Iowa Coach Ferentz Defends Fans Booing Penn State Players Taking Dives: 'They Smelled a Rat'

Ferentz defended Iowa fans at Kinnick Stadium who booed Penn State players they suspected were faking injuries.

In scoring their biggest win of the season with Saturday's 23-20 victory over Penn State, Iowa's home fans drew some ire from Penn State supporters for raining down boos at Nittany Lions players they perceived to be faking injuries. On Tuesday, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz took an understanding stance to Hawkeyes's fans frustrations.

Ferentz noted that while several Penn State players went down with injuries and were unable to return, there were others who fell to the ground and received attention from trainers, only to come back in the game shortly thereafter.

"Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. But I think probably [the booing] is a reaction to, there were a couple of guys that were down for the count and then were back a play or two later," Ferentz said, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. Our fans aren't stupid. They're watching, they know what's going on."

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was among the players who were unable to return to the game. He exited early in second quarter, and the Nittany Lions offense was unable to get much going in his absence. After the game, Penn State head coach James Franklin took issue with fans booing players getting injured, and denied that his players were faking injuries for any sort of advantage.

"I do have a little bit of a hard time with our players getting hurt and the [Iowa] fans and the coaches and the staff booing our players," Franklin said. "To all of the Iowa people out there, it was not part of our plan. It would not be. You don't run a tempo offense. We had some guys get injured, and I just don't know if I necessarily agree. I don't think that's the right thing for college football, booing guys when they get hurt, however it looks."

lol this Iowa fan pic.twitter.com/ESUsyPE27a

— Sam Cooper (@SamDCooper) October 9, 2021

Ferentz denied that his staff instructs their players to fake injuries, but said he knows it's a tactic other programs use.

"We don't coach it, haven't really been exposed to it," Ferentz said. "But our fans thought they smelled a rat, I guess, I don't know, so they responded the way they responded."