Indiana has only beaten Penn State twice in history but almost added a third on Saturday.
It was a tie game with three minutes left in the game, but that was not enough for Indiana to secure a win. No. 10 Penn State defeated the Hoosiers 33-24 in the Happy Valley.
Maintaining what Tom Allen said earlier this week, Indiana stuck with Brendan Sorsby as its starting quarterback. Having consistency at the quarterback position seemed to work across the offense, as Sorsby had a dominant day, finishing 13-for-19 with 269 yards and three touchdowns.
“I just felt like we were really just clicking on all cylinders,” Sorsby said. “Got to finish drives better, but did really good.”
The offense consistently clicked for one of the first times this season. And with two touchdowns by DeQuece Carter and Donaven McCulley in the first half, you could almost hear a pin drop in Beaver Stadium.
When Rod Carey took over the offensive coordinator role, his main message was to “do what works.” After eight games, it seemed that the Hoosiers found a system that worked under Sorsby, who worked closely with Carey last season on Indiana’s scouting team.
“I felt really comfortable out there this week," Sorsby said. "I felt like coach Carey called a great game. I felt like the o-line and receivers did a great job helping me out, running backs running the ball really well. It’s easy to look good whenever everybody else around you is playing really well.”
Hoosier miscues contributed to IU being unable to pull off the upset. After Jaylin Lucas muffed a punt last week, Indiana moved Camden Jordan to the punt return position instead of Lucas. However, Jordan muffed a Penn State punt at the end of the first quarter, which resulted in Penn State tying the game at seven to close out the first quarter.
“We definitely hurt ourselves without question,” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said. “You’ve got to catch the punts, you know, we work on that all the time and so, that’s costly for sure.”
Despite the self-inflicted damage, IU still had a chance to escape with a win. Josh Sanguinetti's fourth-quarter interception (Penn State quarterback Drew Allar's first this year) brought back Indiana's turnover belt for the first time since week four against Akron. The interception gave Indiana the opportunity to either take the lead or tie the game with three minutes left to go in the game.
On third-and-8 from the Penn State 19-yard line, Carey in compliance with Allen decided to run the ball. The play call ultimately resulted in a 2-yard gain but was short of the yard sticks. Chris Freeman knocked it through the posts to tie the game at 24.
The ball back in Allar’s hands, and he immediately found KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 57-yard touchdown to give Penn State the lead back.
Indiana had the chance to tie it up with 1:46 left in the game, but on the first play of the drive Sorsby was sacked and fumbled the ball. The ball bounced out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a Penn State safety, a nine-point lead, and the ball right back into their hands with 1:32 left in the game.
Penn State ran out the clock and ran away with the victory. It was a difficult loss for Indiana, but the capability of staying in the game against the No. 10 team in the nation makes it a little less tough of a pill to swallow.
“It sucks to lose, we’re upset about the loss," linebacker Aaron Casey said. "But also, we saw that we can hang with the No. 10 team in the nation, we saw that we could take it all the way down to the fourth quarter, come down to the last few plays of the game."
Moving to a 2-6 record, the main goal of making a bowl game is still fresh in Indiana’s mind. In order to do so, the Hoosiers will need to win out the remainder of their season.
The Hoosiers will attempt to start that win streak next week when they take on the Wisconsin Badgers back at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington for a noon kick.
