When it comes to bye weeks, what a difference a month (or so) makes. Penn State was 3-0 after mashing Villanova 52-6 on Sept. 13 at Beaver Stadium. A confident group of Nittany Lions’ players and coaches headed into their first bye week with extra time to prepare and rest for their highly anticipate Big Ten showdown with Oregon on Sept.

Smith, Penn State’s interim head coach, took over for James Franklin, who was fired Sunday after the Nittany Lions lost three straight games. He has just four practices to prepare Penn State for a trip to face the Hawkeyes at a sold-out Kinnick Stadium.

Penn State lost another one-possession game, falling to 3-4 on the season. How did the Nittany Lions look against Iowa?

It’s a new era for Penn State football, and it begins at 7:08 p.m. Saturday in Iowa City. The Nittany Lions (3-3) will take on Iowa (4-2) on FS1 from Kinnick Stadium. Led by interim head coach Terry Smith after James Franklin’s firing,