Indiana’s Late Offensive Push Not Enough in Loss to Penn State

Saturday, October 20

Bloomington, Ind.

3:30 p.m.

Indiana University

4-4 , 1-4

#18 Penn State

5-2 , 2-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Penn State

Indiana

Indiana’s Late Offensive Push Not Enough in Loss to Penn State

10/20/2018 8:07:00 PM | Football

By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The performance was surely better.

The final result was not.

Indiana played right with – and sometimes beyond – No. 18 Penn State only to fall Saturday, 33-28.

It certainly constituted a more competitive performance than the previous week's Homecoming loss to Iowa. The host Hoosiers outgained PSU by a significant chunk of real estate, 554-417, and amassed 32 first downs to the Nittany Lions' 20.

But two lost fumbles after halftime really hamstrung the home team. And special teams play, particularly kickoff coverage, were among the faults that proved fatal.

"Just a gut-wrenching loss for our team today," Hoosier head coach Tom Allen said to open his post-game remarks. "I thought our kids played their hearts out, played extremely hard.

"Proud of the effort. Just have to play better in certain situations and times, in critical moments."

Including kickoffs. Allen felt both offense and defense "played well enough to win" but had a rather colorful and colloquial reaction to surrendering 170 return yards on five kickoffs:

"It just makes me want to puke."

Those kickoff woes surfaced immediately.

Penn State won the toss and took the ball to start the game. Indiana gave the Nittany Lions the wind, too, choosing to defend the south goal.

Indiana's kickoff was short and K.J. Hamler returned it 58 yards up the east sideline to set the Nittany Lions up at the Hoosier 36.

Then, two snaps later, junior running back Miles Sanders got open to catch a 29-yard pass to set up his own 1-yard TD run to open the scoring just 2:00 into the game.

But Indiana responded, and that also seemed to set a tone for the day. The Hoosiers generally did their best to answer adversity. That was initially manifest in an eight-play, 75-
yard TD march.

Peyton Ramsey garnered 29 yards on a pair completions to get the drive going, then supplied a nifty shield block to help spring Whop Philyor for a 26-yard reverse. Stevie Scott's
5-yard run then helped the Hoosiers equalize, 7-7.

"I feel like we were all-in from the start to the end of the game," Scott said afterward. "I feel like that (first one) was a big, big drive for us."

The Hoosiers then almost manufactured a couple of breaks – a near interception by Bryant Fitzgerald with 5:54 left in the first, then nearly recovering a muffed punt by DeAndre Thompkins (the first of three such punt muffs, all recovered by PSU).

But a running-into-the-punter penalty actually helped the Hoosiers out.

It changed a 4^th-and-10 into a 4^th-and-5, prompting Penn State to try a fake punt. The Hoosiers were ready and having none of it, with Peyton Hendershot nailing punter Blake

Gillikin for a 10-yard loss that gave IU the ball at the PSU 42.

With Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback, part of a pre-game plan to play both Penix and Ramsey, the Hoosiers faced a 2^nd-and-10 at the PSU 30 when Penix worked a draw to
Ronnie Walker, who roared right up the middle for the touchdown. Indiana was ahead, 14-7, at 1:06 of the first.

Now it was Penn State's turn to respond and the Nittany Lions did, moving 83 yards on six plays – the biggest a 44-yard gallop by Trace McSorley on a quarterback draw. Tommy
Stevens came in briefly for McSorley and his only pass was a nicely designed 23-yard TD strike to tight end Pat Freiermuth.

Juwan Johnson's athleticism and sheer speed on a crossing-pattern catch that turned into a 59-yarder then set up Jake Pinegar's 27-yard field goal to put the Nittany Lions back in front, 17-14, with 6:27 left in the half.

Indiana had chances to tie or take the lead back as the half wound down, but they went for naught.

Penix led a nice drive, featuring a great catch by Hendershot and a 25-yard completion to Ty Fryfogle, that got to the Penn State 10 with a 4^th-and-1. Indiana opted to try drawing
PSU offside and, in lieu of that, kick the field goal.

Outside linebacker Cam Brown jumped into the neutral zone, but managed to get back onside before IU center Hunter Littlejohn could hike the ball. Not expecting the snap,
Penix was reduced to throwing a fade pattern that fell incomplete.

"We weren't supposed to snap the football," Allen said, "so we made a mistake."

Ramsey said: "Tried to get them to jump. It was close. I don't think you can blame Hunter too much for snapping that ball. It was close."

The Indiana defense held and the Hoosiers got the ball back and Ramsey came back on to scramble for a first down but, with no timeouts, IU was unable to achieve field goal position before halftime ensued.

Indiana (4-4 overall, 1-4 Big Ten) already had 284 total yards by that time.

And the Hoosiers kept right on moving the ball on the opening drive of the second half, mainly on a steady diet of Scott that the Nittany Lions didn't digest very well. But then
Walker crucially lost a fumble at the PSU 23.

Penn State (5-2, 2-2) then kept the ball for 13 plays and 5:03 but got just a field goal out of it to make it 20-14.

Indiana than came right back to take the lead, 21-20, going 81 yards on nine plays and scoring as Scott reached the ball across the goal line from three yards out with 4:01 left in the third.

Scott already had 103 yards rushing at that juncture and would finish with 138 – just the fourth Hoosier ever to have three 100-yard ground games as a true freshman, trailing only
Anthony Thompson (5 in 1986) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (4 in 2003).

"We were able to run the ball really well," Ramsey said. "The offensive line did a really good job. Stevie was finding creases."

But Indiana's lead lasted only 20 seconds. The IU kickoff team gave up a 94-yard return to Johnathan Thomas and McSorley scored from the 5 on the next snap. IU's Brandon
Wilson blocked the PAT, so the score stayed 26-21.

That was still the score when, with 11:52 to play, Indiana's J-Shun Harris II – whose comeback story from three knee injuries is a perpetual bright spot for the Hoosiers – lost a
fumble on a punt return. That turned into a 4-yard McSorley TD run four snaps later.

Adding to the Hoosiers' pain, literally, was the loss of Penix with 7:12 left in the third on a play that saw PSU's Garrett Taylor ejected for targeting – though Allen indicated Penix's
injury was to the lower leg rather than the head.

"It hurts," Ramsey said of seeing Penix go down. "It's tough. He's been working hard, playing well. To see him go down, that hurts. But he'll fight. He'll battle whatever it is. He'll fight. He's a good kid.

"I haven't had a chance to talk with him, yet. I'm sure I will later on this evening."

Indiana never surrendered and pulled within the single-score final margin with 49 seconds left as Ramsey hit Harris perfectly on a fourth-down post pattern for a 21-yard TD.

A Penn State timeout allowed Indiana to retry its subsequent onside kick, and Jonathan Crawford recovered for the Hoosiers at their own 42. But a holding call and a sack helped ensure IU could only get back to midfield before time expired.

"It's frustrating," Ramsey said of the result. "But at the same time you see glimpses of a really good football team. It's frustrating that we struggled to put it all together.

"Defense played really well at times. Offense played really well at times. We've just got to find ways to use each other's momentum. That's how you win games. The team plays as one."

There were tears in Indiana's locker room. But determination, too.

"This team will not get discouraged because they believe in what we're doing," Allen said, "and I can see it in their eye. And we're going to get back in here early in the morning after we evaluate everything tonight and get ready to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers up in Minneapolis."

That game is on Friday, with an 8 p.m. kickoff.