Joe Paterno watched from the sidelines as running back Rodney Kinlaw fumbled on Penn State's first drive Saturday.
"Holy smokes," the 80-year-old coach recalled thinking when he saw the fumble.
Paterno had walked into Beaver Stadium on Saturday hoping to see a Nittany Lions team that would play with consistency and not make too many mistakes -- pitfalls of the past two weeks that had resulted in close losses.
A fumble was not the best way to start.
That early mistake, however, would gradually fade from memory as the Lions (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) halted their two-game losing streak, beating Iowa, 27-7. The Hawkeyes (2-4, 0-3) dropped their fourth game in a row before a crowd of almost 109,000 people.
"We knew our backs were against a wall, and we had to get a 'W,' " junior center A.Q. Shipley said. "We knew we had to do some things good, get the ball rolling."
The Lions had several mistakes during their win over the Hawkeyes. Senior quarterback Anthony Morelli threw two interceptions, and a wide-open Chris Bell dropped a pass in the end zone.
But the Hawkeyes -- unlike Michigan and Illinois -- weren't able to use those mistakes to their advantage. Iowa's offense was held scoreless until the fourth quarter, with its quarterback, Jake Christensen, getting sacked five times and its starting running back, Albert Young, held to 44 yards on the ground.
"We talked all week about starting from the first play," Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said, "about getting back to fundamentals and getting back to good, solid, fundamental defense."
Many players said the criticism surrounding the team's ineffectiveness and mistakes in the past two weeks had been getting gradually louder. When the Lions defense shut down Iowa's running game in the first half, linebacker Dan Connor said he felt the defense's confidence and swagger coming back.
The return to Beaver Stadium's crowd helped, Connor added.
"Obviously, you feel more comfortable at home," Connor said. "You have 110,000 fans cheering for you, instead of the opposite. But if we're going to be a big-time team, we're going to need to start stepping up on the road."
The Lions' offense was sick of hearing how it couldn't run the ball and also came in Saturday wanting to silence any critics, senior fullback Matt Hahn said.
Penn State rushed for 256 yards, a season high, even in the absence of running back Austin Scott, who was held out of the game for violating an unspecified team rule.
"I think it was outstanding," Hahn said of the running game. "This whole week in practice, we knew that we could run the ball. We really wanted to make a statement ... and I think today we went out there and proved it."
