The Iowa Hawkeyes will be in town this Saturday night to face off with the No. 12 (man, it felt nice to say that) Nittany Lions. Despite the 5-3 Hawkeyes coming in unranked, Iowa has had plenty of success against the Nittany Lions in the past. Since head coach Kirk Ferentz was hired back in 1999, Iowa has won eight out of the last 12 meetings with Penn State, including a 4-2 record in Beaver Stadium.

As Penn State rises up in the rankings, a trap game with Iowa this weekend potentially awaits. Ranked to start the season, the Hawkeyes have slipped up a bit in 2016 and currently find themselves on the outside looking in of the top-25. Penn State has been ranked in four of their matches against an unranked Iowa since 2002. They’ve lost every single time, including twice at home and twice as a top-five team.

With that being said, many fans worry about this weekend’s matchup with the Hawkeyes. After so many bad memories of being knocked off by Iowa, there is one that forever remain trapped in the minds of Penn State fans. The fifth-ranked Nittany Lions dropped a stunning game to Iowa in 2009 in Beaver Stadium by a score of 21-10.

Penn State jumped out to a 10-0 lead over Iowa in the first quarter, and things slowly unraveled from there. Going into the final stanza with just a 10-5 advantage, Adrian Clayborn blocked, recovered, and returned a punt for a touchdown to give Iowa the lead. Two Darryl Clark interceptions and a red-zone fumble by Evan Royster later, and the Hawkeyes had escaped with an improbable comeback victory over one of the top-ranked teams in all of college football. The Hawkeyes scored the last 21 points of the contest, including a 16-point outburst in the final quarter.

A similar situation exists this weekend, as Penn State is currently a playoff contender (albeit, a longshot) if they win the rest of their games and get some help along the way. So, what exactly was it like back when the Nittany Lions were upset by the Hawkeyes you might ask? Here’s a quick flashback to life as we knew it in September 2009.

In The News

2009 was a scandalous year, from Chris Brown’s domestic violence against Rihanna, to Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift at the MTV VMA’s, to Tiger Woods infamous sex scandal. The World Health Organization declared H1N1 (swine flu) a global pandemic. Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.

In Music

I Gotta Feeling by The Black-Eyed Peas was entering its 12th week on top of the Billboard charts. Down by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne, Party In The U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus, Run This Town by Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West, and Use Somebody by Kings of Leon rounded out the top five. Empire State Of Mind by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z also came out in the week leading up to this game.

At The Movies

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs was the top movie of a slow weekend at the box office, grossing just $25 million over the weekend. Surrogates and Fame were the next top movies.

On TV

The top eight network shows were as follows: NCIS (CBS), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), CSI (CBS), Desperate Housewives (ABC), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), House (Fox).

Consumer Culture

Twitter goes mainstream in 2009. Smartphone users go crazy over the improved app stores and GPS capabilities. Netbooks are all the craze, as the technology industry tries to go small. Gas prices hovered around $2.60 nationally, while the top-selling car models were the Ford F-Series, the Toyota Camry, and the Chevrolet Silverado.

Any other Fall 2009 memories come to mind? Have more ideas for Onward Flashbacks? Share with us in the comments.