Highs and Lows: Mixed bag enough for Penn State over hapless Hoosiers

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State football didn't have its best performance of the year when it hosted Indiana Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

The Nittany Lions didn't need it.

Behind a commanding, suffocating effort from the Nittany Lions' defense, the hosts built a lead and kept it against a hapless Hoosiers outfit playing without its starting quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., for most of the second half. Piling up more than 400 yards of offense, but only 24 points, the performance was more than enough to secure another win and a 5-0 start to the 2021 season for the Nittany Lions.

Reflecting on the biggest and brightest moments of Penn State's win against Indiana:

PLAYER OF THE GAME Jahan Dotson continued his outstanding senior season with the Nittany Lions with another sterling performance Saturday night. Finishing with eight receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns, all in a game in which scoring came at a premium for both sides, Dotson paced Penn State throughout the evening offensively.

PLAY OF THE GAME The opportunity was about as good as Indiana could have hoped for against the Nittany Lions late in the third quarter. Trailing only 14-0, the Hoosiers forced Penn State into a fourth-and-4 situation at the 30-yard line. Sean Clifford and Dotson had other ideas for the Hoosiers’ hopes, though.

Threatening an open-field scramble on the play, Clifford’s dump pass to a wide-open Dotson along the sideline went all 30 yards into the end zone to give the hosts a 21-point lead on an Indiana program that had yet to show much life offensively.

BEST PASS On an otherwise pedestrian passing night for Clifford, his first touchdown pass of the game to Dotson was the sharpest. Already leading the Hoosiers 7-0, the 8-yard strike in the back of the north end zone lifted the Nittany Lions on a nine-play, 96-yard possession to go ahead by two scores.

WORST PASS Michael Penix might have done well to not air out a pass to Ty Fryfogle deep downfield when the Hoosiers had just started to put something together offensively late in the first half. Instead, throwing off his back foot with a pass rush closing in on him, Penix put a teardrop right into the waiting arms of Nittany Lion corner Joey Porter Jr. for an interception.

BEST RUN Keyvone Lee finally found the hole the Nittany Lions have been looking for this season in the running game. On second-and-2, the delayed handoff to the sophomore running back sprung a 44-yard pickup straight up the gut. Two pull blocks from the left side of the Nittany Lions’ offensive line helped create the crease for Lee on a night they finished with 209 yards rushing.

BEST CATCH Plays are typically reserved, as has been the history in this Highs and Lows section, for one category only. Some exceptions have been made through the years though and Saturday night’s touchdown connection between Clifford and Dotson has to be among them. Backed up due to an illegal touching call leveled against Brenton Strange (setting off James Franklin in the process), the pair found paydirt in the back of the end zone the next play to give the Nittany Lions a 14-0 advantage.

WORST DROP Parker Washington had an easy reception in his hands in the first quarter that simply dropped to the Beaver Stadium turf. The miscue set up an Indiana interception on Clifford’s next pass attempt.

BEST SACK Brandon Smith produced the first sack of the night for the Nittany Lions when he brought down Penix in the open field early in the second half. The sack notched a 1-yard loss to force a third-and-16 for the Hoosiers on the series.

BEST HIT Smith’s sack was followed by another on the very next play after the injury timeout that saw Penix head straight to the locker room for medical attention and Jack Tuttle enter the game in his place. Finding an edge with the Hoosiers facing the third-and-long, Arnold Ebiketie made easy work with a crunching sack from head-on.

BEST EFFORT With Indiana threatening its first points of the night in the final minutes of the third quarter, Penn State’s defense and kick block unit clamped down completely. First holding the Hoosiers out of the end zone, the Nittany Lions forced a 30-yard field goal try that Ebiketie blocked easily to return possession to Penn State and keep its guests off the scoreboard.

BEST KICK Jordan Stout’s season hasn’t necessarily had the field goal results he’d probably prefer, but no one can argue his punting hasn’t been top-notch. Stout made the point especially clear on his first attempt of the evening, completely swapping field position with a 50-yard bomb that landed at the Indiana 13-yard line early in the first quarter. He'd also send through a 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

BEST RETURN Indiana’s proclivity for tricking Clifford continued into Saturday night’s matchup. Having an easy connection with Parker Washington dropped to the turf on first-and-10, Clifford’s second-down attempt downfield found a waiting Hoosier in Raheem Layne. Stepping in front of Clifford’s pass, Layne returned the interception to the Nittany Lions’ 13-yard line to set up Indiana’s failed fourth-down attempt.

BEST DECISION Against the backdrop of a game that went down to the wire last year in Bloomington, no such threat existed at Beaver Stadium, all allowing Franklin to make a call he’s had limited opportunity to employ this season. Owning a comfortable 24-0 lead in the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions turned to second-string quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson to finish out the game, chewing up a few minutes before punting.

WORST DECISION What was Tom Allen thinking? Trailing Penn State 21-0 already, the Indiana coach chose a field goal try from the 23-yard line with his team hopelessly without options for points. That the Nittany Lions then blocked the attempt seemed only fitting given the weak-minded decision.

MOST TELLING MOMENT Merely the threat of a Clifford run helped open up the Nittany Lions’ first touchdown of the night. Moving to his left, with an Indiana linebacker trapped in purgatory between dropping back into coverage or stopping the QB, Clifford juked and dumped an easy 10-yard touchdown to Strange to take a 7-0 lead.

*******

• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated

• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98, @GregPickel, @ThomasFrankCarr

• Follow us on Instagram

• Like us on Facebook