Penn State football notes: Indiana kick time info; Smith wins Big Ten award

Penn State will face Villanova at Noon on Saturday inside of Beaver Stadium, and the Big Ten Network will televise the contest.

That information was already known, and now we also have learned when the Nittany Lions will take on Indiana at home in two weeks.

On Monday, the Big Ten Conference announced that the Big Ten East clash will start at 7:30 pm ET on Sat., Oct. 2. ABC will televise the matchup from State College.

Head coach Tom Allen's team is not living up to expectations so far following a super year in 2020 that included a last second (and controversial) win over PSU. The Hoosiers are 1-2 so far this year with losses to Iowa and Cincinnati with the lone victory coming over Idaho.

" Yeah, it's a little adversity," Allen told reporters after losing to the Bearcats. "Just like I shared with our guys in the locker room a few minutes ago. You got to look yourself in the mirror, look yourself in the eye, you got to stand up and take responsibility. I got to own the 1-2 start. I'm the head football coach of this football team.

It's not where any of us wanted to be, expected us to be at this point. As I said to them, Here we are. What are you going to do? How are you going to respond? We got a lot of good players in that room. A lot of kids that have given a whole lot to this program. I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for. We're going to keep fighting together. We're going to lock arms and find a way to keep getting better every time we take the field."

All-time, Penn State holds a 22-2 series lead, and IU has never won in State College.

Penn State linebacker Brandon Smith was named as the Big Ten Conference's defensive player of the week for his performance in the team's Week 3 win over Auburn.

Smith set a career-high by racking up 10 tackles in the 28-20 victory in front of a raucous White Out game crowd in State College. He also netted one tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry in addition to a pass breakup that was very nearly a pick-six.

It marks the first time Smith has been recognized by the conference in this way. The Lions last had a defender recognized by the conference in 2018 when defensive tackle Robert Windsor was honored. The last PSU player of the week overall was specialist Jordan Stout earlier this year.

"Defensively, we bend but don't break, and we, for the most part, keep people out of the end zone, and we make big time plays at critical moments," head coach James Franklin said following the win.

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