On September 26th, Iowa travels to Penn State for a rematch of the best Big Ten game of 2008. Penn State is coming off an 11-2 season that resulted in a Rose Bowl birth. With a favorable schedule (8 home games including Iowa and Ohio State), the Nittany Lions certainly have a chance at repeating last year’s success.

Offense: Key Returning Players
Only 5 starters return on offense. QB Daryll Clark had a breakout year in 2008 passing for 2592 yards and 19 touchdowns. Clark will be the key to Penn State’s offense in 2009. Also returning is RB Evan Royster, who rushed for 1236 yards last year averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

Offense: Key Losses
The whole starting wide receiver corps is gone including standout Derrick Williams who was utilized in many different ways in the Nittany Lion’s offense. Also gone from the group is Deon Butler, who had a team leading 47 receptions, and Jordan Norwood. Three First Team All-Big Ten offensive linemen, OG Rich Ohrnberger, OT Gerald Cadogan, and C A.Q. Shipley, will also not be returning.

Defense: Key Returning Players
The defense has even less coming back with only 4 returning starters. On the line, DT Jared Odrick returns after a season with 4.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss. Also returning is LB Navorro Bowman. Bowman led the defense in 2008 with 106 tackles (16.5 for loss) that earned him a consensus First Team All-Big Ten. UPDATE: Bowman has been put on probation for a year. It will be interesting to see his status with the team.

Defense: Key Losses
Much like the receivers on offense, the defense loses its entire secondary. Gone from the secondary is S Anthony Scirrotto who had a very productive career at Penn State. Also leaving is CB Lydell Sargeant, who led the team with 4 interceptions. The defense line also takes a big hit with Aaron Maybin leaving. Maybin had 20 tackles for loss and 12 sacks in 2008 and was a First Team All-American.

No spring prospectus for Penn State, but here is their website: Penn State Football.

Spring practice is officially over with the spring scrimmage played on Saturday. In these short couple of weeks we have actually learn quite a bit about the 2009 Iowa Hawkeye Football team. The offensive and defensive lines both had 2 starters to replace and their spots are still up for grabs. The wide receiver position has been shaken up with an ex-quarterback, and the running backs are trying to fill avoid left by Shonn Greene. Some of the highlights from spring are:

• Norm Parker said Amari Spievey could be turning into “the best corner we’ve ever had”
• A year ago Ricky Stanzi was competing with Jake Christianson for the starting spot at quarterback (and was losing). This year, with 11 starts under his belt, he is the clear number 1 and has stepped up his leadership
• Marvin McNutt, formerly the third string quarterback, currently is one of the starting wide receivers and is making noise this spring in practice
• Shonn Greene is gone, but Jewel Hampton, Jeff Brinson, and Paki O’Meara have all been productive this spring
• Bryan Bulaga has the left tackle spot locked up and is one player Iowa can’t afford to lose
• Last year, it looked like Dace Richardson’s football career was over after a brutal knee injury, but he has worked his way back and is getting his chance this spring as a co-starter at guard

The Iowa Hawkeyes wrapped upped their spring football practice Saturday with a scrimmage. The game was closed to the public as Kinnick Stadium is in the middle of installing field turf. The On Iowa blog has some quick notes and stats and Hawkmania has some other highlights. The couple of things that stick out to me are: Julian Vandervelde took some snaps at center...a spot that has some more questions with James Ferentz's suspension; DJK didn't get a single pass thrown his way; Jeff Brinson looked good and scored the offense's only touchdown; and all three quarterbacks were good completing a combine 19 of 29 passes (Stanzi was 8 of 11 for 120 yards).

Mike Stoops is coming home. Stoops played safety for Iowa in the early 80s. He was on the 1982 Rose Bowl Team, and was a grad assistant and volunteer coach after graduating. He is now the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats, Iowa’s third opponent of the year. The Wildcats are coming off a good 8-5 season that included a big Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl win against BYU and wins over Cal and rival Arizona State. Arizona will bring a powerful spread attack that averaged 36.6 points and over 400 yards per game in 2008. The defense is experienced with 4 seniors and 5 juniors and is led by another Stoops: Mark, another Iowa guy.

Offense: Key Returning Players
The star of the offense is TE Rob Gronkowski, a 3rd team All American. Though his missed a couple of games last year with mono, he still finished the season with 10 touchdown receptions and 672 yards. He was also a larger contributor to the Wildcats’ run game as a blocker. Two wide receivers, Delashaun Dean and Terrell Turner are back and combined with Gronkowski, the receiving corps should be good. Also returning is RB Nic Grigsby, the team leading rusher with 1153 yards. The three starters on the interior line will also be back.

Offense: Key Losses
Arizona loses four starters on offense, and none is bigger than QB Willie Tuitama. The quarterback threw for over 3000 yards last year racking up 23 touchdowns. Replacing Tuitama is a priority, as the leading returning quarterback only had 11 pass attempts last year.

Defense: Key Returning Players
There are 7 returning starters for the Wildcats on defense including the entire defensive line. The leaders of the line will be DE Brooks Reed who had 8 sacks last year, and DT Earl Mitchell. In the secondary, CB Devin Ross returns. Ross had 13 pass break ups and 3 interceptions last year and was 2nd team All Pac-10.

Defense: Key Losses
The four non-returning starters are CB Marquis Hundley, LB Ronnie Palmer, FS Nate Ness, and LB Adrian McCovy. Palmer and Ness are the biggest losses. Both started every game last year and were the team’s two leading tacklers with 85 and 75 tackles respectively. Palmer also had 11 of the team’s 69 tackles for loss in 2008.

For more information on Arizona’s 2009 football team, here is the Spring Prospectus.

Kirk Ferentz, Norm Parker, and Ken O'Keefe all spoke to the press yesterday. They all had a lot of good things to say about the team and how spring practice is coming along. One highlight from yesterday was Parker's quote "We can be as good as last year -- might be better." This is said about a defense that only allowed 13 points a game, giving up only 17 touchdowns all year. O'Keefe had lots to say about the Offensive Line, particularly Dace Richardson who is returning from a knee injury and is "great to see him back. " Kirk Ferentz praised Ricky Stanzi's leadership ability as well as gave an update on Jewel Hampton's minor injury.