Hawkeyes hand Lions their 4th consecutive loss, 26-14

Sunday, October 26, 2003

By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- They paint the visiting locker room at Kinnick Stadium pink, an old tradition Hayden Fry started and current Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has continued. A more appropriate color for the visitors yesterday might have been blue.

A melancholy blue.

Rock bottom might still come for Penn State, but the Nittany Lions completed the worst start to a season in Joe Paterno's 38 seasons as head coach with a 26-14 loss to No. 16 Iowa before 70,397.

	More on Penn State: Penn State Report: 10/26/03

It was the fourth consecutive loss to open the Big Ten schedule, the first four-game losing streak to conference foes in school history, and the sixth in eight games this season -- the first time that has happened since 1931, when the Lions finished a school-worst 2-8 record.

"I don't think everybody believes we can come away with a win," said quarterback Michael Robinson, who started but was replaced by Zack Mills after an ineffective first quarter. "Until that starts happening, we're going to be frustrated."

Ferentz, who grew up in Upper St. Clair, has led Iowa (6-2, 2-2) to four consecutive victories against Penn State (2-6, 0-4), a feat only one other team has accomplished in the Paterno era. Michigan has won six consecutive games against the Lions.

Penn State was manhandled by Iowa's strong interior lines. Iowa's front four on defense ran through Penn State's offensive line, holding the Lions to season lows in rushing yards (38), first downs (9) and total offense (176).

"We had to change some things when we couldn't handle their down people," Paterno said. "Their down people were too good for us."

The Iowa offense and special teams took care of the rest. Senior running back Fred Russell had 151 of the team's 212 rushing yards, keeping the Penn State defense on the field for 77 plays. Quarterback Nathan Chandler was 13 for 26 for 174 yards, threw for two scores and ran for another.

The other touchdown came on a return after a blocked punt, the third special teams touchdown against Penn State in the past three games and the fourth of the season.

"I honestly thought coming out here we had a really good shot to win it," Paterno said.

Penn State did something it hadn't done all season. The Lions led after the first quarter when safety Yaacov Yisrael returned an interception 83 yards for a touchdown with 2:57 left in the quarter.

The Lions had a chance to be up by more but squandered several early scoring opportunities. They started their first three possessions in Iowa territory but had two three-and-out series and fumbled on the Iowa 40 on the third. The fumble was returned to the Penn State 30 and set up Iowa's first touchdown. The Hawkeyes went on to score on their next possession as well and held a 12-7 lead at halftime.

"That was frustrating," Robinson said. "The defense did a great job, got us good field position, and we didn't do anything with it."

"We lost the game in a lot of places," Paterno said. "We had a couple of other chances later in the game. We're competitive, but we're not making plays. It's got to be my fault. It's got to come back to me. I have to figure out a way we can do a couple of better things in the clutch."

Penn State had negative yards after three series with Robinson at quarterback. Paterno replaced him with Mills, who was 14 for 25 for 138 yards and a touchdown in the final three quarters.

The Lions were down, 19-7, early in the third quarter after Jermie Roberts picked up a blocked punt and returned it 26 yards for a score after Penn State's first offensive series of the second half. They then fell behind by 19 points after Iowa drove 67 yards on 10 plays and scored on a Chandler 1-yard run.

Austin Scott scored on a 24-yard reception with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter, but the Lions failed to mount a serious comeback. They had Iowa in a third-and-18 situation on the next possession, but allowed fullback Edgar Cervantes to turn a dump-off pass into a 21-yard gain and a first down.

"When you throw a pass to a big guy like that over the middle, you would hope that your linebackers would react," Paterno said. "We didn't react on the play. We were probably in the right call. We didn't react."

Penn State did not get a first down the rest of the game.

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