Game Wrap and Reaction: Week 6 Penn State

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@sammyj108)

The Hoosiers’ 0-16 record against Penn State
was talked about a lot this week, why it was talked about so much this year as
opposed to others? Probably because this was the best shot for a win for
Indiana in this series, and boy it felt good to see that streak bite the
dust.  While a Hoosier win would
not be a total shock, the fact that IU controlled this game for all but two
minutes and won by 20 was a complete surprise.

Opponent: Penn State Nittany Lions

Location: Saturday October 5th  /12pm/ Memorial Stadium/ (Bloomington, Indiana)

Why They
Played: The Hoosiers and Nittany Lions meet yearly in a Leaders Division
match-up.  This is the 17th
all-time match-up between the two squads and Indiana is 0-16 against the men
from Happy Valley.

What The
Game Meant:

Penn State marked to end of the Hoosiers’ five
game home stand to open the season and Indiana had a shot to go 3-2 in those
five games and bolster their bowl hopes that would be all but extinguished with
a loss.  Also on the line was
Indiana’s 0-16 record against Penn State.
Indiana needs to beat one of the “Blue-Bloods” of the Big Ten and they
finally did with a huge program win over Penn State.

Top
Offensive Performers:

Cody
Latimer, WR, Indiana – The Hoosier receiver had another career game
hauling in nine passes for 140 yards.
Even though Latimer did not get into the end zone, he made some great
catches that kept drives alive.  He
even recovered a fumble as part of the kick-off team.  The junior did everything but score a touchdown for the
Hoosiers.

Allen Robinson,
WR, Penn State- This guy will definitely be playing on Sundays in the near
future.  Robinson continued his
domination of the Hoosiers with 173 yards receiving and two scores, even though
Tim Bennett did a fantastic job covering him.

Top
Defensive Performers

 Indiana- This was a
whole team effort.  Tim Bennett
stood out in the secondary with four pass break-ups including two that could
have gone for six.  The defensive
line allowed only 70 yards rushing and pressured the freshman Hackenberg into
poor throws.  The linebacking corps
of Cooper, Hardin, Simmons, and Oliver were a force accounting for 30 tackles.

Penn State-
There were some decent performers but anytime a Penn State
defense gives up 42 points and 150 yards rushing to Indiana they could not have
looked good.  Depth and the speed
of the IU offense looked like it ran this defense into the ground.

Special
Team Performance:

Finally Mitch Ewald has kicked another field
goal, his first since opening night.
The special teams played a big role in this game.  In a game where Penn State basically
imploded on special teams with a poor snap and a blocked field goal costing
them a potential six points and a huge fumble on a kickoff that essentially
sealed the game for the Hoosiers, Indiana was the sharper team.  Depth continued to cost the Nittany
Lions as their walk-on long snapper was awful.  He was clearly affected by the wet weather, as there were at
least three bad snaps, two on field goals and a high snap on a punt.  Erich Toth was inconsistent again
averaging 41.5 yards on six punts.
He was not as bad as he was against Missouri, but he benefits from the
home roll.  Overall, this was
probably the best the Hoosiers have played on special teams on the year.

Key
Stat: 

1.8

This is the average per carry for Penn State on
the day.  Even though that includes
a 31-yard loss on a poor snap on a field goal this is still extremely
impressive.  The Hoosiers made Penn
State one dimensional as Hackenberg through the ball 55 times.

Turning
Point-

Tevin Coleman’s 44- yard touchdown run that put
the Hoosiers up for good 21-17 showed that this was not a regular Indiana game
where the team opens up a lead then gives it up and never recovers.  After this score the Hoosiers never
looked back.

I Knew it
was over when…

Tre Roberson ran in for a nine-yard touchdown
to make the score 42-17 after Penn State fumbled the ball on the kick-off.

Players of
the Game

Indiana– Defense-
The entire defense should be the player of the game for
Indiana.  Yes, the offense put up
some great numbers, but the defense won this game for IU.  They took Penn State out of their game
plan.  Early on the defense bent
but didn’t break and gave the offense a chance to build a huge lead.

Penn State– Allen Robinson, Wide Receiver- He’s the
real deal, no doubt about it, but his great effort was not enough for the
Nittany Lions.

What I took
away from the game

To be honest I was shocked at the final score.  This was not your typical Indiana game
against a Big Ten team.  Yes, there
were some fluky plays that turned the tide in favor for the Hoosiers, but Indiana
looked like the better team.  The
defense did not look lost and the offense just ate up this Penn State D.  Even though this is not a great Penn
State team, this was a great win for the program Kevin Wilson is trying to
build.  It is a brand name and
history was made on Saturday.  The
two-quarterback system worked nicely and finally looks like there is a plan for
both QBs.  Even though Sudfeld made
some great throws he needs to clean it up a bit.  There were several passes that should have been picked off.  Overall, this was a great win.  Now the Hoosiers need to build on
it.  Starting their first winning
streak of the season will be difficult as their next two games are on the road
against Michigan State and Michigan.