Highs & Lows: Penn State unable to hold on vs. Hoosiers

By Nate Bauer

In a season gone disastrous for Penn State football, Saturday afternoon’s tilt with No. 2 Indiana finished like the five games before it. A late-game touchdown drive for the Hoosiers was enough for the visitors to avert the upset loss, sending the Nittany Lions to their sixth-straight setback.

Highs and lows from the game, here:

Player of the Game

The outcome demanded an alternate pick for a category that otherwise belonged to Nick Singleton. Still, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza lifted the Hoosiers with his late-game heroics to secure the 27-24 win for the No. 2-ranked visitors. He finished with 218 yards and a touchdown, with one interception, including all 80 yards of the Hoosiers’ game-winning drive.

Play of the Game

In a season repeatedly flummoxed by late-game letdowns by Penn State’s defense, Indiana set up as the most soul-crushing of them all for the Nittany Lions. Led by Mendoza‘s steady hand, the Hoosiers pushed up the field facing a 4-point deficit, calmly spanning 80 yards over 10 plays, capped by an incredible Omar Cooper Jr. catch in the back of the end zone to avert the upset loss to Penn State

Best Pass

Perfect pass, perfect catch. Putting his fourth quarter dagger straight into the heart of the Penn State football program where only Cooper could catch it, Mendoza’s target was a picture of composure and playmaking.

Best Run

Facing a do-or-die drive early in the fourth quarter while trailing 20–10, Penn State turned to Nick Singleton – and he delivered. Taking a counter handoff through a big hole on the left side, the senior sprinted 59 yards to the Indiana 1-yard line. Two plays later, he punched in his second touchdown of the day. Even with limited opportunities on the afternoon, he produced season-best performance. Accounting for all three of the Nittany Lions’ touchdowns, Singleton’s highlights included a 56-yard carry in the fourth quarter and a critical 19-yard score that gave his team the lead.

Best Catch

The afternoon was full of them for Indiana, none more than the game-winning, incredible catch made by Omar Cooper in the back of the end zone to put Indiana up 27-24 with 36 seconds left to play. Earlier on Indiana’s fourth quarter two-minute drill, Becker also produced heroics with a toe-tapping 17-yard gain on the sidelines to put the Hoosiers in the red zone and set up the game-winning score.

Worst Drop

Penn State could afford a scoreless final possession of the first half – but not a turnover. On third-and-9, Kaytron Allen lost the football after a short catch, giving Indiana possession at the PSU 22 with 1:09 left in the half. The fumble, confirmed after review, set up points for the Hoosiers to take a 20-7 advantage into the locker room.

Best Sack

The Nittany Lions had come close to bringing down Mendoza several times, but Dani Dennis-Sutton’s second-down sack late in the fourth quarter finally hit home. His takedown from behind forced an Indiana punt.

Best Hit

Dennis-Sutton also delivered one of the game’s loudest moments on Indiana’s first third down of the afternoon. His untouched rush off the right edge crushed Mendoza as he released the ball, forcing an incompletion and an early punt.

Best Interception

Following Singleton’s big run, King Mack’s interception on a second-and-6 throw to the sideline marked another boost to the Nittany Lions’ momentum. The turnover set up Penn State at the Indiana 24, and Singleton capped the short drive with a 19-yard touchdown on a screen pass to make it 24–20 Nittany Lions.

Best Effort

After Trebor Pena’s field-flipping catch-and-run pushed Penn State into the red zone early in the second quarter, Singleton finished the job. Taking three straight carries, he powered the final 13 yards to tie the game at 7–7.

Best Kick

Ryan Barker drilled a 36-yard field goal late in the third quarter to trim Indiana’s lead to 20–10.

Best Return

Singleton again made an impact on special teams. On his first return of the day, late in the first quarter, he sliced through Indiana’s coverage for a 33-yard gain to give Penn State strong field position.

Best Decision

After Indiana’s first touchdown, interim head coach Terry Smith faced a critical choice on fourth-and-1 from Penn State’s 42. He went for it – and the conversion kept the drive alive, setting up the Lions’ first points of the afternoon.

---

Talk about it with our premium members in the Lions Den message board, here.