What went wrong on PSU's unsuccessful fourth-down conversion attempts?

By Greg Pickel

IOWA CITY — Penn State found itself on the wrong side of two crucial fourth-down plays on Saturday in a 25-24 loss at Iowa. The plays failed for different and yet similar reasons: The Nittany Lions’ offensive line did not get enough of a push in either instance, and neither play call looked to be the perfect fit for the situation.

The first major decision of Terry Smith’s tenure as the team’s interim coach came with 12 seconds left in the third quarter. Facing a fourth-and-1 at its own 40 while leading 21-19, Penn State decided to go for it. In an ode to last year’s successful fake punt at Minnesota, Penn State lined up in the shotgun and had tight end Luke Reynolds closer to center Nick Dawkins. Redshirt freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer acted like the snap flew over his head. Of course, it did not, because the ball did not go to him. Instead, Dawkins snapped it to Reynolds, who was stuffed for no gain. Iowa would end up getting a field goal to pull with 21-19 early in the fourth quarter. Why did the Lions go for it?

“Yeah, fourth-and-1, you know, we had a call that we thought would work,” Smith said. “We thought we’d get a little bit more push, and we didn’t get the initial push, and then it just failed, simply.”

More: Penn State-Iowa takeaways: Lions play hard, but still fall short, in 25-24 loss at Kinnick

So did the Lions’ final offensive play of the night. Grunkemeyer lined up in the shotgun again and was immediately pressured. He rolled backward to his right and ended up heaving the ball in the direction of Trebor Pena. The first-year Penn State receiver had no shot to catch it. The ball fell to the turf, and Iowa would eventually run out the clock from there.

“The last fourth down that we didn’t get, we just didn’t get a push off the ball, and they stoned us there,” Smith said.

It’s a familiar story for Penn State this year. The Nittany Lions want to be aggressive, but they don’t make enough plays when they need to make them. It’s why James Franklin is no longer here. And it’s why the Lions have lost four games in a row.

“Sometimes in the [analytics] book, it says it’s a 50/50, then that turns into your gut,” Smith said. “We knew coming into the game, we wanted to be aggressive. You know, when you’re on the road at night at a place like this, you have to come to win, and you can’t want to try to just lose your way into victory. We came to make plays, and that’s why we were super aggressive.”