UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's players were careful not to use the wrong "R" word in front of their coach this past week.

It was OK to talk about tonight's nationally televised rematch with Iowa at Beaver Stadium, but it was not cool to call it a revenge game.

"I don't know what revenge has got to do with it in football," coach Joe Paterno said. "It's not like they sneaked up on us [last year] and stuck us in the back with a knife or something. They played a good football game and they beat us."

Iowa, which has won six of the past seven matchups between the two teams, pinned a 24-23 loss on the Nittany Lions at home a year ago, ending Penn State's perfect season and national championship hopes in the 10th week of the season.

Quarterback Daryll Clark's intercepted pass into a brisk wind late in the fourth quarter helped set up the Hawkeyes' winning points -- a last-second 31-yard field goal by Daniel Murray.

Clark, who has thrown eight touchdown passes in No. 5 Penn State's 3-0 start, is hoping to make amends for his error in the Big Ten Conference opener in front of a sellout crowd of 107,282 fans on a white­out night.

"I feel like I owe our football team a lot because of what happened last year," he said.

Clark suffered a minor stinger in his right throwing shoulder last week against Temple, but said his arm feels better. That's good news, because he is expected to use it frequently against Iowa.

He has been staying in the pocket more than usual this year, given the lack of depth behind him -- his backup is true freshman Kevin Newsome. Clark has 10 yards rushing on 7 carries -- a 0.7 average. He gained 282 yards on 79 carries last season in his first year as the starter en route to earning first-team All-Big Ten honors.

"We're going to try to win the football game, and if that means we've got to run Clark, we'll probably run him," Paterno said. "He's awfully valuable to this football team and I don't want to get careless and start making him a single-wing tailback.

"He's a quarterback and basically that's where he is, and we're certainly not looking forward to running him much. But if we have to, we could run him, and I say 'could.' That doesn't mean we have plans to do it, because we really don't."

Iowa's past two opponents have completed only 23 of 57 passes for 218 yards and six interceptions. Clark was just 9 of 23 for 86 yards in last year's loss.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, an Upper St. Clair High School graduate who is 6-2 all-time against Paterno, said Clark's scrambling ability makes him tough to defend.

"Some guys just have a knack for winning and that's Daryll Clark," Ferentz said. "Some quarterbacks just have that ability of guiding their teams to victories, and he certainly seems very adept at that. He's a guy that can beat you at throwing the football, he can beat you with his feet, and also with his head."

The unranked Hawkeyes (3-0) own wins against Division I-AA Northern Iowa (17-16), Iowa State (35-3) and Arizona (27-17). Overall, they have won seven in a row dating to the win against the Lions last season.

Iowa's defense has allowed just two touchdowns, but both teams could be missing key starters because of injuries.

Penn State linebacker Sean Lee (sprained left knee), of Upper St. Clair, is expected to miss the game, and linebacker Nathan Stupar (sprained ankle) is questionable after being injured in practice this past week. However, All-American linebacker candidate Navorro Bowman (groin) is expected to return to the lineup after missing the past two games.

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