The No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (9-0, 6-0) are seeking their first ever win at Penn State this weekend when they travel to face the underperforming Nittany Lions (3-5, 0-5). Indiana has raised the Victory Flag 20 times under Curt Cignetti and are looking to do it for the 10th time in 2025. IU will raise the Victory Flag if…
1. Start Fast
It is hard to tell what kind of crowd Penn State will have on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The venue holds over 100,000 people and usually is one of the toughest places to play in the country. However, the Nittany Lions have lost five in a row, fired their head coach and dropped their last two home games.
The Hoosiers need to start the game fast and score first to not give a frustrated fan base any hope of springing a season salvaging upset over the No. 2 team in the country. That means no early mistakes or poor play like last week at Maryland where Fernando Mendoza threw an early interception and IU did not score until their third offensive drive.
2. Play with Confidence
While this has not been the trendy pick for an upset in the national media, it is still the Hoosiers most dangerous regular season left. The Hoosiers are the better team, maybe not the roster with the higher rated talent, but the better team. They have the better quarterback, better receivers, better defense and better coaching. IU is just better. They need to play like it. I am not saying that IU just shows up and wins, but they need to play like they played at Oregon and play like they know they are better than the team lining up against them no matter what the jersey looks like.
3. Make Penn State One Dimensional on Offense
The Nittany Lions have two NFL caliber running backs in Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton and when they run the ball well the Nittany Lions usually win the game. The offensive profile of Penn State kind of changes with Drew Allar being out for the season, but in their five losses the Nittany Lions have thrown 125 passes for 712 yards with five interceptions and just four touchdowns. Penn State coach Terry Smith said that they want to throw the ball down field more this week against Indiana.
Let them.
Stop the rushing attack and let Ethan Grunkemeyer test the IU secondary that has D’Angelo Ponds, Jamari Sharpe, Louis Moore and Amare Ferrell. IU has 13 interceptions as a team. If Penn State wants to let Grunkemeyer test Ponds, ok. Just make sure that Singleton and Allen are not the ones doing the damage, If IU can take away the run game, they’ll win.