Iowa netted 100 yards and has only six first downs, which is unthinkable for a Big Ten team. . . . Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter completed 31 of 45 for 429 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Wildcats netted 511 yards."

Now fast-forward four weeks later to last Saturday.

It turns out that Southern California (6-0) did not have to worry that much about Arizona State, sending the Wildcats (5-1) to their first loss, 45-17, and limiting them to 243 total yards and 24 rushing yards. Twenty-four! How does anyone west of State College, Pa., and Columbus, Ohio, expect to win with 24 yards rushing?

And Iowa (3-2), fully recovered from that tempest in Tempe, was downright rude as the host to Ohio State by routing the Buckeyes, 33-7, and limiting them to 177 total yards and 27 rushing yards. Twenty-seven! Southern California's Matt Leinart completed 13 of 24 for 224 yards with no interceptions and was sacked once, before sitting out the fourth quarter.

Walter, who had thrown 15 touchdowns and 1 interception, completed 19 of 34 passes for 181 yards and no touchdowns with 2 interceptions, one leading to a touchdown. He was sacked six times. And Southern California netted 307 yards in the first half against a defense that allowed its first five opponents 304 yards and 12.8 points a game.

Iowa's Drew Tate had a career-high 355 yards total offense. He completed 26 of 39 passes for 331 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed 9 times for 24 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown plunge.

The victory was the 16th in a row for Iowa at home. But on the road may be a different Iowa team. At Michigan, the weekend after the Arizona State rout, the Hawkeyes had minus-15 rushing yards and stumbled, 30-17.

Penn State hopes it sees the Iowa road team this weekend. Iowa has a four-game winning streak against Penn State. And its rout of Ohio State portends a rough road ahead for Penn State to have a winning season, especially when coupled with Michigan State's 59-10 hammering of Minnesota, a 16-7 winner over Penn State. In that game Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton had 410 net yards (308 passing, 102 rushing).

"I was shocked by the way Michigan State handled Minnesota," a channel-surfing Joe Paterno said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. "Minnesota didn't play well defensively against Michigan State, which shocked me."

Paterno was watching teams ahead on his schedule: Minnesota at Michigan State, and Ohio State at Iowa as well as teams past, Wisconsin at Purdue. He did not dwell on the past.

"Where Iowa came from I don't know; I didn't watch the pictures, tape, from the Arizona State game; I just watched the last two tapes of Iowa, and they were pretty impressive."

After a bye week to heal, Penn State is playing host to Iowa on a milepost homecoming. The Penn State Alumni Association's Football Letter remarkably noted that the Nittany Lions are 25-33 since the 1999 Homecoming and have lost 11 consecutive games to ranked teams.

That they are 2-4 with Iowa next, then at Ohio State (3-3) Oct. 30, Northwestern (3-3) at home Nov. 6, at Indiana (2-4) Nov. 13 and Michigan State (4-3) at home Nov. 20. That could lead to a fourth losing season -- after the 1-3 slide since Homecoming 1999 to a 9-3 finish in 1999 -- in the last five years: 5-7 (2000), 5-6 (2001), 9-4 (2002), 3-9 (2003) and 2-4 (2004).

Neil Rudel of The Altoona Mirror said of Penn State: "A disappointing end to the '99 season has mushroomed into the crumbling of an empire. Like most of the upperclassmen, senior fullback Paul Jefferson has spent his career in virtual shock."

"It's almost impossible to believe," Jefferson told Rudel. "The winning tradition was just outstanding. The atmosphere hasn't changed much. We still have great fans, and we still have a topnotch facilities. The way we're treated as athletes, everything is first-class -- except for the win factor. Never in a million years did I think things would have turned out the way they have." 

Rudel added: "Most maddening is that during the slide, the Lions have rarely been blown out. But they just as rarely win the close game anymore: In its last 10 games decided by 10 points or less, Penn State is 0-10. Penn State must win four of its last five to become eligible for the Alamo or Sun Bowl."

Paterno was still working on the running game. "Until we throw the ball better and until we get that one guy out of the box, we're not going to run better," he said.

Southern California, which routed Penn State in 2000 in the Kickoff Classic and after the season swapped Paul Hackett for Pete Carroll as coach, is on a 26-1 tear and is No. 1 in the first Bowl Championship Series ranking. . . . Its crowd for the Arizona State game was the largest for a home game not involving U.C.L.A. or Notre Dame since 1952. The Trojans played before consecutive sellout crowds for the second time ever -- the first was in 1947, when the U.C.L.A. and Notre Dame games were sold out.