After upsetting No. 8 Penn State at home last year 36-35, Indiana has the opportunity to defeat another top-10 Penn State team this Saturday night. On the contrary, the Nittany Lions have a shot for the first time in approximately a year to achieve redemption.
This year, No. 4 Penn State has the advantage of hosting the matchup. Beaver Stadium is notorious for its hostile environment, seating 106,572 fans, more than double IU's home stadium.
IU is 1-1 on the road this season, losing to No. 18 Iowa 34-6 and narrowly beating Western Kentucky 33-31 last weekend.
Previously facing Iowa in a packed stadium of around 68,000 fans doesn't make opposing crowd noise foreign, but it will be an entirely different setting, IU head coach Tom Allen said.
"It definitely will help," Allen said. "Any time you have a chance to experience something, it gives you something to draw from ... Obviously, it's going to be a night game this Saturday; more fans in the stands and be louder.
Apart from the atmosphere making it a tough matchup for IU, Penn State has a flawless 4-0 record, notably defeating No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 22 Auburn.
Veteran quarterback Sean Clifford has helped lead Penn State to an undefeated start, passing for 1,158 yards and throwing eight touchdowns. The senior has impressively completed 86 of 120 passes, earning him the 14th highest completion rate in the country.
Allen discussed the importance of Clifford to Penn State’s success in a press conference on Thursday.
"You can just tell, great leader, great player," Allen said. "He's a big reason why they are as good as they are and why they are in the position that they're in."
Another piece of Penn State's offensive arsenal is wide receiver Jahan Dotson. Dotson is Clifford's primary receiver and has caught 27 passes this season, scoring four touchdowns while averaging 13.4 yards per catch.
IU cornerback Tiawan Mullen will most likely be guarding Dotson, a highly talented matchup between two preseason All-Americans.
Mullen had an excellent performance against Western Kentucky, breaking up three passes. Defensive coordinator Charlton Warren praised Mullen's performance in a press conference during the week.
"Tiawan played with exceptional technique, great break in vision, junctioned routes and he challenged balls down the field," Warren said. "I for sure thought it was his best game."
Mullen played well, but the entire defense will need to prepare for the fast-paced Penn State offense. Western Kentucky used a similar tempo and it took its toll during the game. At one point, Allen called a timeout presumably to stop the Hilltoppers from driving down the field so quickly.
"They're gonna go very fast," Allen said about Penn State. "That gave us a chance to be able to look at things, see things, experience it, feel it, in terms of even how we practiced it to do things better the second time and learn from the mistakes we made in that situation."
For IU’s offense, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has thrown for fewer yards, fewer touchdowns and three times the interceptions as Clifford but is coming off his best season performance against Western Kentucky. The redshirt junior threw for 373 yards and zero interceptions.
Penix talked about what helped him find more success during the game and leading up to the matchup in a press conference on Monday.
"Taking care of the ball, executing the plays at a high level, understanding the game plan, understanding what we need to do to get a win and continuing to fall back on our preparation in our practice," Penix said. "I feel like we had a great week of practice last weekend and we got to continue to have that every week so we can go out on Saturdays and play a good game."
But to win, Penix and the offense have to break through Penn State's defense, another vital factor in why the team is ranked so highly.
"Since I've been here, I've known that they've always had a tough defense," Penix said. "They play physical; they play good up front."
Penn State plays well up front, but the continued success of the running game is crucial in a Hoosiers victory.
Like Penix, running back Stephen Carr had a solid game against Western Kentucky, rushing for 109 yards and scoring two touchdowns. Another running back, Tim Baldwin Jr., only had four carries but averaged 8.8 yards per attempt.
Penn State leads the overall series 22-2, with an undefeated 11-0 record at home. However, IU aims to end Penn State's perfect streak at home, prolonging the redemption it seeks in the process.
The game is scheduled for Saturday, October 2nd, at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be available to watch on ABC.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
