Iāve watched a lot of Penn State (4-0, 2-0) football in my lifetime. Iāve seen dominance. But Iām curious what Future Colin will think about Penn Stateās utter and complete domination of then-#24 Iowa (3-1, 0-1) this past Saturday night.
Was the Iowa offense really that bad or was the Penn State defense really that good? Is the Penn State defense getting to the level of the dominant Georgia and Alabama teams of the past several seasons? I think they might be getting close to that status. The naysayers will point out that the opponents ā West Virginia, Delaware, Illinois, and Iowa arenāt exactly brand names in college football. But you play who you play. There are plenty of lousy teams in the SEC and I never hear about how Georgia is just bullying opponents that canāt keep up with its resources. You just hear how elite they are.
I think Penn State can definitively say that it has transitioned from great to elite on defense. They have as strong a starting unit as there is in college football and they have depth to give rest and be ready come injury. Itās a recipe that has taken a lot of pressure off of Drew Allar and the offense and has allowed them to also put together mostly complete performances, leading to dominant win after dominant win.
The schedule sets up nicely for Penn State over the next three weeks. A noon kick (11 a.m. local time) at Northwestern this Saturday, followed by an off week, then capped with homecoming against UMass. After that looms a trip to the Horseshoe to take on Ohio State who had a thrilling last-second victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night. If Penn State takes care of business, they will play the Buckeyes with a 6-0 record and have a chance to finally take the leap to the next echelon of B1G powerhouse teams.