Penn State set to wrestle the Hawkeyes

From the time Penn State's players gathered on the visitors' sideline before last year's game at Iowa until the final gun sounded, the Nittany Lions felt their ears ringing from constant heckling by the home crowd.

The hecklers had plenty to taunt them about. The Hawkeyes' 24-3 victory improved their record against the Nittany Lions to 8-1 in their last nine meetings.

"They were saying things like, 'Raise your hand if you ever beat Iowa,' " sophomore middle linebacker Glenn Carson recalled Tuesday. "That was the one thing that really stood out in my mind, why this game is so important.

"But you know what? Iowa's a wrestling school, and Penn State's a football school, so we've got to take it to them."

Iowa week is barely under way in Happy Valley, and already the Hawkeyes have bulletin-board material. That can't be good for the Lions (4-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten), who have lost three straight to the Hawkeyes (3-1, 0-0).

Carson, a three-time New Jersey state wrestling finalist, tried to backpedal later in his interview with reporters, saying he was "joking around" because he remembered Iowa being a great wrestling school under legendary coach Dan Gable.

He said that the fans' insults "didn't get under my skin" but that it was "something that I remember, and that kind of gives us a little incentive to beat these guys."

The primary incentive the Nittany Lions should have is trying to improve off their dreadful showing on offense in last week's 16-10 win over Indiana. They rolled up 464 total yards yet scored only one touchdown and turned the ball over twice in the red zone.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he was making sure his team stays focused on what it has to do for Saturday's game at Beaver Stadium.

"Even though [the players] may have some thoughts about Iowa 'beating us that many times, we've got to beat them and show them we're pretty good,' I don't know," he said. "I've never approached it that way.

"We talked [Monday] about the positive things, talked about being back home, talked about the fact we're 4-1, let's try to get better. That's all we talked about. I did not talk specifically about the fact that Iowa's beaten us [eight of the last nine]. Maybe that will come up later in the week, I don't know."

As they did at Indiana, the Lions had red-zone woes in last year's game at Iowa. Clock-management issues that involved the coaches and then-freshman quarterback Rob Bolden resulted in just one field goal from two drives inside Iowa's 5-yard line.

As is the weekly routine, Paterno was peppered with questions about his quarterbacks. He called his son, the quarterbacks coach, "poor Jay, who gets criticized," but emphasized that the head coach makes the decision when to change to Bolden or Matt McGloin.

Even though McGloin's numbers (625 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions) are better than those of Bolden (455 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions), Paterno said: "I don't see much of a difference in the way we perform under either kid.

"That makes me very, very reluctant [to make the choice], because they both work so hard. They're good kids, good students, good citizens, and the whole bit. For me to go out there and say, 'Hey, you're better than the other guy' . . . right now I honestly can't tell you one's better than the other."

Nittany notes. Paterno said cornerback D'Anton Lynn, who suffered a concussion on Sept. 24 against Eastern Michigan and sat out last week, is doubtful for Saturday. He said doctors will give him another test Wednesday but that they are "leery about pushing him too soon." . . . The coach met Tuesday with wide receiver Curtis Drake (West Catholic) about his injury status and what he called "some academic problems." He said the difficulty Drake has had recovering from a broken leg has "affected his attitude toward a couple of other things." Drake did not travel Saturday to Indiana, and Paterno doesn't know if he'll play against Iowa.

Highlights from Penn State coach Joe Paterno's weekly teleconference:

"I think sometimes

there's been an underappreciation of the fact that both those kids have worked to try to be as good as they could, have done a good job ... and maybe the situation because I have not felt comfortable designating one as 'the guy.'"

- Joe Juliano

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