Three defining moments from Penn State football's loss to Iowa
Penn State Nittany Lions football suffered a gut-wrenching 23-20 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday night.
Here are the three defining moments from the game:
1. Sean Clifford's injury
Analyze it all you want, but this is where the game truly changed.
Sean Clifford was knocked out of the game late in the first half when he took a big hit from Iowa's Jack Campbell while trying to make a pass to Brenton Strange.
The Penn State offense fell apart from that point on, scoring just three points as the Hawkeyes overcame a 14-point deficit to claim the victory.
2. Penn State's defense finally breaks
The Nittany Lion defense performed admirably all night, keeping the Iowa offense at bay despite repeated quick three-and-outs by the offense that often lost more yardage than they gained.
The Hawkeyes had the distinct advantage in field position in the second half, and they finally put it to use with 6:26 to go.
Nico Ragaini found himself free in the Penn State secondary on first down, and Spencer Petras hit him for 44 yards and touchdown that gave Iowa a 23-20 lead that it didn't surrender.
3. Lions come up short on fourth-and-3
Roberson and the Nittany Lion offense made a rare trip across midfield in the second half with under four minutes remaining in the game.
Penn State faced fourth-and-3, needing to extend the drive and — at worst — get into field goal range to tie the game.
With two receivers open in the middle of the field, Roberson instead opted to check it down to running back Keyvone Lee well behind the sticks.
Lee made a great one-handed catch, but was stopped well short of the first down marker, and Penn State's best chance at points went down the drain.
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