevski shared his frustration at a pep rally after returning to Iowa City and he parodied a quote by famed sportswriter Grantland Rice:

“When the One Great Scorer comes to write against our name, he won’t write whether we won or lost, but how we got gypped at Notre Dame,” Evashevski said to those in attendance.

Iowa and Notre Dame haven’t played since 1968, but Iowa and Penn State are in the same conference, so they will keep playing on a somewhat regular basis.

Those loyal to Iowa and Penn State will stick to their story and that will help to fuel the rivalry. At least one member of the Penn State media has written a column saying he was disappointed with Ferentz, and with the Iowa fans.

Fair enough.

Kirk Ferentz has ticked off Penn State fans, and it’s reasonable to assume that Franklin isn’t pleased with what Ferentz said on Tuesday.

Ferentz could’ve easily said it was time to move on when asked about the booing on Tuesday..

But instead, he was more than willing to defend the Iowa fans, while questioning the legitimacy of the injuries.

It wasn’t as dramatic or as blunt and forthright as Evashevski’s speech at the pep rally nearly 70 years ago.

But it’s still great stuff for a rivalry.