2025 PSU at Iowa

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General Game Information

PSU-IOWA FINAL GAME STATS

PSU-IOWA GAME FLOW & SUMMARY

• Game Seven of 2025 season—This is the second road game of the Big Ten season and first of two straight road games separated by PSU’s second Bye Week. This is also Iowa’s annual ANF Black & Gold Spirit Game where the fans stripe-out the stadium in Hawkeye team colors. Per Iowa, this game is a sellout. Iowa (4-2, 2-1) has lost at home to undefeated Indiana, 20-15, and followed that with a visit on Oct. 11 to Wisconsin where the Hawkeyes shutout the Badgers, 37-0. Kirk Ferentz is in his 27th season as head coach at Iowa. Penn State (3-3, 0-3) is coming off its 3rd straight league loss and will be debuting new interim head coach, Terry Smith, and a new starting Quarterback this week in Redshirt-Freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer who replaces the injured Drew Allar. Grunkemeyer has appeared in 4 games this fall but only received substantial playing time in game one vs. Nevada (and two of the games saw him play just 1 snap in each). Grunkemeyer is 8 of 11 passing for 105 yards and 1 TD this season. Smith is a former Nittany Lions player under Joe Paterno (Flanker 1987-91) and an assistant at PSU under Franklin since 2014. Smith will be tested hard by Iowa (the Hawkeye defense is ranked 7th in nation) and how the team performs in Kinnick will go a long way toward how the remaining five games play out. James Franklin leaves at the mid-point of his 12th season at Penn State. The Iowa game would have been Franklin’s 150th game as head coach at State. He finished with 104 wins at PSU (tied for 2nd all-time with Rip Engle).

• Last PSU Game: Northwestern 22 Penn State 21 (Homecoming/Stripe Out)—PSU opens 0-3 in Big Ten for first time since 2020 (0-5)

• This week’s rankings: AP Poll #NR (for 2nd straight week-was receiving votes for a #28 ranking last week, but no votes in current poll released Oct. 12)—AP Poll new Top 5-Ohio State, Miami, Indiana, Texas A&M, Ole Miss / Coaches Poll #NR (fell from #22 completely out of poll-not even receiving votes)—Coaches new Top 5-Ohio State, Miami, Indiana, Texas A&M, Ole Miss (same as AP)—Penn State is unranked in both polls for the first time since week 2 of the 2022 season.

• 33rd meeting with Iowa all-time: The series dates to a 1930 Penn State loss at then-Iowa Stadium (19-0). The Nittany Lions are 18-14 all-time vs. the Hawkeyes (12-11 in Big Ten games with 2 losses in OT).

• 17th meeting with Iowa at Kinnick Stadium (previously Iowa Stadium 1929-1972): PSU is 10-6 all-time at Iowa. This is Penn State’s 12th game at Iowa as a member of the Big Ten (PSU is 6-5). The last Nittany Lions game at Iowa was a 2021 loss where the #3 Hawkeyes held off #4 PSU 23-20 in a game where QB Sean Clifford was injured in the 2nd period and did not return. Sean’s replacement, Ta’Quan Roberson, struggled to move the Lions offense the rest of the way (PJ Mustipher DT was also lost for the season in this game with a left knee injury that triggered a less than sportsmanlike reaction from Iowa). Roberson and the Lions offense also struggled with the excessive crowd noise at Kinnick (there were several false starts) and the next day, James Franklin installed a “silent cadence” to deal with “road noise” moving forward. The last Penn State win at Iowa was in 2019 (17-12).

• PSU Record in ANF Black & Gold Spirit Games at Iowa: This is PSU’s 6th appearance in the classic Black & Gold “Stripe Out” game at Kinnick Stadium (which always looks best under the lights). The Nittany Lions are 3-2 in these contests. The most recent one was in 2021 where #3 Iowa held off #4 PSU 23-20 in a game that kicked at 3pm CT on FOX and left some bad taste in the mouths of Lions fans. State had won the previous 3 of these games in 2019, 2017 (in last second dramatic fashion), and 2012. Penn State also played in the inaugural game in 2010 which resulted in a 24-3 loss. ANF is the Hayden Fry (Iowa head coach 1979-1998) slogan “America Needs Farmers” which dates back to 1985 and was a rallying cry for its fans and their then-struggling farms/businesses statewide.

• The last PSU-Iowa meeting in 2023: The legendary “Whiteout Shutout” at Beaver Stadium. #7 PSU vs. #24 Iowa in primetime on CBS. The Sept. 23 game date was the exact 6th anniversary of the 2017 last second 21-19 win at Iowa (Trace McSorley to Juwan Johnson at the buzzer). The 31-0 final was the first shutout in a Whiteout game, and the first shutout win over a ranked foe since the 1999 Alamo Bowl win over Texas A&M. The Nittany Lion defense completely and utterly dominated this game—Iowa is held to 76 total yards and 4 first downs. Curtis Jacobs LB delivered two of PSU’s four fumble recoveries. Drew Allar threw 4 TD passes (2 to Tyler Warren).

  CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE 2023 WHITEOUT SHUTOUT OVER IOWA

• Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz ties to Penn State: Kirk’s brother-in-law, Kevin Hart, played for Joe Paterno as a Defensive End 1973 to 1976 (he lettered in ‘76), and one of Kirk’s nephews, Mike Hart, was a back-up QB at Penn State from 2003 to 2006 (he did not letter).

• Potential sub-plot to this game: PSU WR Devonte Ross was a one-man wrecking crew in the Troy University at Iowa game in 2024. Ross scored all 3 Troy TDs in their 38-21 loss (Troy led 14-10 at the half). He caught 5 passes for 142 yards and 2 TDs (63 yards & 62 yards), and he returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown. Kirk Ferentz vividly remembers this and will want to prevent a repeat in Iowa City. This is the performance that would catch Penn State’s eye and lead to Ross transferring to the Lions via the portal after committing on Dec. 24, 2024. Ross is also coming off a 115-yard receiving effort for PSU in the loss to Northwestern.

• First 7pm ET kick for PSU in 2025. First and only scheduled game in the Central Time Zone this season. Second game this season in primetime window in the East along with Sept. 27th PSU-Oregon game (7:30pm EDT kick). Since Iowa planned this as its “Black & Gold Stripe Out” game, the Hawkeyes obvious preference was for a night kickoff, and that meant taking whatever TV option would allow that to happen—in this case, streaming-only on Peacock.

• Penn State is 0-1 this season in night games (loss to Oregon in the Whiteout at Beaver Stadium). Night games are defined as games that kickoff at 5:30pm or later in the game’s host location.

  TV Information

• Peacock Gameday Announcers: Paul Burmeister Play-by-play and Michael Robinson Analyst with Sideline Reporter Caroline Pineda. Michael Robinson was PSU QB/RB (2001-2005). Paul Burmeister last did the PSU-Washington Whiteout game on Peacock with Colt McCoy in 2024. Burmeister was an Iowa Hawkeyes QB under Hayden Fry (1989-93)—He faced Penn State in their 1993 Big Ten debut meeting in Iowa City; he threw 3 INTs and was sacked 9-times in the 31-0 Nittany Lions victory (this game is also remembered as the last start for PSU QB John Sacca before he lost the job to Kerry Collins and transferred).

• First PSU TV game on Peacock-only since 2024 Whiteout game vs. Washington (8pm EST kick). Note: The PSU at Iowa game time was announced in the immediate aftermath of the stunning upset loss at UCLA and that may have played a role in this TV option. It’s the third PSU game ever to appear on Peacock-only along with the 2023 home game vs. Delaware (Noon EDT kick). PSU’s record on Peacock-only is 2-0 (PSU is also 4-1 in games streamed on Peacock while airing live on NBC-TV).

• First Streaming-only TV game of the 2025 season. Second game to be seen on Peacock this fall along with Oregon game which appeared in primetime on both NBC and Peacock. This is the 8th PSU game overall to appear on Peacock (5 have been in conjunction with NBC-TV live telecasts)

• The PSU-Iowa contest will share the very busy Big Ten primetime window on Oct. 18 with USC at Notre Dame (7:30pm EDT on NBC), Oregon at Rutgers (6:30pm EDT on BTN), and Maryland at UCLA (7pm EDT on FS1). The game also follows the 3:30pm EDT kick of the Michigan State at Indiana game which also appears on Peacock-only, so there could be some overlap if the 3:30 game runs long.