Penn State kept its hopes for a Big Ten East crown alive Saturday at Indiana. Barely.
The 10th-ranked Nittany Lions trailed the stingy Hoosiers 24-14 late in the third, but rallied back for a 45-31 victory. PSU, playing without its top three offensive tackles after Paris Palmer left the game in the first quarter, struggled to run the ball all day, but finally broke through late with two Saquon Barkley touchdown runs.
Barkley was bottled up all afternoon, gaining just 60 yards on 33 carries, but he was able to punch it across the goal line twice to give PSU the lead in the fourth quarter. And when Indiana had a chance to take the lead or tie the game in the final minutes, the PSU defense forced a turnover on downs (leading to a field goal to increase the lead to seven) and then a strip sack touchdown to seal the comeback win.
The Nittany Lions defense surrendered 454 yards of offense on the day, but forced five Indiana turnovers. Those turnovers, all fumbles, kept things close in the first half. As the Penn State run game struggled and the IU defense put the heat on PSU QB Trace McSorley, the Hoosiers just couldn’t take advantage of consistently good field position to take control of the game.
With Penn State leading 14-7 late in the first half, McSorley was intercepted (his first since September), allowing IU to tie the game 14-14 on a Devine Redding 12-yard touchdown run just before halftime.
The PSU offense continued to sputter in the third and Indiana quickly seized the lead in the second half, first on a field goal, and then on another Redding score. Things weren’t looking good for PSU, but McSorley shook off another interception to lead an important touchdown drive late in the third.
McSorley, a redshirt sophomore, took big hits all afternoon behind a patchwork defensive line, but continued to take shots downfield. After Indiana took a 10-point lead with 3:13 left in the third, McSorley lobbed a 43-yard bomb to Saeed Blacknall. Three plays later, McSorley found Chris Godwin for his second score of the game to cut the IU lead to 24-21.
Following an Indiana three-and-out, Penn State hit on another big play, this time a 54-yard bomb to DaeSean Hamilton on a flea flicker.
Penn State fans wanted more inventive play-calling. pic.twitter.com/ZpykRty5R7
— Nate Bauer (@NateBauerBWI) November 12, 2016
Two plays after that big play, PSU took the lead, 28-24, on Barkley’s first touchdown run of the final quarter.
Indiana, which torched the PSU secondary for much of the game, quickly responded. The Hoosiers dialed up a deep ball of their own and Richard Lagow found Nick Westbrook behind the defense for a 40-yard touchdown, giving IU a 31-28 lead.
The teams then traded punts before Penn State retook the lead, this time for good. McSorley hit tight end Mike Gesicki (5 catches for 88 yards) and Godwin (5 catches for 82 yards) for big gains, setting up Barkley’s two-yard plunge to give PSU a 35-31 advantage with 3:58 to play.
From there, the defense finished things off. Kevin Givens knocked down a Lagow fourth-and-three throw to set up a Tyler Davis field goal. IU had one final possession down 38-31 with 1:02 to go, but Lagow was strip-sacked by Brandon Bell and Torrence Brown scooped up the loose ball and took it the distance to seal the 45-31 victory.
This Penn State team keeps finding ways to win and has now notched six straight victories to improve to 8-2 and keep pace behind Michigan in a crowded Big Ten East. With its win over Ohio State earlier in the year, the Nittany Lions still have an outside chance to play for the Big Ten title next month in Indianapolis.
PSU would need to win out (against Rutgers and Michigan State), and see undefeated Michigan drop two of its final three games. While that scenario is unlikely, the Nittany Lions have a great shot to be a 10-win team that plays in a New Year’s Six bowl game. A few months back, when PSU was 2-2 and the James Franklin hot seat talk was heating up, that seemed like a pipe dream.
Now it’s reality.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
