Penn State for the second time in three weeks bounced back in dominant fashion from a loss. After beating Minnesota 45-17 two weeks ago in their annual White Out, the Nittany Lions punished the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington by a final score of 45-17.
After trading punts on their first offensive drives of the game, the Nittany Lions would take an early 7-0 lead on Saturday with a 10-play 54-yard drive with Nick Singleton scoring on his eighth touchdown of the season from one yard out.
The Nittany Lions' second defensive drive of the day was lackluster, to say the least. The Hoosiers marched 75 yards on eight plays to tie the game at 7-7. The series included back-to-back passing plays that picked up a combined 49 yards. It ended with quarterback Jack Tuttle finding tight end AJ Barner for his second touchdown of the season.
That, however, was the final time Indiana would put together any sustainable drive on Saturday afternoon.
One play after Indiana's scoring drive, Clifford would make his first poor decision of the day, trying to force a ball to Brenton Strange who had double-covered. Notably, a corner route was wide open above Strange, it was an extremely poor decision and threw for the sixth-year senior.
Penn State's defense responded well to the quick change of possession, forcing the Hoosiers out of field goal position after six plays including two sacks. A major moment early in the game as a touchdown would've given the Hoosiers 14 unanswered points and a large amount of momentum.
The two offenses would then trade a series of punts before Penn State's offense would finally start clicking in the second quarter as we've seen each of the last two weeks after getting a strong field position off a quality punt return from Parker Washington. The Nittany Lions scored just two plays after the Washington punt return with Kaytron Allen picking up all 38 yards on the drive including 11 yards on his first touchdown of the game.
The Nittany Lions would score on each of their final three drives of the first half including another touchdown by Kaytron Allen while kicker Jake Pinegar would kick a 50-yard field goal on the Nittany Lions' final drive of the first half to put the Nittany Lions up 24-7 heading into halftime.
The stat sheet says all you need to know about Penn State's first-half effort. The Nittany Lions outgained Indiana 233 to 76 in the first half, while Sean Clifford was pedestrian, running back Kaytron Allen carried the Nittany Lions offense. On 14 carries in the first half, Allen ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns, while his longest carry of the half was just 12 yards, Allen was consistent in picking up 4-6 yards per carry. Other notable first-half performances included Mitchell Tinsley's who had four receptions for 54 yards on six targets.
Defensively, the Hoosiers' 75-yard scoring drive was Penn State's only blemish of the first half. The Nittany Lions forced five three-and-outs on Indiana's seven true possessions of the first half. Manny Diaz's defense was swarming, not allowing positive yardage across Indiana's final four drives of the half.
The second half for Penn State would begin much like the first half ended. After a punt on their first drive of the half, the Nittany Lions' second drive of the second half was their best of the day.
Starting the drive at their four-yard line, they would march down the field swiftly in under three minutes. The drive was highlighted by one of the best catches you'll ever see out of Brenton Strange, completely reaching around Indiana's Noah Pierre to bring in the reception.
The very next play, Clifford would find Kaytron Allen off to his left who would make a fantastic run after the catch, going 45 yards to Penn State into the red zone. Four plays later, Allen picked up his third touchdown on the day, giving Penn State a 31-7 lead. That drive would be the last of Sean Clifford's day, allowing true freshman Drew Allar to get a quarter and a half of playing time in against the Hoosiers.
Allar, who many fans have been clamoring for over the last few weeks continues to look the part of a big-time quarterback prospect. The Medina (OH) native looked calm, cool, and collected on each of his drives and put together a high-quality drive in the process.
He would pick up his third passing touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter on 3rd and goal, rolling to his right before throwing a dart to Trey Wallace in the back of the endzone. It was a perfect pass from Allar, placing it in a tight window and right on time. While one could argue the smarter decision would've been to just run it in as he had plenty of room and time to do so but with the result, no one will complain.
Less than 20 seconds later, Penn State would add another touchdown after a near Daequan Hardy pick-six. This time, Allar would find a wide-open Theo Johnson coming out of the backfield to put the Nittany Lions up 45-7.
The Hoosiers would eventually add another touchdown with under seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter being aided by an Amin Vanover late hit penalty, cutting Penn State's lead to 45-17. That would be the last scoring drive of the evening for either side.
Overall, it was a game that Penn State completely dominated. The Nittany Lions had 483 total yards to Indiana's 196 including 179 rushing yards. Kaytron Allen had himself the best day of his career thus far with 86 rushing yards and 72 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Nick Singleton had a good day himself with 73 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Notably, Penn State on Saturday was without both left tackle Olu Fashanu and left guard Landon Tengwall. True freshman Drew Shelton and JUCO transfer JB Nelson both stepped and performed admirably at left and left guard.
The Nittany Lions' defense was ferocious throughout the afternoon, totaling six sacks and 6 tackles for a loss. Indiana converted just 4-of-15 third down attempts and averaged just 3.1 yards per including just 1.9 yards per rushing attempt.
Penn State now 7-2 on the season will return home next weekend for a matchup with the Maryland Terrapins. The Terrapins on Saturday fell to the Wisconsin Badgers 23-10 in Madison to drop to 6-3 on the season. In the game, Maryland was torched on the ground for 280 rushing yards. The kickoff time for the game has yet to be announced.
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