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UNIVERSITY PARK -- The irony shouldn't be lost on the Nittany Nation.
As Penn State's defense was keeping its hands around Iowa's throat during what would eventually become a 31-0 victory Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, Ohio State and Notre Dame were locked in a similar low-scoring tooth pull in South Bend.
Ohio State led the Fighting Irish 3-0 at halftime.
Penn State led Iowa 10-0 at halftime.
The Buckeyes finally emerged with a 17-14 win, clinched on the game's final play, and as this season now starts to bloom - with OSU, Penn State and Michigan having further separated themselves from their conference brethren -- you have to wonder if the team that plays the best defense is the one that's going to wear the Big Ten crown.
"Obviously," James Franklin said, "our defense played a suffocating style."
Maybe Penn State's offense will find enough consistency to be counted upon when it matters most.
But the lack of explosive plays is concerning. Consider, leading 3-0 after securing the first of their four turnovers when their punt bounced off an unsuspecting Iowa player who couldn't get out of the way, the Lions set up shop at the Iowa 39.
It took Penn State 10 plays from there to inch toward the Hawkeyes' end zone. And the Lions needed to convert a pair of fourth-and-1s to do it, the second when Drew Allar found Khalil Dinkins for a 9-yard touchdown and an insurmountable 10-0 lead.
"Against a team like Iowa, you can't be bored with grinding it out," Franklin said. "Would we like to be more explosive? Yes, but I don't know if that was as important in this game."
Penn State pounded Iowa at its own game -- by not taking too many chances and not turning the ball over. The Lions are the only team in the nation without a turnover.
The results were staggering and jumped off the stat sheet.
The Hawks ran only 33 plays. They punted seven times and totaled a mere four first downs -- two of those coming on the Hawkeyes' final series.
Penn State beyond dominated time of possession - 45:27 to Iowa's 14:33 (24:14-5:46 in the second half), prompting Franklin to say, "I've never seen that before."
The Lions totally shut down the Hawkeyes' run, limiting Iowa to 76 total yards for the game, just 20 rushing, and forcing a non-throwing offense into repeated third-and-longs.
"It starts with playing good run defense on early downs in order to earn the right the rush the passer," Franklin said.
And rush the passer they did. Iowa fumbled six times, losing four. The Lions were credited with three sacks and six quarterback hurries as Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara was under siege.
Penn State unveiled a new wrinkle. On a few occasions, it removed its defensive tackles and deployed three edge rushers - Chop Robinson, Adisa Isaac and Dani Dennis-Sutton — and plugged in linebackers.
"Coach Manny (Diaz) was trying to switch things up," Dennis-Sutton said. "It adds another element of speed to the D-line."
"No center or guard should be able to block a defensive end," Robinson said. "I think it confused the offense a lot."
As the Lions' confidence grew, Iowa's shrunk.
"Iowa embraces their physicality, and we just out physicaled them," Dennis-Sutton said. "Once we got to halftime, we felt it should be a shutout."
Then there was the revenge factor. Iowa's coaches and fans mocked the Lions two years ago at Iowa City, accusing them of faking injuries. Franklin didn't address it publicly this week but reminded the team.
After the game, a couple players called PJ Mustipher, who was injured two years ago and booed at Kinnick Stadium.
"PJ was excited for us to get his get-back," Dennis-Sutton said.
Between the Lions' offense choosing the methodical approach, in part out of respect for Iowa's stout defense - which kept the Hawks in the game as long as it could - Penn State's defense was on the field very little.
In fact, the Lions' leading tacklers were linebackers Abdul Carter and Curtis Jacobs, each with three. On the flip side, Iowa's Jay Higgins made 18.
"Our depth is better than I remember at any point, which is allowing us to keep guys fresh," Franklin said. "It's going to help us in fourth quarters and late in the season."
Ah, late in the season. Saturday night's strategy may have been done with Oct. 21 at Columbus and Nov. 11 vs. Michigan in mind.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.