The Penn State defense's goal line is now at the 20. The way the offense has performed so far, shortening the field has become a necessary evil.
"We need to keep them out of the red zone," defensive end Josh Gaines said of the Nittany Lions' goals against Iowa. "It will help our offense out a lot."
The Lions defense still ranks seventh nationally in yards allowed despite giving up more than 160 rushing yards each of the last two weeks. That, to go with almost a combined 300 passing yards against in the past two games.
So while the defense wants to help the offense out as much as it can against Iowa tomorrow, it will do so while intending to improve its own play. Both sides haven't held up their sides in a while, linebacker Sean Lee said.
"If there's a problem with last week's game, the offense came out on fire making plays and the defense didn't," Lee said. "We really haven't put it together, when the offense is playing well and the defense is playing well."
Iowa's offense presents a different set of challenges than the spread-option run by Illinois last week. One common thread, though, is a talented running back.
The Hawkeyes have two of them in seniors Albert Young and Damien Sims. Young rushed 15 times for 94 yards and Sims carried the ball seven times for 38 yards and caught two passes for 11 yards in Iowa's loss against Indiana last week. Last week, Illinois' Rashard Mendenhall gained 80 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown against the Lions.
But the Hawkeyes have a young quarterback in first-year starter Jake Christensen. Indiana sacked the sophomore nine times last week, successfully blitzing from multiple angles. Iowa expects the same defensive scheme from Penn State.
"Everyone likes to blitz us, even if they're not a blitzing team," Iowa offensive lineman Seth Olsen said. "So I'm sure they'll blitz even more than they're used to. If they bring seven, we got to make sure we're in the right protection if they call that up."
Iowa has also suffered a rash of injuries, especially at wideout. The Hawkeyes three main receivers tomorrow are all redshirt freshmen. Given that, cornerback Lydell Sargeant is looking for the defense to return to the quasi-dominant form it showed in the non-conference season, for the benefit of everyone.
"If the opposing team scores, the defense feels like they're letting the offense down. That's the way it should be," said Sargeant, who played offense his freshman year.
The offensive struggles, Sargeant said, is "something that we can't control as a defense. The only thing that we can control is ... stopping the opposing offense."
So far, they've been good at doing that, but not great, Joe Paterno said.
"We haven't dominated anybody yet," Paterno said. "We're doing well, we're sound. We've been careful. We don't give up the big play. We've given [up] a couple third-down plays. ... Those little things we're allowing, but overall, we've been pretty good."
DEFENSIVE NOTES: With injured linebackers Navorro Bowman (right ankle) and Dontey Brown unavailable this week, Paterno said Josh Hull could see playing time. Sean Lee said freshmen backups Bani Gbadyu and Chris Colasanti have also impressed in practice. Lee said Colasanti is, "full-go all the time and will hit anything."
