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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

IU loses lead, game against No. 10 Penn State in fourth quarter collapse

Junior defensive lineman Greg Gooch tackles sophomore quarterback Trace McSorley during the second half of play Saturday at Memorial Stadium

This game felt different.

Another top-ranked opponent in No. 10 Penn State was backed up against the ropes in Memorial Stadium. The Hoosiers had been here before.

When junior cornerback Rashard Fant intercepted a pass that led to a tying score, negating four lost fumbles before halftime, it seemed like everything that could have gone wrong for the Hoosiers had done so.

All the pieces that led to IU victories earlier in the season had begun to manifest themselves.

Junior running back Devine Redding ran for more than 100 yards. The IU defense held Big Ten-leading Penn State running back Saquon Barkley to 1.8 yards per carry. Junior quarterback Richard Lagow didn’t throw an interception.

IU led 24-14 in the third quarter and didn’t need to chip away at its opponent’s lead. The students stayed through the fourth quarter.

But the DNA for IU wins didn’t prevail this time. Not in the fourth quarter, where the Hoosiers surrendered 24 points and ran for -3 yards.

They lost another competitive game, much like last season, 45-31.

“My fumbles killed us,” Paige said. “If I don’t fumble the ball, that game is a lot different.”

Paige, who fumbled the ball in the redzone in the first quarter and again at midfield in the second quarter, was also the return man when sophomore receiver Isaac James grazed a live ball on a punt that was recovered in the redzone by the Nittany Lions.

The seven points scored off the muffed punt were the only points scored of turnovers for Penn State until the strip-sack on Lagow sealed the game in the last minute of regulation.

But the potential for points left on the field in all five fumbles made the difference in the game, Paige said. Those five fumbles kept the Hoosiers from breaking through and beating a top-10 team that handed Ohio State its only loss of the season.

The walk-on receiver had stood in front of the media in 2015 after dropping the game-tying touchdown in double-overtime against Michigan, after blowing a 25-point lead to Rutgers, after failing to come back from 14-point deficits to Ohio State and Iowa. Even after the infamous Griffin Oakes field goal in New York at the Pinstripe Bowl.

In all of those moments, he had more to say than he did Saturday evening after losing to Penn State.

“We’ve been here before,” senior receiver Mitchell Paige said. “That’s all I have to say. We’ve been here before.”

They had been here before, and with weaker odds.

The 16 tackles for loss were the most recorded by an IU team since 1998, and the two interceptions by Fant and junior safety Tony Fields were tied for the most in a game this season.

The IU defense had given its best effort that IU offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said the team would have to give to beat Penn State, and the Hoosiers’ 3-point lead late in the fourth quarter felt bigger than what it was.

But suddenly IU’s secondary surrendered a 54-yard pass and two 26-yard passes, leading to three scoring drives in the final quarter and ultimately the lead and win.

To Fant, it was simple. The Nittany Lions just made more plays, and what first-year IU defensive coordinator Tom Allen has been preaching about finishing games had left the minds of his players.

The pieces weren’t all put together as they appeared to be, and the Hoosiers left Memorial Stadium still seeking their sixth, bowl-clinching win.

“At first you’re like, ‘Dang, man, we lost’,” Fant said. “But then you’re like, Well, we can’t dwell on it. We’ve got another top-10 team, so we’ve gotta get ready, put on our big boy pants, go play and get a W next weekend.”

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