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Misericordia falls to Albright in MAC football

James Franklin came prepared.The Penn State coach unfolded a sheet of paper at a media session after Wednesday&#8217;s practice, waiting for an opening to provide a cautionary tale.It only took him about 50 seconds to pounce. Upon getting a question about the Nittany Lions&#8217; sparkling new No. 12 ranking in the College Football Playoff poll, Franklin proceeded to repeat &#8220;Iowa&#8221; so many times in a row that it began to lose meaning.More consequential was what was on that piece of paper.&#8220;Iowa has won the last four meetings when Penn State entered the game ranked,&#8221; Franklin said with a bit of a scowl as he read down the list.&#8220;In 2010, Penn State was ranked No. 22. They won 24-3.&#8220;In 2009, Penn State was ranked fifth. They won 21-10.&#8220;In 2008, Penn State was ranked third. They won 24-23.&#8220;In 2002, Penn State was ranked 12th. And they won in overtime 42-35.&#8221;One can imagine that those results have also been drilled in the heads of Franklin&#8217;s players as they prepare for Saturday&#8217;s prime-time showdown with the Hawkeyes.The Lions scratched and clawed for five years to get back to a position of national prominence. Now that they&#8217;ve gotten there, they&#8217;ve had to spend the week telling themselves not to think about it.&#8220;Obviously, everyone&#8217;s very excited,&#8221; defensive lineman Ryan Buchholz said. &#8220;But we&#8217;re not going to let it get to our heads.&#8221;There was, of course, a little time for reflection for some of the upperclassmen.&#8220;For guys like me, it kind of reminds you of why you came to Penn State,&#8221; linebacker Jason Cabinda said. &#8220;To put the university, this program back in that position. Getting us back to the top where Penn State belongs. It was definitely special to us.&#8221;The Hawkeyes aren&#8217;t going to let them dwell on it.THREE AND OUTRoad warriorsPenn State hasn&#8217;t lost at home this season. Iowa hasn&#8217;t lost on the road.So while the Lions are expecting another huge crowd under the lights, history has shown that it doesn&#8217;t affect Kirk Ferentz teams as much as some others.The Iowa coach is an impressive 15-3 on the road since the start of the 2013 season and has won nine straight true road games. He is 8-4 all-time against Penn State, with four of those wins coming in Beaver Stadium.But the biggest one came in Iowa City as the Hawkeyes ended unbeaten Penn State&#8217;s national title dreams in 2008. Ferentz hopes his 2016 squad can follow in the footsteps on that memorable team.&#8220;That &#8216;08 team, certainly the one thing I&#8217;ll always remember about them is the way they responded,&#8221; Ferentz said. &#8220;We&#8217;re 3-3. The sky was falling outside. It was doom and gloom everywhere you turned. Yet those guys never flinched. They just kept pushing.&#8220;I know it&#8217;s not 50-50, but we both got a chance to win this game. In some situations in life, that ain&#8217;t the case. But in this one, it&#8217;s a chance to go out there and win a ball game.&#8221;Marquee matchupA major part of the Lions&#8217; offense has been testing defenses deep when they&#8217;re playing man coverage and trying to move a safety up against the run.For the most part, Penn State has been able to take advantage of that, with the receivers doing a good job of winning contested heaves against defensive backs.That will be tougher to pull off against star Iowa corner Desmond King.A sure-fire NFL draft pick a year ago, King elected to return for another season. His basic stats aren&#8217;t as gleaming this year, but for a very good reason &#8212; teams have been avoiding his side of the field for the most part.&#8220;I definitely think it&#8217;ll be a fun matchup,&#8221; top Lions wideout Chris Godwin said. &#8220;Obviously any time you&#8217;re going against another great competitor, it gets your juices going just because you want to go against the best.&#8220;I&#8217;m looking forward to any opportunity I have to go against him.&#8221;Salute to serviceSaturday will be Military Appreciation Day at Beaver Stadium, with more than 7,500 active duty members, veterans and their families receiving free admission to the game and a tailgate party beforehand.One of those veterans will be suited up for the Lions and leading them onto the field. Defensive tackle Immanuel Iyke will carry the American flag out of the tunnel in the pregame.A true walk-on who joined the team after a tryout last fall, Iyke previously served five years in the Marines.&#8220;Immanuel in the beginning of the season got up and kind of told his story,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;His family background, as well as his time in the military and the difference and the significance that the military had on his life. Some of the experiences that he had really hit home to our team.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State players are hoping for another celebration under the lights on Saturday night against Iowa. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_night-crowd-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State players are hoping for another celebration under the lights on Saturday night against Iowa. </caption0><photoCredit0>Chris Knight | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PSU GAMEDAYIowa (5-3, 3-2) atNo. 12 Penn State (6-2, 4-1)7:30 p.m., Beaver StadiumTV: Big Ten NetworkLine: Penn State by 7</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> 38ZSrM4Fmx0</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38ZSrM4Fmx0</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Penn State Athletics</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table>(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</videoMeta></div>

Nittany Lions trying not to get caught up in national praise