What They Said After Penn State's Loss to Iowa at Kinnick Stadium

Interim head coach Terry Smith said the Nittany Lions didn't make Iowa "earn it at the very end."

Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith walks into Kinnick Stadium with the Nittany Lions. | Mark Wogenrich/Penn State on SI

Penn State gave up an 11-point lead in the second half Saturday night to Iowa, which scored on three consecutive possessions to top the Nittany Lions 25-24 at Kinnick Stadium. After the game, Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith lamented missed opportunities, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz cried.

Here's what they said after the Penn State-Iowa game.

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Penn State interim coach Terry Smith

Penn State Nittany Lions interim head coach Terry Smith looks on against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the second quarter at Kinnick Stadium. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

On the game: It was obviously a very disappointing loss. It was very disappointing the way we lost. I don’t feel like we made them earn it at the very end. All three areas need improvement. In our special teams, we continue to have problems handling punts and kicks.

Offensively, we continue to not be able to throw the ball down the field or even throw the ball in the intermediate zone. We have to get that fixed. Defensively we can’t get stops when we need stops. It’s glaring. I have to get it fixed. We’re going to take the bye week and try to get those three areas cleaned up and better before we go to Ohio State.

On playing with more grit and toughness: I don’t think anyone in that stadium would say they didn’t see that. I think our guys played hard. I think our guys left it out there. I think they gave everything they had. There was no one who didn’t give great effort. We just have to execute better. That’s where our problem is. I’m super proud of the guys and the way they played. We have to clean it up so we can finish games.

On the play of quarterbacks Ethan Grunkemeyer and Jaxon Smolik: I thought Ethan played a pretty solid game. The one interception down by the 4-yard line wasn’t a bad interception. It was like a punt, pinning them down there. It turned out to be a positive. The second interception, we tried to force a slant in there. He was just trying to make a play. The ball was tipped and intercepted.

I thought he was solid. I thought he managed the line of scrimmage and the calls at the line of scrimmage. He handled the crowd, which was electric. We didn’t have any miscues with communication at the line of scrimmage. He did a terrific job with that. I’m super excited he used his legs on some critical runs to move the sticks. It’s really, really positive the direction we’re going in.

Smolik brings more athleticism. Just wanted to give those guys a lot to prepare for and if we could see if there was a play or two he could make.

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer (17) reacts after a touchdown against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first quarter at Kinnick Stadium. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

On the offensive line's performance: I think our offensive line did a nice job. Kaytron [Allen] had a great game. He was running the ball effectively. Everything was positive. I’m super proud of those guys for that. We protected when we went to throw. We just have to be able to push the ball. It’s tough when the secondary is sitting on your intermediate zones. There’s no separation. Every throw has to be in a tight window. We just have to be able to push the ball down the field.

On playing aggressive: We knew coming into the game we wanted to be aggressive. When you’re on the road at night at a place like this, you have to come to win. You can’t want to just ease your way into victory, We came to make plays. The last fourth down we didn’t get, we just didn’t get a push off the ball and they stoned us.

On whether he watched James Franklin's GameDay interview: No, I didn’t see it. Some people told me some snippets of it. But I don’t have a comment.

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Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz looks on during the second quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Kinnick Stadium. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

On the game: There were ups and downs like any game between two really good teams. They played through those ups and downs. Certainly fought and competed. Never gave up on each other either. I thought that was critical in a game where you have these swings. That's just part of
football.

Something I told our players in the locker room, this is a feeling you can't buy. You just can't buy it. You have to earn it. You have to go out and fight and compete. They certainly did that. Just really proud of them. They did it against a team we knew was extremely talented. [Penn State] came in here ready to go, played an excellent game as well. Only variable I could see from across this
aisle was going to be the quarterback [Ethan Grunkemeyer]. Thought he did a great job. They were creative how they used their quarterback. Nothing easy about that thing.

On quarterback Mark Gronowski's 130 yards rushing: I always joke about it, he's our biggest back. He said he would have scored if his knee was 100 percent. He's not quite there yet. Says a lot about him. First of all, he's a really good football player, an unbelievable human being. Then to come back off that injury. He's not quite 100 percent, but he's looking better each day.

What he did out there tonight, I'm sure he wasn't thinking about it, he was thinking about helping the team, moving the team. It's been great having him on our football team. You ask any coach other player in our building, they're all going to say the same thing about him.

Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) carries the ball downfield against the Penn State Nittany Lions. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On the blocked field goal Penn State returned for a touchdown: One of our points we were going to be aggressive tonight. A point preceding that was we were going to be smart, too. Wasn't very smart when we called that field goal. That's dumb aggressive there.

On why he called for the field goal: It was a bad decision. We should have just closed out the half and come back and played from there. The biggest part was just the momentum swing. Things were going okay. We were doing some good things, feeling a little bit better. Boom, now you drop an anvil right on the team. Yeah, I owned it. First thing I told them [tearing up], it was a bad decision. You keep playing. You have 30 minutes. You keep playing. They did it, thank goodness. So yeah, it was a good deal. I think they know I'm not trying to lose [laughter]. I think they know that.

On running back Kamari Moulton: I don't want to ordain or anoint anybody yet as our guy. Last year, Kaleb [Johnson] just emerged. It became pretty apparent. But I just compliment that whole room. They've done a good job. Maybe we'll get Jaz back next week, too. They work together. They complement each other.

Kamari is sneaky good to your point. He runs really well. He's got great vision. Tougher and stronger than you would think. So it's fun. He's still a young player, too. He's gaining confidence, doing things better. But it's great. He's done a really good job. He played really well tonight. We'll just keep playing those guys. It's been fun to watch him grow and develop.