Rinse, Repeat: This Time It's No. 4 Penn State That Takes Indiana to the Woodshed
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Indiana had no answer for No. 4-ranked Penn State on Saturday night. Not one. Nothing, zip, nada.
Yes, it was that bad.
The Hoosiers struggled throughout in their third game in five weeks against a highly ranked opponent, and this one might have been the worst. They were never in it, losing 24-0 to the Nittany Lions and, worst of all, barely threatening to even score a point along the way with an offense that can't get out of its own way right now.
"I'm very disappointed by the performance of our team, especially on offense," Indiana coach Tom Allen said. "We weren't able to stay on the field. We put a lot of pressure on our defense. Our defense played extremely hard. They just kept battling, battling and battling, but they didn't get a lot of support. They were out on the field too much."
Indiana coach Tom Allen offers some encouragement from the sidelines during the Hoosiers' 24-0 loss to Penn State. (USA TODAY Sports)
With the loss, the Hoosiers are now 2-3 overall, and 0-2 in the Big Ten. It's not the start they envisioned, and it became clear on Saturday night that a sizable gap still exists between Indiana and the best teams in the country. Indiana has been outsored 58-6 in its two Big Ten games against Iowa and Penn State, who, coincidentally, play each other next week in Iowa City in a showdown of playoff contenders.
Penn State certainly deserves to be in that category. The Nittany Lions are now 5-0, and have looked good doing it, just like No. 5 Iowa, and No. 7 Cincinnati before them. Indiana's brutal schedule has exposed all of their weaknesses.
It's very possible that all three teams that have beaten Indiana this season will be ranked in the top-five later on Sunday. The opposition has been that good. They are a combined 15-0.
But Indiana, sadly, was also been that bad on Saturday night. They are now 0-12 all-time at Beaver Stadium and 1-65 against top-five teams in their history.
Nothing really went right for Indiana. The offense, especially, struggled all night long, getting shut out for the first time in 21 years.
The poor quarterback play is obvious, but that's also not the only issue. Offensive line play is still subpar, and the receivers are still dropping too many balls. It's a collective effort in futility at the moment.
"We just didn't come out and make plays," Indiana wide receiver Ty Fryfogle said. "We were flat. The defense played pretty good, but any time you put up zero points, you're going to most likely lose the football game."
Indiana's running game is also mess, and it's become clear that defenses simply want to take away the run from the Hoosiers to make them one-dimensional. It was a perfect game plan for Penn State, and it worked to perfection.
Trying to protect his quarterbacks a bit, Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan called an extremely conservative game plan on first down. The Hoosiers ran on first down on their first seven drives, gaining just 21 yards on seven runs, getting a positive result — four yards or more — just three times. Only once did they follow it up with a first-down play on second down.
It put too much pressure on Indiana to convert in third-and-long situations. Indiana was just 3-for-14 on third-down.
"They make it really hard to run the football consistently," Allen said of Penn State's defense. "We obviously have to evaluate the film, and we have to have answers. We have to do a better job. We have to do a better job as a staff. I have to do a better job as a head coach of making sure we're able to take that pressure off our throw game and stay on the field and get first downs."
Penix started out the game completing just 1-of-9 passes, with the only completion a nice 35-yard catch-and-run to tight end Peyton Hendershot, who had his second straight big game. He finished with five catches for 88 yards.
Indiana did have a few drops, but Penix was off on several throws too, and he threw a frustrating interception late in the second quarter when Indiana had finally put a nice drive together. Penix had just completed passes of 18 and 34 yards to Hendershot and Miles Marshall, respectively, but then he made a bad decision near the sideline and got picked off on an overthrow by Joey Porter Jr. at the Penn State 13.
Fryfogle, the Big Ten receiver of the year in 2020, just hasn't been himself so far this season, with a half-dozen drops in the losses.
"it's just lack of focus," Fryfogle said. "I'm just trying to make a play before I secure the football. That's all it is. I can be way better. We could be way better, and we're going to be better going forward. It's a must. We have two weeks to figure this out and we're going to get it figured out."
Penn State scored its first two touchdowns on long drives, going 80 and 96 yards to pull ahead 14-0 in the first half. Quarterback Sean Clifford found tight end Brenton Strange for a 10-yard score and then hit star wideout Jahan Dotson early in the second quarter with a fastball to the back of the end zone.
In between, Indiana did have an early threat, getting an interception from safety Raheem Layne and taking over at the Penn State 13. Forced into a fourth-and-1 situation at the 4-yard line, Allen opted to go for it instead of kicking a field goal and maintain some momentum. They ran Stephen Carr up the middle for no gain, and the Hoosiers turned it over on downs.
"You don't win on the road kicking field goals,'' Allen said. Indiana did have a field goal attempt blocked in the second half. "It's one yard. I'm going for that every time. We just have to do a better job of converting. It's more of an execution problem than a play-calling problem.
Penn State immediately went the other way, with Keyvone Lee providing the big play, a 44-yard run on second down. The Clifford-to-Dotson touchdown closed out the drive.
Clifford finished 17-for-33 passing for 178 yards and three scores. He found Dotson for a 30-yard score on a coverage breakdown in the third quarter that made history. It was their 18th touchdown pass-and-catch, a Penn State school record for a duo.
Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson breaks into the open past Indiana defender Jonathan Haynes during the Nittany Lions' 24-0 victory on Saturday night. (USA TODAY Sports)
Indiana dealt with injuries in the secondary all night long. Standout Tiawan Mullen was banged up last week with a lower body injury in the Western Kentucky game, and he couldn't go at Penn State. Then his replacement, Reese Taylor, went down with an injury, too.
"The injuries have taken its toll a little bit in the secondary,” Allen said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to use the bye week to get those guys back. I don’t see them being long-term issues.”
Indiana has a week off before hosting No. 17 Michigan State on Oct. 16 for Homecoming. The bye week comes at a perfect time, because the Hoosiers need to regroup.
“We’ve got to take a self-reflecting look on everything that we’re doing,” said Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden, who led the Hoosiers with eight tackles along with Ryder Anderson. “The Hoosiers are 2-3. How are we gonna respond?”
Allen didn't have an update on the severity of Penix's shoulder injury, saying he will be evaluated further on Sunday back in Bloomington, He said he "liked what I saw'' from backup quarterback Jack Tuttle, who was 6-for-12 for 77 yards but threw a bad fourth-quarter interception himself.
Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is helped off the field after injuring his throwing shoulder in the third quarter against Penn State. (USA TODAY Sports)
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