Ricky Stanzi throws for 227 yards, No. 17 Iowa beats No. 22 Penn State 24-3

No. 17 Iowa beats No. 22 Penn State 24-3

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Ricky Stanzi threw for 227 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score, and No. 17 Iowa overwhelmed 22nd-ranked Penn State 24-3 for its third straight win over the Nittany Lions.

Adam Robinson added 95 yards rushing for the Hawkeyes (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten), who recorded their biggest win ever over Penn State.

Iowa raced out to a 17-0 lead late in the first half on Stanzi’s 9-yard TD pass to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and his 1-yard plunge. The Hawkeyes stopped Rob Bolden on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the third quarter, and Shaun Prater returned an interception 33 yards for a TD with 1:27 left.

Bolden had 212 yards passing for Penn State (3-2, 0-1), which has scored just six points in a pair of road losses to Alabama and the Hawkeyes.

Iowa’s 21-point victory surpassed its 19-0 win over the Nittany Lions in 1930.

The Hawkeyes needed fourth-quarter rallies to upset Penn State in each of the last two seasons. This time, favored Iowa jumped ahead early and let its defense finish things off.

Michael Meyer hit 20-yard field goal to put the Hawkeyes ahead 3-0. Stanzi threw an interception on Iowa’s next series, but he redeemed himself with a TD pass to Johnson-Koulianos in the back of the end zone to give Iowa a 10-0 lead with a minute left in the first quarter.

The Hawkeyes pushed their lead to 17-0 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Stanzi, set up partly by a 12-yard punt from Penn State’s Anthony Fera.

Penn State finally put together a solid drive to open up the second half, but red zone problems caught up with the Nittany Lions yet again.

On fourth-and-goal at the 1, Bolden sprinted wide and was stopped just inches shy of the goal line by Christian Ballard and Jeremiah Hunter. The stop left Penn State with just six TDs in 18 chances inside the 20 this season — and it was the closest the Nittany Lions would get to the end zone for the rest of the night.

The Nittany Lions held Iowa’s offense scoreless in the second half, but the Hawkeyes defense wouldn’t allow Penn State back into the game.

Evan Royster had 56 yards rushing for the Nittany Lions, who’ve lost eight of nine to Iowa.

Penn State couldn’t get anything going in the first half, but it caught a break when Bolden’s apparent interception was called back because of a personal foul on Iowa’s Mike Daniels.

Bolden then found Brett Brackett for a 49-yard reception to Iowa’s 2-yard line with three seconds left in the first half. But Bolden was whistled for a deflating false start, and the Nittany Lions had to settle for Collin Wagner’s 25-yard field goal.

Penn State also picked up a false start on fourth-and-1 at the Iowa 42 early in the fourth quarter and was forced to punt.

The first quarter was one the Nittany Lions would just as soon forget. They gave up 148 yards of offense, punted twice and gained one yard in the first 15 minutes.

Iowa played under the lights at home for just the eighth time, and Hawkeyes fans were decked out for the occasion. The 70,585 in attendance wore either black or gold in alternating sections, giving off the appearance of stripes throughout Kinnick Stadium.

They didn’t get to see anything nearly as dramatic as they did the last time Penn State visited Iowa City, when the Hawkeyes won 24-23 on a last-second field goal.

What they witnessed was yet another vintage performance from Iowa’s defense, which has held opponents to just 17 points in four home games this season and only three points in the past two weeks.