IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Its 500 yards of offense notwithstanding, Penn State's 31-7 victory over Iowa was harder than it looked.

The second-ranked Nittany Lions needed a goal-line stand in the second half Saturday and a break from a penalty to finally subdue the Hawkeyes, who only a week ago looked helpless in a 49-3 loss to Michigan State.

	Penn State's Eric McCoo gave the Nittany Lions much-needed breathing room with a 47-yard TD run in the third quarter.

Long touchdown runs by Eddie Drummond and Eric McCoo also helped the disposition of coach Joe Paterno, who had been grousing about his team's carelessness and lack of discipline.

"Yes, I think our precision was better today," Paterno said after his team improved to 6-0 overall, 2-0 in the Big Ten. "I thought we played pretty well -- both sides of the ball. I think overall we've improved, but we're certainly not good enough yet."

Penn State definitely was good enough to beat Iowa (1-4, 0-2). Drummond scored on a 68-yard reverse and McCoo ran 47 yards for a touchdown as the Nittany Lions took a 21-7 lead and then relied on their defense to snuff out Iowa's last hopes.

Getting the ball on the Penn State 33 after Ryan Barton blocked a punt, Iowa drove quickly drove to the 1. But Ladell Betts was dropped for a 1-yard loss on third down and Brandon Short dragged quarterback Randy Reiners down with an ankle tackle for no gain on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Iowa never came close to scoring again.

"It just builds your confidence once again," Short said. "It just shows that we can rise up when we have to in a clutch situation. They got to our 1-yard line and we stopped them."

Penn State then drove from its own 2 to the Iowa 36 before being forced to punt. But Iowa had 12 men on the field, giving Penn State a first down at the 21. Two plays later, Aaron Harris scored on a 10-yard run to make it 28-7 with 10:05 left and finish off the Hawkeyes.

"We had one guy who didn't get off the field," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "He knew better, but blame that on coaching. That's our fault."

Iowa defensive end Ed Saidat said Penn State never should have gotten that far down the field in the first place.

"We should have stopped them there," Saidat said. "That's the defense's fault. That was the turning point of the game. When they're that far back, we should have just stuffed them, made them go three and out."

Penn State surprised Iowa with a reverse on the first play of its second possession. Drummond, flanked to the right, came back to his left to take Kevin Thompson's handoff, turned upfield with no one in his way, dodged a defender at the Iowa 40 and raced down the sideline.

"Basically, the whole play was open -- completely," Drummond said. "There was nobody over there to pick up the slack or anything. They all went for the run fake, so it was an easy job for me."

Iowa trailed just 14-7 when McCoo broke through a hole in the middle of the line, cut to his left and outran the pursuit to the end zone, scoring with 4:36 left in the third quarter.

McCoo finished with 130 yards in 13 carries to lead all runners. Penn State rushed for 341 yards, a season high.

"I think we did things well inside," said Paterno, whose team had averaged only 127 yards rushing in its three previous games. "We ran inside several times with good results."

Iowa drew to 14-7 in the third quarter on Reiners' 40-yard touchdown pass to fullback Rob Thein, who was wide open when he caught the ball in the middle of the field and rumbled into the end zone behind Kevin Kasper's block on cornerback Bhawoh Jue.

It was Iowa's first touchdown pass in nine games, dating back to a 14-7 loss to Indiana on Oct. 17, 1998. But simply playing Penn State close for a while still wasn't good enough for Reiners, who wanted no part of a moral victory.

"When play football, you want to win," he said. "The moral isn't good enough. You want to that victory on the board. When you play a team like this, you want to beat them."