IOWA CITY, Iowa -- With thousands of screaming parties storming the field around them, the Penn State football team marched in silence toward the locker room.

There was no high-five line with the fans like at Wisconsin or jumping into the stands at Ohio Stadium.

Watching this walk felt more like watching a dirge meander through the crowded streets of New Orleans.

And while they weren't mourning the loss of one of their own, the Nittany Lion players were paying their last respects to one of their hopes and dreams.

Since the beginning of spring drills, every Penn State practice ended with a team huddle that broke with the same familiar chant.

"One-two-three, national champs," the Lions would yell.

But hopes and dreams all but died at the right foot of a former soccer player turned hometown hero.

And while that one play will stay in the minds of the Nittany Nation for years to come, the game should never have been in doubt at that point.

Three times the Lions moved the ball into the red zone, only to come away with field goals. The most devastating being a first and goal from the two-yard line that started out with promise, but was shattered by a missed play-action pass and a blown-up third and short.

"We should have made some things happen early on where we could have put that thing in, where we could've had a two-score lead at the end," quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said. "But we didn't make some plays, didn't do some things coaching."

Then there was the defense, which had held Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi without a completion for the first 29 minutes of the game. Stanzi did not complete a pass until there were 16 seconds left to play in the second quarter.

But something happened in the locker rooms during halftime. Maybe it was Iowa responding to adjustments made by coach Kirk Ferentz, who has owned Penn State, going 6-2 during his career against the Lions. Perhaps it was Penn State not having the presence of its Hall of Fame coach in the locker room.

Whatever it was, Stanzi came out of the locker room and completed 13 of 21 second-half passes for 149 yards and a touchdown, with the most crippling completetions coming on the game's final drive.

A defense that had held nine opponents to less than 14 points per game by pressuring quarterbacks into making mistakes allowed Stanzi to sit in the pocket and scan the field.

Given the time, he led the Hawkeyes into scoring position by converting three third and longs during the final drive.

"We were trying to stop the run. We were worried about the run," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "Some of the things you give up are nickel-dime stuff. We couldn't seem to make a play on third down. When you don't, that's not a good sign for you."

And an offense that had pounded the Hawkeye defense, which had given up just over 100 yards per game, for 138 first-half yards became cute.

"We were running them all over the field in the first half running the ball," Shipley said. "We had to try and combat that, keep working at it and hopefully wear them out by the end of the game."

Even the players knew it, but the Lions did not continue to pound the ball. They abandoned the power game of Evan Royster, who had rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in the first half.

He only rushed nine times for 25 yards after the break.

Yes, the Lions did have more than their usual number of dropped passes, penalties and overthrown balls, but they still had the game in their grasps and could've put the game away early with better execution and game-planning.

To have halftime advantages of almost four-to-one in time of possession and three-to-one in total plays, yet only have a six-point lead is not indicative of a national championship team. The same can be said for blowing a nine-point lead with less than ten minutes to play.

The Lions allowed Iowa to hang around and never stepped on the Hawkeyes' throats like Penn State did in Madison, Wis. And the Hawkeyes did what pesky teams against the ropes do when given a glimmer of hope, they seized the opportunity, didn't make mistakes down the stretch and were the ones dancing in the end.

It's tough to criticize a coaching staff that has done almost everything right before 3:30 p.m. Saturday, but when the coaches meet this week, the fingers should be pointed at themselves first.

They lost the Lions the game and their national title hopes, now it's up to the staff to rally the team and make sure this one loss doesn't morph into two or three.