Throwback Thursday: Penn State 45 Indiana 31

Nick Westbrook and the Hoosiers let this game slip through their fingers. Image: Cam Koenig Hoosier Huddle

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

We have reached week 10 in our 2016 Throwback Thursday series and today we look back at Indiana’s 45-31 loss to the eventual Big Ten champion Penn State Nittany Lions. Indiana had caught the turnover bug at Rutgers the week before and the symptoms were carried back to Bloomington as the Hoosiers coughed up five fumbles. Had Indiana held on to just half of those fumbles, the Hoosiers probably walk away with the win. This was one of Richard Lagow’s better games as he threw for two touchdowns and no interceptions. His day could’ve been much better had some of his receivers hung on to passes that would have either been huge gains or touchdowns. The defense did its job bottling up Saquon Barkley and taking the ball away twice, but it wasn’t enough after Trace McSorley started hitting the deep passes he missed earlier in the game. When fans look back at this game, it’ll be another case of shoulda, coulda, woulda.

Opponent: Penn State Nittany Lions

Location: Saturday November 12th, Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana

Why They Played:  The Hoosiers and Nittany Lions meet annually as members of the Big Ten East

What The Game Meant

Indiana was trying to become bowl eligible for the second consecutive year, while Penn State came in trying to keep pace with Ohio State and Michigan. After Michigan lost to Iowa Saturday night Penn State’s hopes at a Big Ten East title are very realistic.

Top Offensive Performers

Richard Lagow, QB, Indiana- This may have been Lagow’s best game passing of his short career at IU as he threw the deep ball very well and if it weren’t for a slight over throw and a miss timed jump he would have been knocking on the door of 400 yards passing. He finished 23-of-40 for 292 yards and two touchdowns. He threw no interceptions, but he did fumble the ball away once.

Devine Redding, RB, Indiana- Getting to 100-plus yards on the ground against Penn State is always difficult. Redding ran hard and was one of the few Hoosiers to hold onto the ball. He scored three times, once through the air, and accounted for 116 all-purpose yards.

Trace McSorley, QB, Penn State- The first-year starter killed IU in both the air and on the ground. He was 16-of-30 passing for 332 yards and two touchdowns. Even though Indiana pressured him well he used his feet to escape and rush for 13 net yards and another score.

Chris Godwin, WR, Penn State- He was McSorely’s go-to receiver for most of the afternoon as he hauled in five passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns. He’s a terrific route runners and has great hands.

Top Defensive Performers

Indiana Defensive Line- The Hoosiers were in the Penn State backfield all afternoon as they held the Big Ten’s leading rusher to just 60 rushing yards. The defensive line was a huge part of that as they accounted for 8.5 of Indiana’s 16 tackles for a loss. Ralph Green, Nile Sykes, and Greg Gooch all had two TFL’s each while Nate Hoff and Jacob Robinson added one and Patrick Dougherty picked up a half TFL. This unit was the reason Indiana was even in the game after losing five fumbles.

Tegray Scales, LB, Indiana- Once again Scales showed why he could be heading to the NFL sooner or later. He paced the team with eight tackles with 3.5 coming for a loss. He helped chase down Barkley when the line couldn’t.

Rashard Fant- Fant has been tremendous all season as IU’s shutdown corner and he did a pretty good job on Saturday, as Penn State did not get much going early in the deep passing game. Fant picked off his second pass of the year, broke up another and added three tackles.

Brandon Bell, LB, Penn State- There is a reason Penn State is nicknamed “Linebacker U”. It’s because every season they have a player like Brandon Bell. Bell finished with nine tackles, a sack, 2.5 TFL’s, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. That’s how you fill out a box score as a linebacker.

Garrett Sickles, DL, Penn State- Sickles was a headache all day for IU as he had 1.5 sacks and 2.5 TFL’s. While Indiana threw the deep ball pretty well, he was a major reason it wasn’t more successful.

Special Team Performance

The theme of “if it’s not one thing, it’s another” continues for IU on special teams. Griffin Oakes looked like he is starting to get out of his season long funk as he nailed a 47-yard field goal and kicked three of his eight kickoffs for touchbacks.

However, the squeaky wheel this week came on punt return. The Hoosiers had golden opportunities in the punt return game all afternoon and it started with a botched snap that somehow Penn State punter Blake Gillikin got to and then was able to get off a 22-yard punt. It seemed as if IU defenders slowed down just a little bit and were unable to take him down for a huge loss and tremendous field position. The other play, maybe the most critical play of the day, was when a punt ricocheted off the foot of Isaac James who was blocking on a return that resulted in setting up the Nittany Lion offense at the IU six. They would score one play later.

The kickoff return was not much better as the Hoosiers averaged only 19.2 yards per return and were penalized multiple times giving their offense even worse field position.

ey Stat(s):

5

After losing four fumbles all season the Hoosiers put the ball on the ground five times Saturday and lost possession all five times. Penn State scored 14 easy points off of the turnovers and IU probably had points taken off the board because of it.

Turning Point

The game turned into a shootout late in the third quarter and into the early fourth quarter as the Hoosiers were clinging to a 31-28 lead with eight minutes to go. IU had just stopped PSU and forced a punt and looked to be poised to tack on some points and maybe put the game out of reach when a holding penalty on Wes Martin negated a short run by Tyler Natee and killed the Indiana drive. IU went three and out eating up just 1:09 of game time. Penn State would then end the game on a 17-0 run.

I Knew it Was Over When…

Richard Lagow was sacked and Torrence Brown picked up the fumble and ran it in to extend the lead to 45-31.

Players of the Game

Richard Lagow, Indiana- He is getting better every week now since the debacle at Northwestern. Throwing for 292 yards and two scores without a pick against Penn State was impressive.

Trace McSorley, Penn State- The Nittany Lions don’t win this game without him behind center. He extended plays with his legs and made the big throws when PSU needed them most.

What I took away from the game

I think that Indiana football fans, players, and coaches are getting tired of the “we were close” narrative. I also believe that this program has outgrown it as well. Yes, the Hoosiers were close, but this was a game that IU could’ve easily won by two scores if they hadn’t shot themselves in the foot. The Hoosiers gift wrapped 14 points for Penn State and fumbled five times. To add to their misery the Hoosiers were called for eight penalties that totaled 80 yards.

Football is all about how the little things add up. It started with Nick Westbrook mistiming his jump on a ball that would likely have been a touchdown. Then Richard Lagow slightly overthrew Westbrook on another play where the receiver had separation and looked like it would have been a touchdown. To win games against teams like Penn State, you cannot have five giveaways, eight penalties and miss out on the plays that, an inch here or there, give IU a commanding lead and probably the win.

This loss isn’t about whether or not the players played hard, or play calling, or game plan. It was about a total lack of execution when the moment was it’s biggest. The game plan on both sides of the ball was great. If IU executes the two long passes to Westbrook, nobody is complaining about the play calling. The Hoosiers’ issue on Saturday was as simple as that, a lack of execution.

Mitchell Paige put it perfectly after the game, “if I don’t fumble, I don’t think there is any worry at the end of the game”. If the rest of the team and the coaches take that performance as personally as Paige and turn it into a mission to execute better, IU will give Michigan a run for it’s money at the Big House and will beat Purdue to go to a bowl game. However if the Hoosiers continue to lack the execution they need, Michigan will run them off the field in Ann Arbor and Purdue could come in and shock Hoosier Nation.