Penn State head coach James Franklin isn’t exactly thrilled about traveling to Iowa City for Saturday’s top-five matchup between the No. 3 Hawkeyes and the No. 4 Nittany Lions.

Well, with one exception.

“There’s not a whole lot I look forward to going to Iowa City,” Franklin said at a press conference earlier in the week. “I am looking forward to the hospital, and waving to those children, but that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to.”

Franklin is in his eighth season as Penn State head coach, and has compiled a 65-28 record while leading the Nittany Lions. Franklin won his first four meetings against Iowa as Penn State’s head coach, before dropping his first meeting in the series last season.

Penn State leads the all-time series against Iowa, 17-13. The Nittany Lions had won six straight contests against the Hawkeyes before Iowa’s 41-21 win at State College in 2020.

Here’s what Franklin had to say about Iowa heading into the first top-five matchup at Kinnick Stadium since 1985.

On Iowa’s consistency:

“Obviously, got a ton of respect for coach [Kirk] Ferentz. You talk about 23 years as a head coach at Iowa, 31 years overall at Iowa, has just done a great job. The level of consistency that they’ve had throughout their program, not only from a win and loss record, but from a coaching staff perspective, really all of it. It’s impressive.”

On Iowa’s offense:

“We’ve been impressed with Tyler Goodson. Seems like he’s been playing there forever now, the running back. He’s explosive. Tight end Sam LaPorta. They always seem to have a tight end there who is a challenge to deal with. And then their offense lineman, No. 65, Tyler Linderbaum, is really impressive. They do an excellent job with their play action. That’s probably the biggest thing. We’re going to be working that all week long, play action, play action, play action. They do a really good job in getting four and five guys out into their route, so it’s not like they’re just going max protect all the time. They do a really good job of getting their guys out. You see their tight ends and running backs are targeted a lot. So that will be the challenge dealing with them.”

On Iowa’s defense:

“Talk about defensively. Their defensive coordinator [Phil Parker] is maybe one of the most respected defensive coordinators in college football. There’s been consistency there. He’s been there for 11 years as the coordinator but was there a lot longer, before that, as a defensive backs coach. But they do a great job. They’re consistent. 

“I would not say that they’re simple. But you look on tape and who they are this year for the most part is who they were last year and the years before that and their kids are sound. They line up and they’re sound. They’re never out of position. They play fast. They play aggressively. They play with great confidence. Because they’re allowing them to line up and play.”

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“They’ve got a really good scheme that is challenging. It’s not like a formation that you can turn on or a motion or a shift or empty or formation into the boundary where you feel like, okay, here is a formation or a personnel group that is going to allow us to get some yards just based on a lineman. You know, there’s no easy yards out there. They do a great job. 

“The guys that stand out with us is the defensive end, No. 97, Zach VanValkenburg. Very, very much an Iowa defensive line name. Seems like they always got a guy like that. Linebacker No. 31, Jack Campbell, impressive. Watching him on tape, I didn’t realize he’s as big as he is listed. But he’s active and really productive. No. 44, Seth Benson, linebacker, impressive, impressive on tape, productive as anything. And then No. 33, Riley Moss, the defensive back. Just impressive.”

On Iowa’s special teams:

“From a special teams perspective, I think year in and year out, they do a great job on special teams. It is obvious that this is something that coach Ferentz invests in and respects. Coach [Levar] Woods does a great job with their special teams. They always got a wrinkle or something that you need to be ready for. Their returner, Charlie Jones, is impressive. He makes plays in the punt game as well as in the kick game as a returner.”

On playing in Kinnick Stadium:

“It’s a tough environment. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve got a lot of respect for that school and that community and the support that they give their football program. Obviously, there’s special things about it. Obviously, the wave to the children’s hospital is, I think, one of the better traditions in college football. You know, whenever you can support people in challenging times, you want to do that. It’s something that I think is very unique to college football and very unique to the University of Iowa.

“But, yeah, I think obviously what makes it challenging is the size of the crowd. The intensity of the crowd. And then kind of the way their field is set up. The sidelines are tight. They are right on top of you. And it’s, I guess probably like our stadium, you have fans that have had season tickets forever. So, we started to kind of build a relationship with these people. You know their names and they know a lot about you. And it’s a tough environment. But we’re looking forward to it.”