On a blockbuster day for college football, the Hoosiers had a big game of their own. Coming off of one of their best performances of the season against a talented Western Kentucky team, there were high expectations for Coach Tom Allen and Indiana, even though they were going into such an environment like Beaver Stadium, in primetime.
Unfortunately, Indiana fell to No. 4 Penn State 24-0.
The start of this game for The Hoosiers was a bit of a broken record. The defense sets the offense up for success, and the offense can’t capitalize.
Indiana QB Michael Penix started the game 1-of-8 through the first three series, completing a 36-yard pass to Peyton Hendershot to briefly hush the raucous crowd in Happy Valley.
Penn State would strike first when QB Sean Clifford hit TE Brenton Strange to take a one-score lead.
The Hoosiers would show signs of life after Raheem Layne picked off Sean Clifford to set up Indiana within the Penn State 15 yard line. However, the offense would stall and fail on 4th and 2 from the Nittany Lion 5 yard line, handing the ball back to Penn State.
The Nittany Lions would then take 3:42 to travel 96 yards for a Clifford-Dotson scoring connection and a 14-0 lead.
The ensuing offensive drives would be extremely difficult to watch for Indiana fans. Very vanilla playcalling mixed with a lack of execution would lead to five poor drives consisting of four punts and one questionable interception thrown by Michael Penix.
The defense, however, kept fighting to keep Indiana in the game, forcing four consecutive punts and 53 total yards on five drives after Penn State’s second score.
With around ten and a half minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Michael Penix would scramble on 2nd down and go down hard. The trainers would tend to his throwing shoulder on the field. He walked off the field under his own power. Penix would finish the game 10-of-22 with 118 yards and one interception.
Jack Tuttle would come in the game and be promptly sacked on his first play after PSU DE Arnold Ebiketie beat Caleb Jones on the left end, forcing the Hoosiers to punt.
Penn State would respond, scoring on a 30-yard touchdown from Sean Clifford to his favorite target Johan Dotson to stretch the Nittany Lion lead to 21-0. Clifford would wrap up his night 17-of-33 on 178 yards and three touchdowns, Dotson would have 84 yards on eight receptions, six more than any other Nittany Lion receiver.
Jack Tuttle was able to get the offense moving somewhat on the next drive. Jack would connect with Peyton Hendershot and Ty Fryfogle for 20+ yard receptions before the drive stalled in Penn State territory. Hendershot and Fryfogle were the only bright spots in a rather bland effort by the Hoosier offense with a combined ten receptions for 136 yards.
Soon after, Indiana kicker Charles Campbell’s field goal attempt would be blocked and that pesky 0 would hold steady on the scoreboard.
The remaining 16:29 was a tale of two phases. The defense continued to play with a ton of heart, holding Penn State to only three points on a 50-yard field goal and stuffing the Nittany Lions on a goal-line stand. Ryder Anderson and Micah McFadden would both finish with eight tackles.
The offense continued to struggle. Tuttle would end a somewhat developing drive by throwing Indiana’s second questionable interception on the night. The Hoosiers backup QB would finish the night 6-of-11 with 77 yards and the aforementioned turnover.
Indiana would get shutout 24-0, the first shutout Indiana has suffered since 2000 when they fell to Michigan 58-0.
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