Favorite Games, No. 2: Hoosiers Start Season With Miracle Finish Over No. 8 Penn State

Editor's Note: This is the ninth installment in our 10-part series on HoosiersNow.com publisher Tom Brew's 10 favorite Indiana games during the 2020-21 school year.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – He soared through the air with a football on his fingertips, flying toward the pylon in the corner of the end zone at Memorial Stadium.

All that was missing was the Superman cape.

The game was on the line, and it was going to be decided – one way or another –based on whether Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s outstretched arm reached the goal line. It was a two-point conversion in overtime against No. 8-ranked Penn State, a team that was 22-1 all-time against Indiana.

After a lengthy review, Penix's score was good and the Hoosiers had themselves a 36-35 victory to open the season on Oct. 24 against a Nittany Lions team that was a 7-point favorite on the road. It was the first game of the year because of the COVID-19 protocols that delayed the season.

It was one of the most exciting plays in Indiana football history, and one of the biggest wins as well. It also set the stage for what lied ahead, with Indiana going 6-1 during the regular season and working their way into the top-10 in the national rankings, rarified air for a long-time moribund program.

The conversion was actually the second one of the day for Penix. With just 22 seconds left in regulation and Indiana trailing 28-20, Penix scored a touchdown and then made the conversion to tie the game.

Penn State scored first in overtime, but then the Hoosiers scored on a Penix pass to Whop Philyor, making it 35-34. Instead of kicking the extra point to tie, Indiana coach Tom Allen decided to go for two and trust his quarterback.

It worked. Barely.

"I knew if we scored, we got the ball on the three, one play to win it. We have been close and I am sick and tired of being close,'' Allen said. "I just decided we were going for it, and I told the offensive coaches to be thinking about that. I took the timeout just to make sure we had everything in order.''

Penn State called a timeout, too, so the final player seemed like it too forever to play out. Penix rolled left and dove for the score, and he was ruled in on the field. It took several minutes to review before the score was confirmed.

"We felt like we had three people involved in that play, Whop Philyor, Stevie Scott and Michael Penix, our three best players on offense. One of those two guys was going to get the football or Michael was going to choose to keep it, which he did. I had confidence in our offense, even though they did not play their best. It wasn't anything other than the fact that in my gut, it seemed like the right thing to do."

It was, of course, and that monkey was finally off their back. Indiana is now 2-22 all-time vs. Penn State, which just seems a whole lot better.

"I think it is a big win, no question,'' Allen said. "It's just a building block for me. I expected us to win this game before the game. Obviously, I believe in this football team, but I can say that all I want. We have to prove that on the field and that's what this team did.

"Just think about the whole sequence of events that happened there at the end late in the fourth quarter. Since I have been here, we have found ways to lose those types of games. This game, we found a way to win. This type of game, the way we won it, that's why it's so big. That's why it is so powerful to have that kind of finish and just to find a way to win. Sometimes, I don't even want to look at the stats, but I just know this: We had one more point than they did when the final buzzer sounded."

Previous 'Favorite Games' stories

NUMBER 10: Indiana's football team has struggled at Wisconsin for decades, so it was very sweet to go up there and steal a 14-6 win on Dec. 5, 2020 in quarterback Jack Tuttle's first-ever college start. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 9: Armaan Franklin was having a brutal shooting night against Iowa in Assembly Hall on Feb. 7, 2021, right up until he hit the game-winning shot with 1.8 seconds left to go. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 8: Collin Hopkins hits a walk-off home run after a long rain delay to help Indiana beat Illinois 6-4 and end the Hoosiers' five-game winning streak. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 7: Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has a game for the ages, throwing for 491 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-35 loss to No. 3 Ohio State inside an empty stadium in Columbus. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 6: Indiana's women's basketball team has been soaring to new heights under coach Teri Moren, and this year, the Hoosiers reached the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 5: Indiana never takes it for granted in making the College Cup, the NCAA's version of the Final Four for men's soccer. The Hoosiers got there again, and won a thriller over Pittsburgh in the semifinals to get another title shot. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 4: Indiana had beaten Michigan only once in 40 tries, but that all changed in November when the Hoosiers pushed them all over the Memorial Stadium field and won 38-21 for their third straight victory to start the season. CLICK HERE
NUMBER 3: Despite its stars being in foul trouble most of the game, Indiana's men's basketball traveled to Iowa and knocked off the No. 4 Hawkeyes anyway, the best win in the Archie Miller era. CLICK HERE

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